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Woman treated by doctors after her blood turned blue
- Medicalidiot 7y agoI'm assuming this is methemoglobinemia or something analogous to that. It's usually a congenital disease or one that develops because of medications. The two meds I can think of that would cause this are dapsone and benzocaine. It's an easily treatable disease where we have the patient take methylene blue, cool but not worrying with proper treatment.
- tda 7y agoEither you know what you are talking about or read the article, as that is spot on
- epmaybe 7y agoIt's probably the only thing that causes your blood to turn blue, usually from numbing medication haha. Skin looks blue too, but patients are generally totally fine.
- gilleain 7y agoYour tissues can turn blue from excess silver: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria But that probably doesn't affect the blood.
- trehalose 7y agoI didn't know it's treated with methylene blue. Kind of amazing how blue blood is treated with blue dye. What a beautifully simple example of biochemistry being counterintuitive.
- suvelx 7y agoHomeopathy works! /s
- ebg13 7y ago> I'm assuming this is methemoglobinemia or something analogous to that You don't have to assume. "Woman, 25, diagnosed with methemoglobinemia" is the first sentence after the title. > The two meds I can think of that would cause this are dapsone and benzocaine. "Doctors say numbing agent for toothache to blame" is the next sentence after that. "Warren said the condition had been triggered by a numbing agent containing benzocaine" is further down. > It's an easily treatable disease where we have the patient take methylene blue "The woman was treated with an antidote, methylene blue" is in there too.
- vo2maxer 7y agoThe differential diagnoses for methemoglobinemia are more varied than your comment suggests. Here is a reasonable list: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/204178-differential https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/204178-differential
- carrolldunham 7y agowhen a case is surprising enough to make it to the main news, isn't it by definition so rare and unlikely it's not really worth thinking about?
- leksak 7y agoMore importantly, is HN the right venue to share this?
- AlexDragusin 7y agoI find it interesting, in fact blood can turn green as well, without being an alien: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfhemoglobinemia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfhemoglobinemia > Sulfhemoglobinemia is a rare condition in which there is excess sulfhemoglobin (SulfHb) in the blood. The pigment is a greenish derivative of hemoglobin which cannot be converted back to normal, functional hemoglobin. It causes cyanosis even at low blood levels. >It is a rare blood condition that occurs when a sulfur atom is incorporated into the hemoglobin molecule. When hydrogen sulfide (H2S) (or sulfide ions) and ferric ions combine in the blood, the blood is incapable of carrying oxygen.
- apathy 7y agoIndeed, this is why hydrogen sulfide is toxic in smallish doses
- mikelyons 7y agoBlood hacking
- acd 7y agoThe substance benzocaine is in certain soar throat pills.
- tzs 7y agoAlternatively...alien anthropologist/spy/fugitive/tourist/etc's disguise technology partly fails, revealing non-human blood. MiB neuralyzes witnesses and plants the methemoglobinemia story.
- hello_tyler 7y agoIs it bad to have blue blood ? I think it could be kind of novel if it didn't have any nasty side effects.
- ebg13 7y agoI wonder what goes through the minds of the guardian's editors when they write titles like this. "Woman treated by doctors" isn't a story. One hopes that _everyone_ whose blood turns blue would be treated by doctors.
- fuzzy2 7y ago[A] Woman [having been] treated by doctors most certainly is the story here.
- ebg13 7y agoNo it is not. A woman's blood turning blue is the story. Being treated by doctors when your blood turns blue is expected and normal. Blood turning blue is not expected or normal.
- Waterluvian 7y agoI think you're misinterpreting the very classic style in which headlines are written. Subject, Action, important qualifiers.
- ebg13 7y ago"Woman's blood turns blue after benzocaine ingestion" is the story. Being treated by doctors is not.
- lordgrenville 7y agoThanks for summarising, what a poor headline. It's like saying "Man Retrieved From Sea After Dying" [article: man was attacked by a shark].
- foxyv 7y agoBut then I wouldn't need to read the article to answer the question that pops up into my head.
- coldtea 7y ago
- DoofusOfDeath 7y agoI was surprised to hear that not only is there a known treatment ("methylene blue"[0]) for the condition , but that a smallish hospital like Miriam actually had some on hand. The wiki page explains that "methylene blue" actually treats a variety of problems. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylene_blue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylene_blue
- uhoh 7y agoI'm a medical toxicologist, I'm surprised this tiny case report got picked up by The Guardian, and that it got on the hacker news front page, it's bread and butter stuff. Sulfhemoglobin is actually even less dangerous than methemoglobin, since it shifts the oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve right. We all have low levels of methemoglobin produced in our own bodies, but it can increase from certain exposures. Symptoms are usually very mild, but rarely it can become severe. It's typically treated with methylene blue, if treated at all. If anyone has questions for me, I'll check back later in the day.