This Woman Sweats Blood Due to Rare Hematohidrosis Syndrome

Sweating blood might seem like something out of a horror film, but it turns out that it's actually a real condition.

This week, researchers Roberto Maglie and Marzia Caproni published findings in the Canadian Medical Association Journal referring to a 21-year-old Italian patient with a rare condition called hematohidrosis, which causes people who have it sweat blood. According to the report, the young woman, who wasn't identified, had a three-year history of bleeding from her face and palms for one to five minutes at a time — despite neither region showing any indications of open wounds. While no specific bleeding triggers were determined, she reportedly noticed more blood when she was under greater stress.

You May Also Like

Wellness5 Women Pose for Striking Pubic Hair Portraits

WellnessVaginal Weightlifting Could Help You Have Better Sex

According to Live Science, since 1880, only 42 cases of hematohidrosis have been reported in medical literature. There's no single agreed-upon explanation for what causes sufferers to sweat blood: It's been proposed that disorders that reduce blood's clotting capacity might contribute, or that extreme stress might rupture some people's blood vessels. Toronto-based hematologist Michelle Sholzberg put forth another possibility when speaking with Canada's CBC News: "I think this person has a very bizarre anatomical defect on a microscopic level that is resulting in this very unusual symptom," she said, adding that this "defect" could be within the patient's sweat ducts.

Doctors treated the patient by providing her treated her with a blood pressure medication, which reduced her bleeding but didn't stop it. They also prescribed medications to treat her depression and anxiety disorder. Since there's no known cure for hematohidrosis as of yet, right now, doctors are more concerned with managing patients' symptoms.

---

More on rare conditions and disorders:

---

Watch this: