How people live with an allergy to water: the story of Rachel Warwick

She wakes up and tries to drink a glass of water, which seems to her a poison, a burning nettlet, leaving blisters in her larynx. And this, alas, not only sensations: in fact, contact with moisture leaves itching red marks on her skin. If the day turned out to be rainy, there is no way for her to go to the street, because every drop that falls from the sky gives her unbearable suffering. At the local leisure center she looks with horror and horror as the others splash around in the pool. She herself tried to overcome fear, but, barely having lowered her foot into the water, she felt a burning pain.

What's happening?

No, this is not some kind of cinematic alternative reality. This is the world of the British Rachel Warwick, who suffers from allergies to water. This is a world where relaxing baths or swimming in the tropical seas are just as attractive as if you were rubbing the body with caustic bleach. "This is my life - and my hell," she says.

No contact with water

What's wrong with water - even your own sweat gives Rachel a reaction in the form of a painful, swollen and intensely itchy rash that can last several hours! "In addition, the reaction makes me feel like I ran a marathon," the woman admits. "It's a terrible fatigue, and I have to sit for a long time and come to my senses." And the worst thing is if I do not keep it and pay. Then my face turns red and swells. "

Under the influence of moisture, Rachel begins the symptoms of urticaria in combination with hay fever.

How can you live like this ...

This is the first question that arises among others. The well-known truth that water is life, the need for water in humans is the most basic. Even scientists minds, when exploring the cosmos in search of suitable planets, seek first of all water. In addition, at least 60% of our body is water; On average in the body of an adult weighing 70 kg contains about 40 liters of life-giving fluid.

In the case of Rachel, something needs to be clarified. The problem, obviously, is not in the water that is contained in the cells of the body. The reaction is initiated when moisture enters the skin, regardless of its temperature, purity or salt content. Even repeatedly distilled water causes an allergy to it. In medical practice, this rare disease is known as aquatic urticaria. In the world, only 35 cases of this pathology are known.

"Many people ask me," complains the woman, "how I eat, can I drink, how I wash myself. I answer that I have reconciled and have learned to live with this, and on that we will finish the conversation. "

Mysterious disease - aquatic urticaria

This disease has always been not completely understandable for scientists and for all of us. It generally can not be attributed to allergies in the classical sense. Probably, this is an immune reaction to a certain failure inside the body, and not an allergy to something extraneous, such as pollen or peanuts.

The earliest theories attempting to explain how this happens say that water interacts with the stratum corneum, which consists mainly of dead cells, or an oily subcutaneous substance that retains its moisture. Contact with water can cause components to release toxic substances, which in turn leads to an immune reaction.

There are other assumptions: that water can simply dissolve chemicals in the dead layers of the skin, and this allows them to penetrate deeper and cause an allergic reaction.

And another, also quite plausible version, is based on the fact that the allergy to water consists in changing blood pressure due to the body's immune signaling when it comes into contact with a dangerous substance, in this case - with ordinary water.

Why there is no unanimous opinion?

The founder of the European Center for Allergy Problems (ECARF), dermatologist Marcus Maurer (Germany), says: "I have patients who suffer hives for 40 years and they wake up every day with blisters and swelling. Whatever the causes of the problem, one thing is obvious: it is a devastating disease that can poison life. "

Sufferers can be in constant depression and anxiety, always worrying about when the next attack will be. "In terms of deteriorating quality of life, this is one of the most terrible skin diseases," the scientist says. Thus, he outlines the symptoms and consequences, but does not give an unambiguous answer to the questions about the nature of the problem and its solution. In the laboratory, the most effective agents are tested for patients, including those used to combat asthma.

When did it start?

Rachel was about 12 years old when she was diagnosed with this, noticing the rash after bathing. "I was very fortunate that my attending physician recognized my illness immediately," she says.

The doctor did not send her for an additional examination. The standard method of diagnosing aquatic urticaria is a wet body for half an hour to see how the reaction manifests itself. The doctor said that it can only be done worse.

This, of course, is not fatal, and it's not about how to survive. But the inconvenience in everyday life is another matter. In the fall and winter, when the UK rains a lot, Rachel can not leave the house. In everyday life also their nightmares. For example, there can be no question of washing dishes. Fortunately, she has a caring, understanding husband who takes care of her at every step, taking care of all the homework, wet cleaning and other things that are somehow connected with water.

She still tries to drink water at least once a day, but with great anguish. Drinks mostly milk, juices that are not so aggressive to the skin. Again, no one can say in what such a striking difference between liquids. Bathes not more than once a week, and to not sweat, tries to wear the lightest clothes from natural fabrics.

How is it treated?

Of course, the search for effective funds does not stop. Dr. Marcus Maurer says that at the moment the standard treatment is powerful antihistamines. The fact is that histamine activates "itching neurons". And if so, Then, in theory, antihistamines should work in all cases. In practice, the drugs give very mixed results.

As early as 2014, Rachel visited ECARF in Berlin, where doctors offered her to try high doses of antihistamine drugs. She followed the advice, then decided to fix the results in the pool. So what? It did not work. Studies continue, and, perhaps, soon a young woman will be able to experience the effect of a new effective tool on herself.

If a miracle happens

When Rachel was asked what she would have done first, if she had recovered from the ailment, she replied: "I would like to swim in the pool and dance in the rain."