A runny nose, watery eyes, and painful, itchy
hives…as you might have guessed, these are just some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction. Many things can cause such a reaction - anything
from dust, to pollen, to foods - but some unfortunate people suffer from one of the
most bizarre allergies of all - an allergy to water! It may sound outrageous or even downright
impossible, but this incredibly problematic allergy is all too real. It is extremely rare, but some people really
are allergic to water, and you won’t believe how they live! Even if you’ve been lucky enough to never
have been afflicted with an allergy attack, you probably know someone who suffers from
allergies of some sort. Up to thirty percent of the world’s population
suffers from some form of environmental allergies like hay fever, and two-hundred and fifty
million people worldwide have food allergies. An allergy to water is much rarer than other
kinds of allergies. Officially called aquagenic urticaria, it
affects around one in every two-hundred and thirty million people - that means that fewer
than fifty people in the entire world are allergic to water. Now that you know that this bizzare allergy
exists, you’re probably wondering how on earth someone could live with a water allergy. To find out, let’s meet someone who lives
with this strange condition every day. Michaela Dutton was a totally normal, water-drinking,
shower-taking woman for most of her life - until she gave birth to her son in two-thousand
and five. When she took a bath a few days after giving
birth, her body broke out in excruciatingly painful hives. “The condition has placed a terrible strain
on what I can do,” she told the Daily Mail in two-thousand and nine. “I can’t really hold my son because if
he sweats or dribbles or spills a drink on me I get covered in sore itchy lumps. I can’t even wipe his tears away or bathe
him.” Michaela’s doctors believe her allergy was
brought on by hormonal changes during pregnancy, and many sufferers are diagnosed around puberty,
another time of great hormonal changes. To better understand how people like Michaela
navigate day-to-day life with such a bizarre allergy, let’s imagine living a day in the
life of a person who is allergic to water. Picture this - you wake up in the morning
and head to your kitchen. You’re so thirsty, but quenching your thirst
is far from simple. You’d love to gulp down a cool glass of
water, but you know that that’s a recipe for disaster. The last time you drank water it felt like
drinking a glass of poison - your throat felt itchy, raw and painful for days. Instead, you chug a cold glass of milk to
take the edge of your thirst. Next, you turn your attention to getting your
caffeine fix. You consider making some coffee to get you
going, but decide that the caffeine boost isn’t worth the pain of drinking a beverage
with such a high water content. Instead, you grab a can of diet soda from
the fridge to satisfy your caffeine craving. Scientists aren’t sure why, but diet soda
and milk seem to be more tolerable to people with water allergies. Considering water is the most basic necessity
of life, you’ll take what you can get when it comes to hydration! Sixty percent of the human body is made up
of water - that adds up to nearly forty litres for a one-hundred and fifty-five pound person! We need to drink at least two litres of water
per day to stay hydrated, but people with water allergies have to get creative when
it comes to their water intake. In addition to diet soda and milk, they will
also eat more foods with a high water content, like cucumbers, melons, and tomatoes. Thankfully, water inside their body is okay
- it’s when water comes into contact with their skin that it becomes a problem. The temperature of the water or whether it's
distilled or salinated seems to have no impact on the allergic reaction - contact with all
types of water are problematic. Getting water into your body through your
mouth is challenging enough, but imagine what it would be like to try and take a shower! Now that you’re hydrated and caffeinated,
it’s time to get ready for work. A shower is out of the question this close
to work - you can’t risk a reaction making you late. You’re always very careful to wear light
clothing and avoid getting dirty or sweaty so that you can extend the time between showers
as long as possible, but eventually you have no choice but to suck it up and submit to
your own personal version of water torture. Thankfully, you’ve become an expert in showering
as quickly as possible using the Navy technique - you jump into the shower for a few seconds
to get wet, before turning off the water, lathering up with soap, and quickly rinsing
off. You also use cold water to avoid the temptation
to linger. It goes without saying that a long, relaxing
bath is completely out of the question, and sadly you’ve never experienced the feeling
of soaking in a hot tub. You can’t even remember the last time you
went swimming! You may be able to get away with only showering
once a week, but brushing your teeth daily is definitely not optional, and neither is
washing your hands! You make do with dry-brushing your teeth,
using toothpaste without water, and you use a lot of hand sanitizer, which you seem to
tolerate. Once you finally fight through your morning
routine, you check the weather before leaving the house. Most people like to know if there’s rain
in the forecast so that they can grab an umbrella on the way out, but for you it can feel like
life or death. Rain, snow, and even humidity can be enough
to trigger a serious reaction when the water hits your skin. If the forecast calls for heavy showers, you’ll
be taking a personal day and avoiding the outdoors - a lesson you learned the hard way. You remember what happened one time when you
forgot to check the weather before you left the house. It was winter, so you didn’t think you needed
to worry about rain -but what you didn’t account for was the snow… When you left work for the day it looked like
a winter wonderland outside - everything was blanketed in pure white snow, and heavy flakes
were still falling. Thanks to a strong wind blowing the flakes
directly into your face and the panic-induced sweat happening under your winter layers,
