
Woman treated by doctors after her blood turned blue - EndXA
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/19/woman-navy-blue-blood-rhode-island-hospital
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ebg13
I wonder what goes through the minds of the guardian's editors when they write
titles like this. "Woman treated by doctors" isn't a story. One hopes that
_everyone_ whose blood turns blue would be treated by doctors.

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Waterluvian
I think you're misinterpreting the very classic style in which headlines are
written.

Subject, Action, important qualifiers.

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ebg13
"Woman's blood turns blue after benzocaine ingestion" is the story. Being
treated by doctors is not.

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foxyv
But then I wouldn't need to read the article to answer the question that pops
up into my head.

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tzs
Alternatively...alien anthropologist/spy/fugitive/tourist/etc's disguise
technology partly fails, revealing non-human blood. MiB neuralyzes witnesses
and plants the methemoglobinemia story.

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uhoh
I'm a medical toxicologist, I'm surprised this tiny case report got picked up
by The Guardian, and that it got on the hacker news front page, it's bread and
butter stuff. Sulfhemoglobin is actually even less dangerous than
methemoglobin, since it shifts the oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve right.
We all have low levels of methemoglobin produced in our own bodies, but it can
increase from certain exposures. Symptoms are usually very mild, but rarely it
can become severe. It's typically treated with methylene blue, if treated at
all. If anyone has questions for me, I'll check back later in the day.

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DoofusOfDeath
I was surprised to hear that not only is there a known treatment ("methylene
blue"[0]) for the condition , but that a smallish hospital like Miriam
actually had some on hand.

The wiki page explains that "methylene blue" actually treats a variety of
problems.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylene_blue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylene_blue)

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zcrackerz
If they didn't have it on hand they could go down to the local Walmart, I've
used it many times to treat my fish with ich.

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Medicalidiot
I'm assuming this is methemoglobinemia or something analogous to that. It's
usually a congenital disease or one that develops because of medications. The
two meds I can think of that would cause this are dapsone and benzocaine. It's
an easily treatable disease where we have the patient take methylene blue,
cool but not worrying with proper treatment.

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tda
Either you know what you are talking about or read the article, as that is
spot on

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epmaybe
It's probably the only thing that causes your blood to turn blue, usually from
numbing medication haha. Skin looks blue too, but patients are generally
totally fine.

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gilleain
Your tissues can turn blue from excess silver:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria)

But that probably doesn't affect the blood.

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hello_tyler
Is it bad to have blue blood ? I think it could be kind of novel if it didn't
have any nasty side effects.

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jws
He article mentions that the hemoglobin variant which is blue doesn’t release
oxygen well. This would be bad.

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acd
The substance benzocaine is in certain soar throat pills.

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carrolldunham
when a case is surprising enough to make it to the main news, isn't it by
definition so rare and unlikely it's not really worth thinking about?

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leksak
More importantly, is HN the right venue to share this?

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AlexDragusin
I find it interesting, in fact blood can turn green as well, without being an
alien:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfhemoglobinemia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfhemoglobinemia)

> Sulfhemoglobinemia is a rare condition in which there is excess
> sulfhemoglobin (SulfHb) in the blood. The pigment is a greenish derivative
> of hemoglobin which cannot be converted back to normal, functional
> hemoglobin. It causes cyanosis even at low blood levels.

>It is a rare blood condition that occurs when a sulfur atom is incorporated
into the hemoglobin molecule. When hydrogen sulfide (H2S) (or sulfide ions)
and ferric ions combine in the blood, the blood is incapable of carrying
oxygen.

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apathy
Indeed, this is why hydrogen sulfide is toxic in smallish doses

