Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: lilurchin on 06/09/2018 20:38:19
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Article published last week - https://socialnewsdaily.com/75296/woman-possesses-fatal-water-allergy/
In order for a molecule to cause mast cells to degranulate (known as an allergic reaction) the molecule has to cross link two or more antibodies that are coated along the surface of sensitized mast cells. So how does a 3 atoms big molecule both bind to and cross link IgE? I can't really wrap my head around it.
Her condition is a lot worse than just a skin condition since she cannot drink a mouth full of water (or receive a drip that contains water because she reacts to those too) without her body going into shock and needing an epi pen. For example in an article published 20 years before this one, her parents said she drunk a mouth full of water by accident and she went into anaphylactic shock.
Based on what I've read about her, the following things can be ruled out -
1. That impurities in water are causing her condition.
This can be ruled out since it's heavily implied that she still reacts to orange juice and milk, because she only consumes 4 small glasses a day, which is very little for a 31 year old woman. The severity of her reaction directly correlates to the concentration of water molecules where plain water is the most dangerous for her internally. Since she reacted to a drip, we can also rule out impurities in tap water since drips use distilled water as their base yet she incurred a very severe internal reaction to said drip.
2. That a substance on her skin combines with something else to form an allergen
This can be ruled out by the fact she also suffers a reaction internally when water goes inside of her body. Although she also gets symptoms on her skin, the fact that she goes into anaphylaxis whenever water goes inside of her body, via intake of the mouth or having water injected into her bloodstream via an IV drip, rules out her condition being just a skin condition.
So by rule of elimination it seems as though she is having an IgE mediated reaction to the water molecule. However scientists often say that small molecules cannot illicit an allergic response or cross link IgE, so I am heavily confused by this case.
Further reading;
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/JUST+ONE+CUP+OF+WATER+COULD+KILL+LITTLE+HEIDI%3B+Girl%27s+deadly+allergy...-a061152595
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Brave+Heidi+writes+book+about+water+allergy.-a061200798
https://socialnewsdaily.com/75296/woman-possesses-fatal-water-allergy/
https://twitter.com/xxheidi?lang=en-gb
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/water-allergy-girl-reaches-21st-58672
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/thieves-shatter-allergy-girls-life-1317690.html
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There is a strong odor of bullshit about this one.
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There is a strong odor of bullshit about this one.
Can you elaborate please?
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You already made a thread about this and it was already explained to you why this is not a case of water allergies.
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You already made a thread about this and it was already explained to you why this is not a case of water allergies.
The article I posted is new, also I've done further research on her case and I cannot think of any other reason why she's reacting to water. The most common theories have been ruled out in this specific case and the woman is now publishing a book about her struggles entitled ''It's Only Water''.
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The article I posted is new, also I've done further research on her case and I cannot think of any other reason why she's reacting to water. The most common theories have been ruled out in this specific case and the woman is now publishing a book about her struggles entitled ''It's Only Water''.
No new articles are going to change the fact that this cannot be a water allergy for the simple fact that she doesn't react to her own bodily fluids, which are mostly water.
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The article I posted is new, also I've done further research on her case and I cannot think of any other reason why she's reacting to water. The most common theories have been ruled out in this specific case and the woman is now publishing a book about her struggles entitled ''It's Only Water''.
No new articles are going to change the fact that this cannot be a water allergy for the simple fact that she doesn't react to her own bodily fluids, which are mostly water.
Someone I know said that she doesn't react to her own bodily fluids since they're distinguishable enough from plain water and have other things in them, so they wouldn't cause an immune response. As for bodily fluids, are you referring to blood? Because mastocytes don't circulate in the blood but are prominent in connective and mucosal tissues, and the receptors for said mastocytes are coated on the outside of the cell, so if they were sensitive to water molecules then they'd only react to water molecules present on the exterior of the cell.
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Someone I know said that she doesn't react to her own bodily fluids since they're distinguishable enough from plain water and have other things in them, so they wouldn't cause an immune response.