the winter wonderland quickly turned into your personal nightmare. By the time you got from your office to your
car, your entire body was covered in painful, itchy hives. The reaction left you feeling exhausted for
days after, due to the rush of adrenaline you experienced during the reaction. An allergic reaction happens when your immune
system overreacts to an allergen like dust, pet dander, certain foods, or, in some rare
cases, water. When a person is first exposed to an allergen,
their immune system’s white blood cells begin to develop antibodies called immunoglobulin
E, or IgE. Everyone makes IgE, which circulates in our
bloodstream and seeks out and destroys harmful particles like viruses. People with allergies make significantly more
IgE, and make it in response to everyday substances. After the initial exposure to the allergen,
an allergic person’s immune system will remember the last exposure and produce specific
IgE for that allergen. The IgE will bind to specific receptors on
the mast cells that live in our tissues, causing the mast cell to break down and release chemicals
like histamine. It’s the release of these chemicals that
cause the symptoms of an allergic reaction - histamine produces hives if released in
the skin, wheezing if released in the lungs, and a drop in blood pressure if released throughout
the body. Reactions can range from mild to severe. Mild reactions typically last a few minutes
to a few hours, and the primary symptoms are a rash, swelling and hives. In a severe reaction, which can last hours
and linger for days, in addition to painful hives and swelling, the sufferer might also
experience trouble breathing and low blood pressure. The most severe type of reaction, called anaphylaxis,
can be life-threatening, as the sufferer’s airway begins to close and breathing becomes
impossible. There are a few upsides to this strange allergy
to water - doing dishes is literally impossible for you, so you get to sit back and relax
while your family takes care of all of the cleaning and laundry for you. Seems like a small consolation, though. Having an excuse to avoid exercise might also
be nice, since you have to avoid getting sweaty. But you also have to avoid crying, which may
seem easy to some people, but it’s incredibly hard to go through life without experiencing
any sadness - try having a difficult conversation with your partner or even watching a sad movie
without shedding a tear or two. When those tears would feel like acid on your
cheeks, we guess you’d opt for a comedy. After learning about how difficult life is
for someone who is allergic to water, you must be wondering what kind of treatments
are out there for them. Unfortunately, there are very few treatments
available and we are a long way from a cure. For some lucky people, the allergy gets less
severe as they get older, but that’s not the case for everyone with a water allergy. For the not-so lucky ones, omalizumab, a drug
that’s already being used to treat asthma, is showing promise as an effective treatment
for aquagenic urticaria. For now, the best we can do in most cases
is give people with water allergies a strong antihistamine or allergy shots to manage the
symptoms of a reaction, and caution them to do their best to avoid water - easier said
than done! Before you feel too bad for people with water
allergies, you have to check out these other bizarre allergies. Water allergies - aquagenic urticaria - are
part of a larger family of urticaria allergies. Urticaria describes the painful, itchy skin
reaction upon exposure to an allergen. For some people that might be water, but people
can also suffer from cold urticaria - an allergic reaction to cold temperatures - and cholinergic
urticaria, an allergy to heat or sweat. It’s even possible to be allergic to vibrations! Vibratory urticaria reactions are generally
mild, but sufferers can experience painful skin reactions to simple things like clapping
their hands or riding in a vehicle. A more extreme version of this type of allergy
is Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis - a very rare and potentially life-threatening type of allergy
where the sufferer experiences hives, respiratory and GI distress after exercising. We guess that’s one way to get out of gym
class! It might seem like having a water allergy
would make it impossible to go outside, but imagine living with an allergy to sunlight! In people with sunlight allergies, their immune
system recognizes sun-altered skin as foreign cells and begins to attack itself, leading
to painful rashes, hives and blisters. As crazy as that sounds, experts suggest that
sun allergies are actually fairly common, but not often reported. If you’re one of those people who are prone
to bad sunburns, you may want to talk to your doctor about a sunlight allergy! Possibly one of the most heartbreaking allergies
is dermatographia urticaria - an allergy to human touch. Any touch to the skin, however gentle, prompts
the release of histamine and causes angry, itchy welts to form on the exposed skin. Brooklyn artist Ariana Page Russell is trying
to raise awareness about this condition, which she suffers from, by sharing her photography
online. Her body is the canvas, and she uses her own
touch to draw images or write words on her skin. Dermatographia literally means “writing
on the skin” - Ariana definitely has an interesting take on that! Daily life must be a real struggle for those
with an allergy to nickel. Not only do they experience a skin reaction
when exposed to money - or at least coins - but they also may react to the nickel in
cell phones, jewelry, zippers, musical instruments and many other everyday objects. If you’ve ever suffered from allergies before,
you’ll definitely be sympathetic to these bizarre and unusual allergies. And if not, just be thankful that you aren’t
allergic to anything - especially to water! If you thought this video was fascinating,
be sure and check out our other videos, like this harrowing tale titled “I Got Stung
Fifty Times By Bees And I’m Allergic”, or perhaps you’ll like this other video. These videos will definitely make you feel
grateful for your hay fever! As always, thanks for watching, and don’t
forget to like, share and subscribe! See you next time!
