Jakarta –
Viral story of a woman in Fresno, United States, suffering from a rare disease and forced to live without water. The reason is, this woman named Tessa Hansen Smith has a water allergy, in medical terms it is called Aquagenic Urticaria.
This condition appeared when he was 8 years old. At the age of 25, Tessa still struggles with allergies, even the water from her sweat and tears makes her skin itch and leaves scars.
“I came out of the shower and there were huge welts on my skin, and my scalp was bleeding after showering,” said Tessa when she first found out she had Aquagenic Urticaria.
The British National Institute of Health (NIH) said that until now the trigger for the rare water allergy Aquagenic Urticaria is unknown. However, cases have so far been mostly reported in women.
Tessa’s mother Karen Hansen-Smith is a family medicine doctor and was the first to realize her daughter had a water allergy, after years of testing by many specialists.
“I feel a little guilty as a mother for not seeing when he came out of the bathroom that he had hives, and knowing early on that it was a water problem,” she said, quoted by People.
In fact, it is predicted that only less than 250 people will experience this case in the world. Therefore, not many people believed it when Tessa said that she had a water allergy.
“When I told this to people in college, I would see people intentionally splashing water on me, or I would see people throwing ice cubes at me,” Tessa said.
Tessa is now forced to undergo intensive treatment in hospital due to severe dehydration and is suffering from ischemic colitis.
While hospitalized for ischemic colitis, Tessa experienced complications.
“This caused multiple surface blood clots and at least one deep blood clot in my right arm,” he said.
The hospitalization also left Tessa needing physical therapy to recover and left her family with huge debts.
“We are now struggling to pay my medical bills and make ends meet,” he wrote.
“I’m not getting healthier because my condition is getting worse. I hope I can go back to school, I hope I can get a job again. I hope I can find a normal life again,” he concluded.
Watch the video “Scientists Develop ‘Skin Patch’ to Treat Peanut Allergies in Children”
(naf/up)
2023-10-05 02:35:19
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