Then either (1) water isn't the thing she is reacting to as bodily fluids contain far more water than any other chemical, or (2) the reaction is not an allergic one. Water is water regardless of whatever is or is not mixed with it. We've been through all of this before. Allergies simply do not work that way.
As for bodily fluids, are you referring to blood?
Blood, lymph, saliva, mucus, spinal fluid, extracellular fluid, anything.
Because mastocytes don't circulate in the blood but are prominent in connective and mucosal tissues, and the receptors for said mastocytes are coated on the outside of the cell, so if they were sensitive to water molecules then they'd only react to water molecules present on the exterior of the cell.
Then they would react to the water present in extracellular fluid. They don't. Therefore, this is not a water allergy.
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Someone I know said that she doesn't react to her own bodily fluids since they're distinguishable enough from plain water
How?
Water is water.
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Someone I know said that she doesn't react to her own bodily fluids since they're distinguishable enough from plain water and have other things in them, so they wouldn't cause an immune response.
Then either (1) water isn't the thing she is reacting to as bodily fluids contain far more water than any other chemical, or (2) the reaction is not an allergic one. Water is water regardless of whatever is or is not mixed with it. We've been through all of this before. Allergies simply do not work that way.
As for bodily fluids, are you referring to blood?
Blood, lymph, saliva, mucus, spinal fluid, extracellular fluid, anything.
Because mastocytes don't circulate in the blood but are prominent in connective and mucosal tissues, and the receptors for said mastocytes are coated on the outside of the cell, so if they were sensitive to water molecules then they'd only react to water molecules present on the exterior of the cell.
Then they would react to the water present in extracellular fluid. They don't. Therefore, this is not a water allergy.
How do you propose that ingesting water of any kind (be it through the mouth or via a saline drip) is causing reactions that are identical to anaphylaxis? Epi pens seem effective, as in one of the articles her parents stated that she once drunk a mouth full of water by mistake, and her body went into shock and she went unconscious (her throat also swelled shut), but it was reversed after a dose of adrenaline.
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How do you propose that ingesting water of any kind (be it through the mouth or via a saline drip) is causing reactions that are identical to anaphylaxis?
I don't know, but the fact that her body reacts to water under some circumstances but not under others is all the proof we need to know that water itself is not what is responsible.
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Epi pens seem effective
But the principal excipient in an epipen is.....water.
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Epi pens seem effective
But the principal excipient in an epipen is.....water.
Sure but wouldn't the adrenaline cancel out the effects of the water?
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Sure but wouldn't the adrenaline cancel out the effects of the water?
How?
Oh, sorry, I forgot- you can't answer that question.
Someone I know said that she doesn't react to her own bodily fluids since they're distinguishable enough from plain water
How?
Water is water.
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Sure but wouldn't the adrenaline cancel out the effects of the water?
How?
Oh, sorry, I forgot- you can't answer that question.
Someone I know said that she doesn't react to her own bodily fluids since they're distinguishable enough from plain water
How?
Water is water.
Someone posted this on Reddit and I remember one of the posters saying that bodily fluids are different enough to plain water that the immune system wouldn't react.
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Someone posted this on Reddit and I remember one of the posters saying that bodily fluids are different enough to plain water that the immune system wouldn't react.
Whoever said that had no idea what they were talking about. That's like saying that a person with a peanut allergy won't react to peanut butter because it's mixed with other substances and therefore isn't made purely of peanuts.
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Someone posted this on Reddit and I remember one of the posters saying that bodily fluids are different enough to plain water that the immune system wouldn't react.
Whoever said that had no idea what they were talking about. That's like saying that a person with a peanut allergy won't react to peanut butter because it's mixed with other substances and therefore isn't made purely of peanuts.
Good point
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I found a ncbi article that reminds me of Heidi's case since the patient has an internal reaction to drinking water- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5438944/
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Thoughts on the ncbi article?
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bump.............