History Main / CurseThatCures

* The whole point of worshiping Nurgle in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': if you are already covered in diseases and rotting flesh, you can't get old, and you won't feel pain. You also have the patronage and love (yes, actual, unconditional paternal love) of the only [[AffablyEvil kind]] [[{{GodIsEvil}} god]] in the entire [[CrapsackWorld galaxy]].

* The 1988 anthology ''Strip AIDS USA'' (a charity AIDS relief book) had a story where ''lycanthropy'' proves to be a great cure for HIV. Luckily, the recipient becomes a [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Friendly Neighborhood Werewolf]].

* There are occasional, mostly unverified, rumors of people who infect themselves with autoimmune diseases as a means of curing blood cancer, or the other way around, the two diseases supposedly "cancelling each other out" in some fashion.
** As of July 2022, there are only five confirmed cases of AIDS being cured by blood cancer. And that was because of the bone marrow, blood transfusions and stem cell transfusions from people who might have had a genetic resistance to AIDS.

* Similar to the ''Exiern'' example below, when ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' was starting to work on the idea of transgender representation in setting, there was the idea that the common ''D&D" cursed item of the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity wasn't exactly a ''curse'' to people who wanted to transition anyways. Since then, the game has made transitioning mainly a matter of alchemy.

** Mind you, this isn't always guaranteed; there are a number of sample characters who were paralyzed before the Embrace and remained paralyzed after. But there are a large number of cases who got the Embrace because their sire didn't want to see a talent die to cancer, or TB, or syphilis, or etc. Perhaps the biggest example in setting is the entirety of Clan Tremere, who came into being when a bunch of mages realized [[TheMagicGoesAway their potions of immortality were starting to have diminishing returns]]. So, they poked a bunch of captive vampires with sticks until they found a new form of immortality, effectively sacrificing the potential of True Magic in the process (but picking up BloodMagic as a consolation prize).

* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' DLC, The Crimson Court, the Crimson Curse cures any hero to catch it of any previous diseases (Rabies, Syphilis, The Worries, etc.). However, the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Crimson Curse]] is bad enough in its own rights to be avoided...until the late-game. After the Countess dies, the Curse becomes treatable in the Sanitarium, so you can end up with people deliberately infecting their heroes on repeatable Courtyard quests in order to safely take care of something in a location where disease is common, like the Warrens or Cove.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'': This is how Colonel O'Neill views blending with a Tok'ra to cure himself of a fatal disease. Initially, he refuses vehemently and repeatedly, but finally gives his consent. Turns out he had good reason to refuse since the symbiote completely took over his body like a Goa'uld instead of sharing with the host as the Tok'ra usually do. By contrast, Jacob Carter takes finding out about the stargate... and aliens... and the idea of sharing his body with an alien parasite very much in stride and views it as kind of an adventure, in addition to being a necessity. Millionaire Adrian Conrad becomes a Goa'uld host, desiring a cure for a terminal disease he has. It doesn't go well.

* Nick Wolfe from ''Series/HighlanderTheRaven'' is dying from poison, but is saved when Amanda shoots him, triggering Nick's latent immortality, which dying from poison would not do (because a person's "first death" only causes their immortality to kick in if the death is violent and traumatic). Nick sees immortality as [[WhoWantsToLiveForever a curse]], though, and angrily storms off while telling Amanda that he never wants to see her again.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' DLC, The Crimson Court, the Crimson Curse cures any hero to catch it of any previous diseases (Rabies, Syphilis, The Worries, etc.). However, the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Crimson Curse]] is bad enough in its own rights to be avoided...until the late-game. After the Countess dies, the Curse becomes treatable in the Sanitarium, so you can end up with people deliberately infecting their heroes on Garden Guardian runs in order to take care of something in the Warrens.

* If someone in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is stuck with a curse that they're unable to break, one option is to take on a second curse, which supersedes the effects of the older spell. Hardly ideal, but if fell magic is sapping your mind, cursing yourself with something like infertility is pretty benign by comparison.

->''"Sadly science doesn't have a cure for cancer. The ''supernatural'' however..."''

