An acquaintance of mine (someone I like and admire, but haven't had a chance to get to know better) has been seriously ill. They're young and have been generally healthy--this came out of nowhere.
They were having generalized pain, weakness, trouble breathing, serious brain fog... and had been to the doctor multiple times but had no answer.
Finally, they figured out it's formaldehyde poisoning! From a medication they were giving their fish.
1/2
@tyghebright holy cow! Thank goodness they figured it out.
@tyghebright that is some Agatha Christie type stuff
Right?!
Would be fantastic in a novel.
@rpardee
Yeah, it's wild. The doctors started asking about their hobbies... they'd recently started an exotic aquarium.
The medication is designed to be absorbed through the fish's skin, so the gloves my friend was using weren't enough of a barrier. Tiny doses, absorbed through the skin, over the course of a couple of months.