Could it be "vampire disease"?

Vampire disease, also known as porphyria, is a group of diseases caused by a deficiency of specific enzymes in the heme biosynthesis pathway.

Heme is an iron-containing pigment that is involved in the composition of hemoglobin. Heme biosynthesis is involved in a variety of different enzymes, and different enzyme deficiencies can cause different porphyrias, which in turn can lead to a range of symptoms.

Clinically, it is also known as purple matter, which is divided into two categories: hereditary and acquired, and the main manifestations are photosensitive dermatitis, abdominal pain and neuropsychiatric disorders.

However, porphyria was first discovered in the West, because the patient was afraid of the sun and was diagnosed with ischemia, and some people mistakenly thought that taking blood could cure the disease, which led to the story of vampires.

In fact, taking blood has no effect, but blood transfusion has a certain effect.

The main causes of porphyrhea are alcohol consumption, estrogen, pesticides, dialysis, or fatty liver disease.

But there are also genetic factors.

Guo Xiang talked to the patient's mother alone, and she hesitated for a long time before admitting that she and her husband were cousins, and the two were considered close relatives.

I see, Xing Ming and Xu Wei glanced at each other, this should be a genetic mutation.

The woman's onset this time should be due to pregnancy, and the excessive estrogen in the body during pregnancy leads to the onset.

"If you want to confirm the diagnosis, you will know if you have a urine test." Guo Xiang said.

Back to the ward, urine was taken from the patient.

"How?" Xing Ming asked, it was the first time he had come into contact with this disease.

"If you put this urine in the sun, the urine of normal people will become lighter for four hours, and the urine of people with porphyria will become darker. If Dr. Xing doesn't believe me, you can take your urine out and try it out. Guo Xiang said.

Xing Ming's face turned red, but he still took the urine, he really wanted to see if there would be a difference.

The urine was packed in a transparent box and put in the sun to dry, and when they came back in the afternoon, sure enough, the urine that was originally yellow was as light as water, while the patient's urine had become as brown and red as soy sauce.

"Why is this happening?" Xing Ming asked.

"Because the porphyrins in the patient's urine react to light, it turns brownish-red." Guo Xiang said that this would make it more certain that the patient had porphyria.

After confirming the symptoms, Guo Xiang discussed with the patient's mother-in-law and mother that the pregnancy must be stopped immediately, otherwise the patient's illness will become more and more serious.

The patient's mother-in-law was very angry when she heard this, "Divorce, divorce immediately, you can't have children, you're still a psychopath, you are cheating on marriage!" ”

"We are not cheating on our mother, and we didn't know that our daughter had this disease before!" The patient's mother was in a hurry.

"Then I don't care, anyway, we don't dare to ask for this daughter-in-law, why do you want to have a baby, I will call my son to come over and divorce you tomorrow!" The patient's mother-in-law shook her hand and left.

The patient's mother was very helpless, she didn't expect this, her daughter was a little squeamish before, and she didn't expect it to be such a serious illness.

But now that this is the case, the child can only be beaten first, and the daughter's life is at stake.

So Xu Wei performed uterine evacuation surgery on the patient, and the patient's condition was quickly controlled, and then given high sugar supplements to reduce the production of porphyrins to prevent recurrence.

After two days, the patient was awake and seemed to be fine.

However, she also knew about her illness and knew that she was going to divorce her husband, and she was very depressed.

"Doctor, will my daughter get sick again in the future?" The patient's mother was worried.

"There is no treatment for this disease, try to avoid sun exposure in the future, her skin will not be able to stand the sun, she will feel pain and burning, her skin will be red and blistered or even ulcerated, and her mood will be unstable......"

"You can't drink alcohol, you can't eat anything with estrogen, and I'm afraid it's not good to get pregnant, although she will be anemic in this condition, it's best to come regularly for phlebotomy......"

"Because there is too much iron in the blood, and then some heme is transfused, it will be a little more stable." Guo Xiang said that she was also very helpless, there is no rule of law for this disease, especially if it is inherited, it is a genetic defect.

The patient's mother's eyes turned red when she heard this, "I hurt her, I shouldn't have ...... with her father in the first place."

blamed himself for being too willful back then, thinking that true love could be desperate.

It is not just a matter of saying that collateral blood relatives cannot marry within three generations, but there is really a scientific basis.

Some people may say that the so-and-so and so-and-so they know are not also cousins, how can the children they have be okay?

It's a matter of probability, but it's much more likely than the average person, and there are far more defective children than normal people in close marriages.

Some people have children who are mentally retarded at birth, and even give birth to several of them, just because of the marriage of close relatives.

Too many closely related genes increase the probability of genetic diseases, and the risk of some autosomal recessive genetic diseases is much greater.

Therefore, you must be cautious in marriage, and if you really want to be willful, do not have children, so as not to harm him or her.

After some time, the patient was discharged from the hospital after the head surgery, but it is unknown what happened to her and her husband.

Soon it was November, and the weather in the capital was already very cold.

Guo Xiang counted the days with his fingers, and her husband was about to come back.

I'm looking forward to it.

On this day, an old man about sixty years old came, and his wife accompanied him.

"Uncle, what's uncomfortable?" Guo Xiang asked.

The old man opened his mouth, saliva flowed down, and the old face turned red.

"I'll tell you." His wife couldn't look at it, "I don't know why, the corners of my mouth started to drool a few days ago, and my mouth couldn't close, and I slept with a huff, and the pillow was wet." ”

"I also said that this person is not old, why do you not like to be clean, who knows that when you drink water, you will choke, and you can't drink water, and when you drink it, it will flow out of the corners of your mouth, and sometimes you will spit it out......"

"At first, we thought it was just the wind, but who knew that we couldn't swallow anything later, and we couldn't swallow a little bite, so we could only vomit, and we took a small bite again, and then swallowed it slowly, and finally ate a little food."

"You see, in just a few days, people have lost so much weight. Later, they said could it be a stroke? Scared him so much, if he had a stroke and collapsed in bed, wouldn't it be better to live than to die? Let's take a look. The patient's wife said.

Guo Xiang nodded while listening, and took the stethoscope, "Uncle, I'll show you." ”

I put the stethoscope on the old man's chest, I felt that my breathing and heart rate were quite normal, and I measured my blood pressure, which was not too high.

"Uncle, stick your tongue out and I'll take a look." Guo Xiang said.

"Doctor, aren't you a Western doctor here? Why do you still look at the tongue coating? The eldest lady asked.

Guo Xiang smiled, "I'm not looking at the tongue coating, I'm looking at whether the uncle can control his tongue......"

In general, if the person has a stroke, the tongue will be tilted to one side and will not be centered.

Because the muscles of the tongue are controlled by the brain, if the brain has a stroke and the nerve that controls the tongue is damaged, the tongue will be tilted to one side and cannot be centered.