October 12, 2008

• Medical Ghosties and Ghoulies

  “Crystal water turns to dark 
  Where ere it’s presence leaves it’s mark 
  And boiling currents pound like drums 
  When something wicked this way comes…

  A presence dark invades the fair 
  And gives the horses ample scare 
  Chaos rains and panic fills the air 
  When something wicked this way comes… 

  Ill winds mark it’s fearsome flight, 
  And autumn branches creak with fright. 
  The landscape turns to ashen crumbs, 
  When something wicked this way comes… “

  The above is an excerpt from Ray Bradbury’s poem, Something Wicked this way Comes, and one of my favorite Halloween type poems. I have to say, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because it is one of the few times a year that even grown ups are allowed to play lets pretend, and scare ourselves silly.

  And part of those horror tales we used to tell ourselves as kids involved vampires and werewolves and zombies, the monsters of lore. But did they really exist? And if not, who came up with the idea? Well, too much studying for boards has enabled me to dig up this fascinating little tidbit about a disease called Porphyria Cutanea Tarda

  Porphyrins are used in the creation of the 4 porphyrin rings in your hemoglobin (the part of the red blood cell that holds the iron). Certain diseases, among them PCT affect these rings. PCT primarily causes skin problems such as blisters that appear on sun exposed areas of the body such as the hands and face. Even after minor trauma like a cut, the skin in these area can peel or blister.
  

  In addition, people with PCT may also have darkening and thickening of the skin, as well as increased hair growth
  
  

  Hmm…is this starting to resemble any monsters of old yet?

  Thats right, The very first werewolves of european folklore may have been none other than folks with a genetic condition. Of course, what were werewolves without vampires? In another extremely rare form of the disorder called congenital erythopoietic porphyria, the teeth can be stained a reddish brown due to the buildup of pigments
  
  The symptoms of PCT can be alleviated by avoiding sunlight, since exposure to such light severely aggravates the symptoms of the porphyrias.
  
  
  Along with avoidance of sunlight, since many of the porphyrias involve a deficiency of red blood cells, affected patients appear very pale and may require repeated blood transfusions.

  Of course people in the old country didnt have the benefit of modern medical science (or google image search) and given that these are fairly rare conditions it is no wonder that the townsfolk believed monsters lives among them. And that is without even getting into the parallels between epilepsy and demon possesion, or zombies and prion diseases and voodo. But all things considered, the human body is pretty darn amazing, dont you think?

  Until the next study break folks…

  -Almost Dr J.

  “Flowers bloom as black as night 
  Removing color from your sight 
  Nightmarish vines block your way 
  Thorns reach out to catch their prey 

  And by the pricking of your thumbs 
  Realize that their poison numbs 
  From frightful blooms, rank odors seep 
  Bats & beasties fly & creep 

  ‘Cross this evil land, ill winds blow 
  Despite the darkness, mushrooms glow 
  All will rot & decompose 
  For something wicked this way grows…“

  
  

  • 12:12 am
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