I went to the hospital with pneumonia and found out all my organs were in the wrong place – CNET – ApparelGeek

Since her birth, Olesya Kulikova has been in and out of the hospital with countless health problems.

From pneumonia, bronchial asthma, and severe stomach pain, the 27-year-old has had her fair share of ailments.

However, doctors were only able to give him a diagnosis in 2009, when they discovered that his organs were in the wrong place.

Olesya suffers from a rare condition known as situs inversus totalis, an anomaly characterized by mirror inversion of vital organs.

The disease occurs in around one in 10,000 people born the disease: Olesya has not been diagnosed for 13 years.

It is usually detected by X-rays, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or ultrasound.

She said she was 14 years old when she discovered her heart was on the right side of her body.

Then four years later, at 18, he was told his liver was on the left.

Olesya, from Achinsk, Russia, said she was hospitalized in 2019 with pneumonia when doctors told her her lungs were “like a mirror”.

“Every time I go to a medical exam, I have to explain that my heart is on the right, not on the left like everyone else.

“I have no tattoos, documents, or jewelry that could alert doctors if I pass out.

“During electrocardiograms, a test that checks the heart rhythm, [I have to tell] doctors to place the electrodes on the right,” he told NeedToKnow.online.

In 2021, Olesya was diagnosed with Kartagener syndrome, an inherited condition that causes difficulty moving waste and fluid from the lungs.

For this reason, he says that he has had pneumonia four times, and suffers from bronchial asthma, shortness of breath, and a constant cough.

Fast forward to April of this year and Olesya went to the hospital with a stomach ache; only later was she told that she had kidney stones.

In an attempt to manage and treat her conditions, Olesya has started going to the gym where she hopes to help her lungs “work properly” and so far she is breathing easier.

She claims that her condition is an abnormality and because of this, people with the condition who become pregnant are told to have abortions.

Olesya, who is the only person in her family with the disease, added that she has already met a woman with the same disease, who told her that if the baby survived, it could be born with a disability.

“Since doctors rarely come across this kind of scenario, they assumed that the baby would die, but she had a healthy baby, which she named Milagro.

“In another case, the child was born with the heart on the right and had a defect, but he underwent surgery and now has a perfectly healthy heart.”

Although she does not yet have children, she is now trying to raise awareness about the disease so that people feel less alone.

He added: “I admit I was embarrassed to have a situs inversus totalis, but I started blogging and people from all countries wrote to me.

“Most people often ask about my health and many find me through hashtags where I offer support.

“Of course, everyone hopes that their children will live happily ever after with this anomaly and I’m sure we can live a normal life.”

This story originally appeared on Sun and has been reproduced here with permission.