This is so touching. Alexandra Allen wanted to be a marine biologist, and live on a sailboat when she was a little girl. After finding out that she has a rare allergy to water, the 17-year-old from Mapleton, Utah, said that that dream isn’t likely to come true.
When she was about 12, while on vacation with her family, she went swimming in a hotel pool. Later that night she found herself itching and covered in hives. This was the first time she had an allergic reaction.
“I remember sitting in the bathroom trying so hard not to scratch myself and make it worse until my mom came back with the Benadryl,” the high school senior told ABC News.
She had assumed that she was simply allergic to chlorine, or some other chemical, and avoided swimming pools. But she broke out into hives again, after swimming in a lake that supposedly comprised of “very clean water”.
When Allen was 15, she came across a medical site that mentioned a condition known as aquagenic urticarial, a condition defined by a painful reaction from skin contact with water, dry skin and dry eyes. When she spoke about it to her dermatologist, he agreed.
“He brought in a few other doctors and they just sat around in awe,” she recalled. She added that the test to confirm the diagnosis involved soaking in a tub of water. It felt “like being tortured”. Surely those scientists could have, I don’t know, dabbed water on her palm or something? The rareness of the condition probably made them go overboard…
Aquagenic urticarial is so rare that only about 50 cases have been noted by the medical profession, according to Dr. Barney J. Kenet, a dermatologist with the Cornell Medical Center.
“It’s a real thing. We learn about it in medical school, though I have never seen a case in my practice,” Kenet said.
While not a true allergy, it causes severe allergy-like reactions. Exposure to rain, snow, sweat or even tears can trigger symptoms, according to an article in the Journal of Allergy Immunological Practice. It is one of the few studies to describe the disease.
One theory of its cause is that the sweat glands within the skin produce a toxin that triggers an allergic response. Antigens could also cause the immune system to produce antibodies, which are absorbed in the skin after dissolving in water.
Allen said that finding ways to avoid water has been a challenge. She has also become a vegetarian to reduce the oils in her skin. She avoids sweating, and can only take two or three very short, cold showers a week. Even humid climates can bring on a reaction, as she found out last year during a trip to Cambodia with a humanitarian aid group. It must have been hard for a person who can’t sweat to even sign up to help others in this way. And to be unable to even tolerate the environment for the entire time…. That takes guts.
Her condition is thought to get worse with time and repeated exposures, Allen said. She expects at some point that even drinking water may become a problem. Last year, she spoke to a British woman with the same diagnosis who told her she can now only drink Diet Coke.
But Allen still manages to stay positive, “At least I’m not allergic to dogs — and it does get me out of doing the dishes,” she said. An awesome attitude, from someone who has it so rough.
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Source: ABC News
Let’s common sense this a little bit here. Some lady in England can only drink Diet Coke? What’s in Diet Coke folks? WATER.
Did they ever notice an allergy in the bath? After a Shower? It mentions when she is 12 she has a reaction after the pool, but the second reaction is not discussed until she is 15. HMMMM.
I have this same condition and have had it since I was about 8-9 years old. We always thought it was soap in the shower or chlorine or some kind of microbe in the ocean that caused me to break out in hives. Finally when I was in my early 20s I started getting hives from sweating and using lotion so I went to the dermatologist and at first he didn’t believe me. Luckily I wasn’t forced to take any painful allergy tests and the doctor wrote me a prescription for Allegra and sent me on my way (so I’m guessing I’m not one of the 50 documented cases). The Allegra works great for me as long as I remember to take it every day and now it’s over the counter I don’t even have to get a prescription for it. I still can’t believe all the pain and itching was cured by a simple allergy pill! I wish I hadn’t waited 14 years before I saw a doctor!
thats some quality bullshit
Haha, indeed. Relevant, contextual & aggressively full of shit. 10/10 for marketing.
It’s real. Glad the Allegra works.
My aunt has this problem and say its because every spout is made with coconut shell husks… Its not funny or a joke its horrible to see her this way.
I have the same condition and have had it since I was around 8-9 years old. My parents and I always thought it was soap, or chlorine, or microscopic creatures in ocean water. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20s when I started getting hives from sweat and lotion that I finally saw a dermatologist. Of course the doctor didn’t believe me at first but luckily for me a painful allergy test wasn’t required and he just wrote me a prescription for Allegra and sent me on my way (so I’m guessing I’m not one of the documented 50 cases). As long as I take Allegra every day I’m fine, but it I forget the hives come back as soon as water touches my skin. I still can’t believe I was living with this for 14 years before I finally saw a doctor and a little pill can make the hives go away. Hopefully Alexandra can find an allergy medicine that will help her too. I’m 30 and have been living with the condition for over a third of my life and without medicine it is very uncomfortable. Funnily enough I went to the University of Miami for a year to study Marine Biology!
I read another article where someone said it might be an excess of histamine. There is an enzyme that breaks down histamine and there are now non prescription capsules that can be taken off Person doesn’t produce enough of the enzyme themselves
thats some quality bullshit, your body contain mostly of water and i assume that you were out and playing with your buds as a kid, that would make it nearly impossible for you not to sweat
and btw i got it too 😮 im one of the documented 50 cases of people who need attention
Yall bitches out there who telling us yall got some crazy water condition can straight go fuck yallselves cause aint no one over here be-lieve yall shit.
P.S. Yall bitches retarded for even be-leiving yon bull-shit any which way so go and get some common scence classes or something cause yall re-tards yon re-tarded as a donkey on crack cocaine.
P.S.S. And be-sides, yall bitches so re-tarded aint got aint no game against this beauty queen yon ahead of yall so back off or im a goin to have to call my old man and get are rubber-bullet shot-guns outs are shed and are hoe cause yall goin to have to dig yaorrwn graves, and doggone it all them bulletse aint soft specialy cause theys a rubber ones from mah shed and theys also a been headed down from my grand paps and be-fore hisself so yall better watch heavens out and forth.
P.S.S.S. Yall doggone cotton pickers is a goin to be my slaves cause my old mans a IBM hacker or whatevr dem governments bitches calls them so ima get yalls computer codes and find yall so watch out cause we got rubber bullet shot-guns ans em computer codes of yours.
I developed this after I got pregnant. It’s not a reaction like to peanuts. It’s a simple rash at exposure. There are three forms, I have two. One, water on skin. Two, sweat causing reaction. Three, and most severe, humidity swelling the throat. Look it up. It’s very real. I take attarax which is great. Allegra and benadryl didn’t work for me. You learn to become very skilled at staying clean and avoid said issues. Without my medication, I notice it starts within seconds of exposure. So, young lady, good luck and suggest your doctors looking into non-histamine medications, since it is another allergy trigger that causes our reactions.
Inspiring Story of Utah Teen Who Is Allergic to WATER
reading on…
While not a true allergy, it causes severe allergy-like reactions.
WHAT THE HELL? If it’s not, don’t say it is to get more people to read it! You’re prostituting your journalism profession!
If this is not a true allergy, then why does it have the common symptoms? and how does it get worse over time? and how do they survive? why not take allergy pills?
She has a FAQ up where you she answers a lot of the questions that come up: http://alexandrallen.com/?p=235