* Xykon from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. It is revealed in the prequel ''Recap/StartOfDarkness'' that he became a lich, under Redcloak's suggestion, to escape a magical disease that was preventing him from using his sorcerer magic. Also, they were prisoners of a powerful druid and had little other options for escaping. He also happily notes that becoming undead has cured his arthritis (he became undead at about age 80). Then he discovers that he can no longer taste food. Now his only pleasure is making people suffer. Which he proceeds to do non-stop. He didn't mind losing a ''certain body part'', however. According to him prior to the transformation, [[TheLoinsSleepTonight "it hasn't moved on its own for 16 years."]]

* This is how Edward views vampirism in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' - on the bright side, he was saved from a horrible, wasting death from [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu Spanish flu]] and is now [[TheBeautifulElite impossibly beautiful]]. On the negative side, he is hard as rock, dead, can't go out in direct sunlight, constantly thirsts to kill people and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking has to go to high school for the rest of his life]] ([[{{Immortality}} which is forever]]). This is why he is unwilling to make Bella a vampire, despite the fact that she wants to be one, [[spoiler: until he's forced to give her an EmergencyTransformation to save her life.]]

* In ''Manga/BlackBloodBrothers'', Chan was made a vampire using Kelly Wong's blood to save her life at her mother's request.

* ''Fanfic/PrinceCharming'': Prince Adrien was blessed at birth with the power to brainwash everyone he interacts with into his adoring slaves (whether or not he actually wants to). After several failed attempts to strip himself of this blessing, he eventually makes a [[DealWithTheDevil pact with Misfortune]] to be turned into a werecat: a change fundamental enough that he no longer ''is'' "Prince Adrien" and as such Prince Adrien's blessing no longer applies to him.

** There are only two confirmed cases of AIDS being cured by blood cancer. And that was because of the bone marrow and blood transfusions from people who might have had a genetic resistance to AIDS.

* The postgame content of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' reveals that [[spoiler:the hero]] was actually cursed to lose their childhood memories. This curse is so powerful that it overrides weaker enemy curses, making said character permanently immune to the Curse status in battle.

* The manga ''Manga/OnePiece'' has an interesting version of this trope. Brook ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, which meant that he knew that he'd be able to come back and live a second life as an [[TheUndead undead]] of sorts. It isn't known how much he knew of the Fruit's ability; he probably assumed correctly that his body would revive [[TheGrotesque regardless of its condition.]] However, he had no idea that due to circumstances of his death he would be CursedWithAwesome.

* Subverted in ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba''. At the end of the series, [[spoiler:Tanjiro Kamado]] is briefly turned into a demon, but is then cured and restored to being a human. While it seems as though his demonization restored the arm and eye that he lost in the final battle, he mentions that he can't move his arm or see out of his eye.

* Used as the setup for the graphic novel ''Harriet the Invincible'', where the titular Harriet is cursed to fall into a Sleeping Beauty style sleep when she turns 12. However the same curse must keep her alive until her 12th birthday in order to come true; effectively rendering her invincible. She uses this loophole to follow her true passions of cliff-diving, monster-slaying and adventuring.

* This is the idea behind the "'D' Program" in ''FanFic/TheReturn'', anyone in the program is eligible to be turned into a succubus if they are wounded seriously enough. Even if [[GenderBender they are male]].

* Played for horror in ''Literature/DragonBones'': Oreg is an immortal slave, who can only be killed by his current owner. He survives any injuries caused by someone else. His father and first owner, who had magically bound Oreg's [[PoweredByAForsakenChild soul to castle Hurog]] had him whipped by someone else in order to punish him without killing him.
* Used in the book series Year of Rogue Dragons (a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' novel) by the BigBad to force dragons to become dracoliches. He messed with an ancient curse meant to keep dragon's numbers down by driving them insane, and since undead are immune to MindControl, they had to take his offer to become liches or die.
* One of the ''Literature/NightWorld'' books is about a girl with cancer whose vampire boyfriend offers to turn her to save her life.
* In one ''Literature/MercyThompson'' book, a werewolf talks his father into getting infected to save him from cancer. It does cure the disease but the father fears his werewolf side, which ironically only gets him more unstable (since he doesn't even try to get in tune with his animal side, he can't control his rage)
* Claudia from ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire''. Louis and Lestat find her almost dead of the plague; they turn her into a vampire.
* This is how Edward views vampirism in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' - on the bright side, he was saved from a horrible, wasting death from [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu Spanish flu]] and is now [[TheBeautifulElite impossibly beautiful]]. On the negative side, he is hard as rock, dead, can't go out in direct sunlight, constantly thirsts to kill people and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking has to go to high school for the rest of his life]] ([[{{Immortality}} which is forever]]). This is why he is unwilling to make Bella a vampire, despite the fact that she wants to be one, [[spoiler: until he's forced to give her an EmergencyTransformation to save her life.]]

