Condition causes woman to sweat blood, leaves doctors perplexed

Image courtesy: Canadian Medical Association Journal

New Delhi: Doctors and medical experts have been left completely baffled with the case of a 21-year-old woman who suffers from a disorder which causes her to sweat blood.

The Italian woman bleeds spontaneously despite having no lesions, CBC News reported.

According to the the New York Post, the University of Florence study said that the patient has experienced random bleeding episodes for three years. There has been no clear trigger for the woman’s bleeding.

“I can say with clarity that I’ve never seen a case like this — ever,” Dr. Michelle Sholzberg, co-director of the Hemophilia Comprehensive Care program at St. Michael’s Hospital, told CBC News. “And I can say that I’ve seen some of the worst bleeding disorders, and I’ve never seen them sweat blood,” the NY Post reported.

While the patient has experienced bloody episodes while working out, as well as when she's asleep, she said that she would bleed more severely when she was stressed.

Experts said the blood loss lasts from one to five minutes.

As per CBC, doctors ultimately diagnosed her with hematohidrosis, a disorder where a patient will excrete or sweat blood through unbroken skin or pores.

“I think this person has a very bizarre anatomical defect on a microscopic level that is resulting in this very unusual symptom,” Sholzerbg told CBC.

According to the study, the woman is embarrassed by the disorder and has become reclusive.

“Our patient had become socially isolated owing to embarrassment over the bleeding and she reported symptoms consistent with major depressive disorder and panic disorder,” the study said.

Medical professionals have not been able to cure her, but prescribed a beta blocker medication called proletarian which helped alleviate the symptoms.