Being conjoined is rare, which is why people are so fascinated as to what it’s like. That’s why a pair of sisters recently opened up about what it’s like to share the same body.
They also hit back at the people who feel it’s ok to constantly ask questions about their lives. The sisters, who share organs and limbs below the waist, go on to talk about various things they get asked daily.
When they were born, their parents were told they were only likely to live a few days. Even so, they defied the odds and are continuing to live their lives to the full.
They share the same body parts, but this hasn’t held them back from doing the things they want to do. Lupita noted that they can’t control each other’s limbs.
This means getting a little tipsy affects them both, but they feel full at different times due to the fact that they have two different stomachs. Carmen added: “We’re still two different people, so we have two separate ID’s and ID numbers and social security numbers and all that stuff.”
They can get sent some quite personal messages and some people even ask what will happen if one of them dies, a situation they’ve never been through. Carmen also discussed the dynamics of relationships, as she and Lupita share a reproductive system and both have endometriosis and experience pelvic pain.
Carmen has been with her boyfriend Daniel for three years, while Lupita is asexual and they are also really good friends. Even though Carmen is in a happy relationship, they confessed they aren’t able to have children due to the fact that they “share” a lot of “internal structures,” and separation surgery is considered too risky for them.
The sisters never get tired of one another, with Lupita saying, “Sometimes at the end of the day, we’re just exhausted and we don’t want to talk. That’s when we’ll go on different devices and do our own thing.
“I have my laptop to do schoolwork, and Lupita will put on headphones and listen to music or go on her phone. We’ve been conjoined our whole life, so it’s not like we miss our independence.
It’s all we’ve ever known, right?”
