The teenage girl who is allergic to WATER

Last updated at 00:26 29 February 2008

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Teenager Ashleigh Morris can't go swimming, soak in a hot bath or enjoy a shower after a stressful day's work - she's allergic to water.
Even sweating brings the 19-year-old out in a painful rash.
Ashleigh, from Melbourne, Australia, is allergic to water of any temperature, a condition she's lived with since she was 14.

She suffers from an extremely rare skin disorder called Aquagenic Urticaria - so unusual that only a handful of cases are documented worldwide.
When Ashleigh gets wet her body explodes in sore, itchy red lumps that take about two hours to ease.
She has to wash. But showering is a painful experience and she can only do it for a minute at a time.
These brief showers are the only contact Ashleigh has with water. The one thing she doesn't miss is the washing up.
"People find it hard to believe, they say things like 'Oh my god, how do you wash.

The rash Ashleigh gets after coming into contact with water is MORE painful than it looks
"That makes me feel dirty, but I consider myself a very clean person," she said.
Most of us take showering for granted but for Ashleigh it's a painful endurance that often reduces her to tears.
"Although my rash is unsightly, and often looks like I'm diseased, the feeling is so much worse than it looks," she said.
"I can't go anywhere for about two hours afterwards because it's so severe.
"There's been many occasions where I've been so itchy, I've made myself bleed from scratching."
Away from water pretty Ashleigh appears like any other healthy teenager.
She leads a busy life studying Journalism and Public Relations at university and working in an office.
But if she gets wet she attracts unwanted attention.
"People stare at me in the street," said Ashleigh who lives with her mum Louise Miller, 42.
"After a shower I stay at home until it goes away, that frees me of the burden of having to explain."
Ashleigh spends a lot of time explaining her condition because few people have heard of it. Most doctors and dermatologists have never seen a case of it. "Many people don't even believe me when I tell them," said Ashleigh, who hardly believed it herself at first.
She developed the condition five years ago after an acute case of tonsillitis. She was prescribed a heavy dose of penicillin that rid her of the tonsillitis but left her with another problem.
"I suddenly started getting a rash after I showered or swam," says Ashleigh who used to swim regularly and spend a lot of time at the beach.
"I tried to ignore it but it got progressively worse so I went to see a dermatologist."
Ashleigh's dermatologist, Professor Rodney Sinclair, told her the penicillin had altered the histamine levels in her body and caused the Aquagenic Urticaria to occur.
There is no cure and no successful treatment for the condition so the gravity of the situation began to dawn on the 14-year-old Ashleigh.
"I was in disbelief for a while, but I soon realised how serious it was.
"I cried for a few hours, then picked myself up, and kept going. I realised it was something I had to live with," she says.
So Ashleigh found ways to avoid water - she stopped doing sports and anything that made her sweat.
She makes sure she stays in air-conditioned places and always has an umbrella in her car. Her family and boyfriend of three years, Adam, 23, are very supportive but her condition makes intimate moments with her Adam a little difficult.
"We have to sleep with a sheet between us at night, and I can't go near him if he's sweaty," said Ashleigh.
Even the experts seem a little vague about Aquagenic Urticaria.
Dermatologists agree there's an association with elevated blood histamine levels, but there are other processes at work since antihistamine drugs often provide no relief at all.
Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists says: "There isn't a wealth of information about Aquagenic Urticaria because it's extremely rare.
"We're not sure how many cases there are in the world and we do not yet fully understand the precise mechanisms that trigger the weals."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0vndSkFbm

 

Originally Posted by resilient

that's really sick... I have a similar condition that results from eating oats, barley, olive oil, tree nuts... just began occurring a year ago. But water is beyond sick for an allergy.

You must hate squirrels

Here's what I don't get. If the human body is over 50% water, how is this not internal too?

Feel for the girl though, that's a disgusting beat.

 

Originally Posted by watson5j

weirdo.

i thought that was standard behavior in Tennessee???

 

Originally Posted by zander

Here's what I don't get. If the human body is over 50% water, how is this not internal too?

Feel for the girl though, that's a disgusting beat.

seemingly legit point but it sounds like her reaction is from water touching the skin. Some allergies are from ingesting food, but skin contact also exacerbates the condition. I had a smaller outbreak about 6 months ago, and got a massage.... when she finished, I had hives/wheals all over my back.

i'd (not) skeet on her. because of her condition.

30 seconds = no sweat = win-win immfo

it's terrible for her, but for science it's an interesting condition that can be learned from.

 

Originally Posted by felipebball

I went to college with a girl who was allergic to "cold". Always thought she was messin around, but she would always have to wear hoodies or long sleeve shirts even in the middle of summer in NY. If her body got any bit cold, she would break out into hives and airways start to swell up. Altho can't feel bad for her since she chose to go to school in Buffalo, NY.

dude stfu no way anyone like that would live in ny, cali ftw . fake story!

 

Originally Posted by p00pymcp00perton

The teenage girl who is allergic to WATER...
"I cried for a few hours, got massive hives on my eyelids, then picked myself up, and kept going...

fyp

 

Originally Posted by AUSteweyOX

id still bang her tho.. how does she stay hydrated? most drinks have some water in them

lol. i'm curious... what drinks don't contain water? what are they made of instead of water? are they like liquid mercury containing drinks? or like liquid nitrogen drinks?

 

Originally Posted by AUSteweyOX

id still bang her tho.. how does she stay hydrated? most drinks have some water in them

 

Originally Posted by MUPokerPlayer

lol. i'm curious... what drinks don't contain water? what are they made of instead of water? are they like liquid mercury containing drinks? or like liquid nitrogen drinks?

my point exactly but apparently someone above said that she is only affected if it touches her skin, but not by consumption.

someone is lying imo

 

Originally Posted by watson5j

she stays hydrated by drinking water...her skin reacts to water touching it...

where did you go to med school?

looks legit.

Aquagenic urticaria.
Cutis. 1992 Oct;50(4):283-4.

Parker RK, Crowe MJ, Guin JD.
Department of Dermatology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock 72205.
Abstract

Aquagenic urticaria is a rare form of physical urticaria characterized by small follicular wheals with an erythematous flare upon exposure to water. We describe typical lesions in a seven-year-old boy with aquagenic urticaria, cholinergic urticaria, and symptomatic dermatographism, who responded to treatment with ultraviolet B and oral antihistamines.

How has anyone not stated the obv, she's a witch

nah - doubt she would float with all that shit on her skin.