* In the ''Literature/{{Bordertown}}'' series, one of the major characters, Wolfboy, was a drug addict when he was turned into a WolfMan by a half-completed curse. This immediately cured the addiction.

* The sister series ''Series/{{Angel}}'' reveals that Darla was turned while dying from syphilis. When she was later returned to life as a human, she nearly died of the same disease and only survived by being turned again.
** An analogous situation arises later on the show, albeit in the opposite direction, [[spoiler: with Darla again. She is "cured" from her soullessness temporarily by becoming pregnant with Connor. The catch is that, in order to give birth, she has to die (or, undie).]]

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Rumpelstiltskin walks with a limp before he becomes the Dark One, and his Storybrooke incarnation Mr. Gold uses a cane as well, since there's no magic there. As the Dark One, his leg seems to be all right, although [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil not much else is]].
* In ''Series/BeingHumanUS'', a BubbleBoy with a weakened immune system named Kenny asks Aidan to be turned into a vampire so that he can live a (relatively) normal life. Unfortunately for him, Aidan has been dosed with werewolf blood and any vampire he sires becomes a hideously mutated werewolf/vampire hybrid.
* In ''Series/IZombie'', Liv infects [[spoiler:Major]] to save [[spoiler:him]] from a mortal wound. [[spoiler:He]] is not appreciative at all, so Liv injects [[spoiler:him]] with the remains of the cure ([[spoiler:it's later revealed that the cure is only temporary]]).

* Nick Wolfe from ''Series/HighlanderTheRaven'' is dying from poison, but is saved when Amanda shoots him, triggering Nick's latent immortality, which dying from poison would not do (because a person's "first death" only causes their immortality to kick in if the death is violent and traumatic). Nick sees immortality as [[WhoWantsToLiveForever a curse]], though, and angrily storms off while telling Amanda that he never wants to see her again.
* In ''Series/{{Constantine}}'', John is forced to [[spoiler:allow the demon Pazuzu to possess him]], knowing that it would heal his gunshot wound.

* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' when you are turned into a vampire all injuries, illnesses and disabilities disappear. However, now you are at the bottom of the pecking order surrounded by vampires who want to use you as a pawn and aren't shy of killing you if it helps them, must prey on humans to survive, can be smelled out by werewolves who will hunt you with prejudice and have to pretend you're human while dealing with the "burns in sunlight" thing.
* The Legion in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' are mages who summon Abyssal spirits to consume and replace their body parts in exchange for {{Lovecraftian Superpower}}s. Some of the most powerful members replace their ''brains'', rendering themselves immune to any form of mortal madness. Given the kind of people who join the Legion and where they tend to fall on the game's {{Sanity|Meter}}/KarmaMeter, letting an unnatural being from beyond the walls of reality do their thinking for them is generally an improvement.
* If someone in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is stuck with a curse that they're unable to break, one option is to take on a second curse, which supersedes the effects of the older spell. Hardly ideal, but if fell magic is sapping your mind, cursing yourself with something like infertility is pretty benign by comparison.

* ''VisualNovel/HustleCat'''s [[spoiler:Landry]] had an unfortunate run-in with [[spoiler:a bratty teenage witch, landing him with a curse he believed could potentially cause his heart to explode. In his panic, Landry allowed another witch to place a protective counter-curse which would turn him into a cat - the only time he can temporarily reclaim his human form is while on the second witch's property.]]

