Vicki spent an hour building up the courage to take this pre-prepared shot, although it only lasts seconds.
Vicki Larrieux, a 22-year-old student from Portsmouth, claims she is unable to keep to a healthy diet because she is frightened of vegetables.

She suffers from a fear known as lachanophobia, which leaves her sweating and stricken with panic attacks at the merest sight of a sprout or a pea.

Miss Larrieux survives on a diet of meat, potatoes, cereals and an occasional apple but refuses even a single slice of carrot on her dinner plate.

"I have always had an irrational fear of vegetables even as a child I used to properly freak out if some carrots or a few peas were on my plate," she said.

"But as it continued into adult life I started to think it might not just be a dislike for vegetables but an actual phobia.

"Every time I would see vegetables not just on my plate, but anywhere I would get feelings of panic, start sweating and my heart rate would shoot up.

"People might think it is a bit of a laughable affliction but I have a genuine fear of greens it’s not just that I dislike the taste of sprouts or broccoli, but the actual sight of them fills me with dread and I could never touch them."

The unusual fear affects just a few thousand people in Britain and treatments for the condition include "psychological re-programming" to control the anxious response to seeing vegetables.

Miss Larrieux’s condition makes routine trips to the supermarket or a night out at a restaurant with her boyfriend Joseph Jade, 25, a major problem. (Telegraph)

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An American woman suffered a sudden attack of amnesia after having sex with her husband.

The sudden loss of memory, called “transient global amnesia” or TGA, is caused by pressure in blood vessels in the brain, and can be triggered by strenuous activities, bowel movements, or – commonly – sex.

The 59-year-old woman, known only as Alice, had the worrying experience after she and her husband Scott had sex last August. She suddenly, albeit temporarily, lost all memory of the last several years and the ability to form new memories.

After sex they turned on the television, which was showing the Beijing Olympics, and she asked: "Is there an Olympics?"

Scott told CNN: "I saw that something was wrong, so I asked her, ‘OK, what day is it?’"

When she couldn’t answer, he asked her to name the current President, to which she replied: "Bill Clinton." Scott called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital, where it was initially thought she may have had a stroke.

However, neurologists were soon able to diagnose TGA, a relatively common experience in the over-50s. (Telegraph)

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An American couple are looking into other methods of having children after they discovered that she was allergic to his sperm – on their wedding night.

Mike and Julie Boyde of Ambridge, Pennsylvania, went out for two years after meeting at university and got married in 2005.

Before their wedding, the couple always used protection, but once they became as man and wife and had unprotected sex, things started to go wrong.

"Pretty much right after I knew something was not right because I was in a lot of pain," Julie reveals in an interview for a documentary called Strange Sex.

"The pain that I was feeling was inside, like somebody sticking needles up inside of me like a real painful burning. It was really scary."

Her suffering would last for weeks after the couple had sex, and sometimes blisters appeared.

Doctors were initially unable to explain the affliction, but a friend suggested that it might be an allergy and after a range of tests, the problem was diagnosed as seminal plasma hypersensitivity.

‘The body recognises the sperm as a foreign protein, like it would recognise a peanut allergen or a pollen so you have swelling, you have itching, you have inflammation of the nerve endings," explains Dr Abndrew Goldstein from the University of Cincinnati Medical Centre.

It also means that Julie body attacks Mike’s sperm and renders it inactive.

Doctors developed a treatment for the problem, but while it worked for some couples who suffered from the same problem, it didn’t work for Mike and Julie.

The Boydes are now looking to adopt instead. (Metro)

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Chinese toddler Kang Mengru has become a medical marvel after having her dead twin removed from her stomach.

Kang’s parents couldn’t understand why their daughter’s stomach was growing larger overnight and feared it could be a tumour.

Her swollen belly made her look pregnant and drew taunts from neighbours who branded her "a monster"

But after doctors examined the 18-month old they discovered that she had an extremely rare condition, which affects 1 in 500,000 births – when one twin in the womb grows larger than the other and envelops its smaller sibling.

The second foetus never fully develops, but continues to grow within the first baby, feeding off it like a parasite.

It left Kang, from Henan Provence, unable to eat solid food and spending her time in constant pain.

Kang had already had a difficult start to life. Just days old, she was abandoned in a field by her parents.

Her cries were heard by farm worker Wang Guihua, 35, who took her home and nursed her back to health.

Wang and her husband Kang Xiqing, 43, had no children of their own and were allowed to foster Kang.

The worried couple took her to doctors who explained that Kang had an unborn twin growing inside her, and that it was crushing her organs as it grew.

Her life was hanging in the balance, but her parents with a combined income of £400 a year, couldn’t afford the £1,000 operation that their daughter so desperately needed.

Help arrived in the for of the Red Cross who raised the funds for Kang through and appeal.

She was rushed into surgery and after a grueling 10-hour operation, Kang is now recovering well and will be able to live a normal life. (Telegraph)

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A man with a phobia of women has never kissed a girl despite being aged 27.

Neil Dando, from Worthing, West Sussex, suffers from chronic ‘loveshyness’ – a psychological condition which means he cannot approach a girl without becoming a nervous wreck and suffering extreme anxiety attacks.

He fears his bizarre trauma means he will never be able to develop a serious relationship.

"At work, because it is purely professional, it is fine. It is only when I get attracted to a girl that it really affects me," Mr Dando said.

"There have even been cases when I have pretended to like somebody just to see if I can get over it.

"But the more I talk, the more I start thinking and the same anxiety halts me mid-sentence."

