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Toddler unable to Cry, Tears cause Deadly Seizures |
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Written by Glenn Rosenberg
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Monday, 02 November 2009 |
Crying is typical behavior among toddlers — but for 2-year-old Tianna Lewis McHugh — the simple act of crying could induce a deadly seizure , the Daily Mail reported.
Tianna suffers from a rare condition called reflex anoxic seizure (RAS) that causes a type of reaction triggered by a temporary cutting off of the supply of blood to the brain.
As a result, her parents face a daily battle of making sure Tianna does not cry. If she does, her skin goes white, her body stiffens, her heart stops beating and she temporarily stops breathing.
Tianna was diagnosed with the condition at 18-months-old and has since survived 10 seizures.
Her mother Ceri, 23, from Brymbo, Wrexham, North Wales vividly remembers the first time her daughter has a seizure.
”I picked her up out of her high chair and put her on the floor and she cried for seconds and then she looked like she had died,” she said. “She went a deathly grey, her lips and around her eyes were blue and her eyes rolled back in her head. I thought she was dead and I was hysterical.”
Reflex anoxic seizure can also be induced by an unexpected bout of pain, fear or fright, or even by a very hot or cold bath.
“When she has fits it’s horrendous,” her father Andy told the newspaper. “When she starts to cry we usually have to flick water in her face to bring her out of the shock. She can do whatever she wants but for 18 months we have been cautious with her so that she doesn’t get hurt or shocked and cry.”
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