* The cures holding Velvare together in ''Webcomic/TheSilverEye''. They do a good job, for the most part, [[spoiler: considering he's supposed to be dead]] but sometimes Melete's magic is weakened, and he starts to fall apart again. The worst is in Chapter 10 when he's gone 8 straight days without sleep, and his cuts are bleeding so much, they completely soak through his clothes.
* Xykon from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''. It is revealed in the prequel ''Recap/StartOfDarkness'' that he became a lich, under Redcloak's suggestion, to escape a magical disease that was preventing him from using his sorcerer magic. Also, they were prisoners of a powerful druid and had little other options for escaping. He also happily notes that becoming undead has cured his arthritis (he became undead at about age 80). Then he discovers that he can no longer taste food. Now his only pleasure is making people suffer. Which he proceeds to do non-stop. He didn't mind losing a ''certain body part'', however. According to him prior to the transformation, [[TheLoinsSleepTonight "it hasn't moved on its own for 16 years."]]
* Happens in [[http://comic.nodwick.com/?comic=2001-11-14 this]] ''ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}}'' strip. Apparently, Yeagar, Artax, and Nodwick are so ''dumb'', that when the EvilSorceress She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed turns them into her {{brainwashed}} slaves, it makes them ''smarter''.

* ''WebComic/StandStillStaySilent'': The team discovers that, just before society collapsed, someone discovered a working cure for [[ZombieApocalypse the Rash disease]] and tested it. One problem though; [[spoiler:the "cure" is, effectively, a curse that halts the progession of the virus at the price of ''[[BarredFromTheAfterlife barring you from the afterlife]]''. Once your body dies of the slow and irreverisble brain death that was the only known side effect of the cure at the time at which it was used, you're reduced to a deranged ghost that [[AndIMustScream can't even remember its identity, let alone die]].]]

* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' when Mr. Burns gets a check-up at the Mayo Clinic and is diagnosed with ''everything'', that is every disease known to man as well as a few new ones that were just discovered in him. However, all of the diseases manage to effectively cancel each other out, leaving him with no symptoms whatsoever. The doctor tries to warn him that this so-called "[[Series/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges Syndrome]]" is so delicately in balance that even a slight breeze could throw it off and presumably kill him, but Mr. Burns is too busy thinking to himself that this means he's effectively immortal.

** To put this in context, Syphilis was the HIV/AIDS of its time. It was a very slow painful death with no real treatment until this. The only other treatment at the time was based on arsenic and needed to be handled with the utmost care. Malaria was the safer treatment.

** There are only two confirmed cases of AIDS being cured by blood cancer. And that was because of the bone marrow and Blood transfusions from people who might have had a genetic resistance to AIDS.

* Zigzagged with the Chickenpox virus: once you've had it you're rendered immune to it, and the older you are when you get it the worse it can be so it's best to get it at as young of an age as possible. The downside is having been infected with Chickenpox leaves you susceptible to Shingles at an older age: a painful skin rash caused by the reactivated Varicella Zoster virus. Where it was common to intentionally infect children with Chickenpox to "inoculate" them as late as the 2000s, the risk of Shingles has made this practice entirely obsolete in favor of vaccinations.

While this can be analogous to the "Awesome" part of CursedWithAwesome, the "Curse" part is not to be underestimated. It's basically the difference between "[[BigNo Nooooo]]! I don't wanna be a vampire! ...Of course, it DOES give me a superpower I could use to defeat the BigBad," whereas this trope is more "I don't wanna be a vampire... but if I have to choose between dying of AIDS, or becoming a Vampire... I'm gonna go with vampire." What's more, while CursedWithAwesome is about a "curse" that is actually pretty cool and useful, the CurseThatCures is at best an even trade and ''usually'' the one silver lining in an actually pretty crappy case of cursing.

* Zigzagged with the Chickenpox virus: once you've had it you're rendered immune to it, and the older you are when you get it the worse it can be so it's best to get it at as young of an age as possible. The downside is having been infected with Chickenpox leaves you susceptible to Shingles at an older age: a painful skin rash caused by the reactivated Varicella Zoster virus. Where it was common to intentionally infect children with Chickenpox to "inoculate" them at late as the 2000s, the risk of Shingles has made this practice entirely obsolete in favor of vaccinations.