She’s the real-life Rely Dracula.
A lady’s uncommon “vampire disease” reasons her to writhe in ache and may just also be catastrophic if she ingests garlic, just like the legendary bloodsucking creatures.
Phoenix Nightingale, 32, has what is known as “acute intermittent porphyria,” an excessively uncommon metabolic condition that leads to signs like ache, migraines, constipation and vomiting for days at a pace if induced.
Sadly for the Minnesota girl, her situation is induced via an hypersensitive reaction to sulfur, which is located in garlic and may just even lead to a “fatal attack” if she ingests residue.
“People call it the vampire disease,” she advised Jam Press.
The true-life Rely Dracula, Vlad III, is suspected to have had the condition, which impressed the fantasy of vampires who dislike garlic and are daylight averse.
“It comes from the legend about them needing to avoid garlic, having to stay out of the sun, looking pale and having receding teeth,” Nightingale defined.
“Neurological side effects can make people think that those with the condition must have been monsters or are possessed.”
The mom-of-two is pressured to steer clear of any meals containing sulfur, as consuming it in “high amounts or over an extended period could be fatal.” Signs, she added, can “come out of nowhere” or begin to eager in weeks forward of an assault.
“I’m very careful about what I put in my body. I avoid a lot of food. I stick to the food that I know is safe. I can’t even take most medications,” she mentioned.
“I haven’t eaten garlic since I was diagnosed. I could never eat garlic bread. It could send me into an attack,” she persisted, describing her “life-threatening” assaults as two-day bouts of vomiting, every now and then 60 occasions over the process an assault, and the opportunity of respiring difficulties.
Nightingale mentioned that she’s skilled over 480 assaults over the process her lifestyles as she searched her solutions, determined for a prognosis that handiest got here closing day. The ache, she added, can’t also be remedied via prescribed drugs, insisting that it’s worse than giving beginning.
“I had one attack where I didn’t go to hospital and it went on for 40 hours. It was non-stop vomiting, losing consciousness, screaming and crying,” she mentioned.
“I’ve pushed out two children and it’s worse than childbirth. It’s agony.”
This makes eating at eating places specifically difficult since garlic is a usual aspect in lots of cuisines and she or he additionally avoids pink grapes, soy, alcohol and low.
“When I go out for dinner, unless it’s a place I know, I look at a menu and I cry because I don’t know what I can eat and prefer to stick with my safe foods,” she defined.
She’s sharing her prognosis publicly within the hopes of spreading consciousness concerning the situation to somebody who may well be suffering to discover a prognosis for his or her signs.
“It took 31 years to get diagnosed and I had to pay out of pocket and spend years running analytics on it,” she mentioned, including that she needed to pluck issues “into my own hands.”
“It’s hard as a diagnosed person not being able to find a doctor who can help. When I see a doctor or go to hospital, they have to google the condition.”
Now, she’s hoping she will “help make changes in the medical system for mystery diagnoses and chronically ill patients.”
“There has to be more people out there suffering with it and being called crazy,” she mentioned.