His problem is not a registered condition but was coined by American professor Brian Gilmartin in his 1987 book, ‘Shyness and Love: Causes, Consequences and Treatment.’

Mr Dando stumbled across the diagnosis when he was surfing the internet using online messageboards to communicate with other sufferers.

"I picked up a book on the subject which made me realise there were others like me with the same problems," he said.

"I realised I had been foolish spending my life thinking I had just been unlucky and that someone would come along eventually."

Prof Gilmartin claims the condition affects 1.7 million men in the US.

"Shyness inhibits people from assuming a sense of responsibility for their behaviour," he wrote in his book.

"It makes them feel and truly believe they are not in the driver’s seat of their own lives and destinies." (Telegraph)

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A man dubbed the human coral reef has been successfully treated for a rare condition that covered his whole body in shell-like growths.

Lin Tianzhuan, 38, of Shuimen, southern China, first noticed the growths on his hands and feet when he was just 13.

"It started with a few hard bumps so I tried to apply antibiotics and creams but it didn’t get better," he explained.

"Instead it just got worse. They grew and grew and soon they were all over my arms and legs, my back and even my head. Ii was as if I was turning to stone and it was terrifying," he added.

Horrified Lin became a hermit, hiding at the family home and shunned by friends and neighbours who dubbed him Coral Boy.

His experience closely resembles that of Dede Koswara, the "tree man" of Indonesia whose skin condition was first highlighted by Telegraph

"Gradually my shell became thicker and thicker and I could no longer bend my arms or my legs. It was very frightening," Lin said.

"If I had to go out I wrapped myself up in blankets because people would scream when they saw me," he added.

But now Lin is recovering from his bizarre condition thanks to medics from a special skin clinic who have begun a study on his case.

Fuzhou Dermatosis Prevention Hospital vice president Dr Liu Yinghong said: "His hands, forearms, feet and calf were covered with these dark brown hard shells, looking like dry branches. The seriousness and long-lasting nature of the disease shocked us."

Now after a year of treatment and surgery, Lin is making a full recovery with just a few discoloured skin patches to show for his horrific condition.

"He may need radiotherapy for quite some time still but he has made very good progress," said Dr Yinghong. (Telegraph)

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A black couple have defied the odds by giving birth to three albino children.

Mother Rosemere Fernandes de Andrade, 27, and her partner Joao are both black and have two other children who are also both black, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The condition, which leaves the body short of melanin pigment, affects around one in 17,000 people.

Mrs Fernandes, who lives in a slum in north-east Brazil, says her children Esthefany Caroline, eight, Ruth Caroline, 10, and Kauan, five, have been teased about their skin by fellow school pupils.

Genetics professor Valdir Balbino, of the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil, said the condition was especially rare considering both parents and two other children are black.

Both parents must carry the albinism gene in order to produce a child with albinism. Even then, there is a one in four chance that a child will be born with the condition.

The family face increased costs children with albinism lack protection the body from the sun’s rays and often suffer from extreme short-sightedness and a severe sensitivity to light.

Mrs Fernandes needs to buy expensive sunblock and extra clothes to protect them and has also been challenged by security guards who insisted she could not be the children’s mother.

She said: “I’m afraid of skin cancer because I can’t afford the protection they need.”

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A Chinese man says he can’t get a girlfriend because much of his body is covered in thick hair.

Xiao Song, 23, of Changchun in northeast China’s Jilin province, was born with large birthmarks which now sprout thick hairs.

"I can’t even wear T-shirts or shirts, since my hair is so hard that they penetrate through the material," he said.

Song’s entire back and most of his front are covered with hair.

"The most frustrating thing is no girl wants to keep a relationship with me once they know my secret," he said.

"And when one girl said she didn’t care about that, her family forced her to split up with me because they were worried my condition could be passed on to our children." (New Culture Daily)

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A baby boy born with two penises in Russia has undergone complicated surgery to join them into one.

The child, named by the Russian media only as Artyom G, was born two weeks ago after a normal pregnancy.

He was rushed from his maternity hospital to St Vladimir’s Children’s Clinical Hospital in Moscow where he underwent the lengthy operation to join the two penises.

"The surgery was complicated. We had to form one penis out of two, make the abdominal wall and create a bladder," said a doctor involved in the five hour operation.

"When our colleagues asked for help we said ‘yes’ immediately but we couldn’t imagine the case would be so complicated."

According to The Sun, the hospital said that the baby is now in good health and the surgery a complete success.

"He will grow into a normal man and be able to have kids," the doctor added. (Metro)

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A Chinese woman says she has been howling like a wolf for 26 years – but can’t help it.

Hong, 42, of Ganzhashan Qian village, Fuzhou, told Straits News: "My howls are like sneezes or yawns, they can’t be controlled.

"Sometimes I can’t help howling on the streets. Passers-by jump far away staring at me, thinking I am a psycho."

She says it all began when she began to suffer from back pains when she was 16: "Then I accidentally found when I howl the pain goes away."

Hong says that when she howls, she feels a "release of gas" inside her, and "can’t stop it".

At first she would howl only once every two or three months but now cannot stop herself from howling four or five times a day.

And she says her howls are getting louder and longer. Now she howls for more than 20 minutes at a time with each one lasting up to 20 seconds.

Her neighbour, Zhang Yimu, said that when she heard the sound for the first time she thought there were wolves outside.

"Sometimes it’s also like an air alarm. Early in the morning or late at night the whole village can hear the howls."

Hong has sought help from a hospital in Fuzhou city. However, except for a protruding spinal disc, she has been given a clean bill of health. (Straits News)

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