Pophyria

i just came across something very interesting in CSI – this disease called Porphyria.

yes, you heard me right, it’s from CSI…not my medical school….well, there are things you can learn from tv-series. anway…i just want to blog something about this disease….

The porphyria are both inherited and acquired disorders in which the activities of the enzymes of the heme biosynthetic pathway are partially or almost totally deficient. Meaning, in this disease, there is lack of some kind of enzymes that makes heme (blood to carry oxygen).

It is mainly classified into hepatic and erythropoeitic type. And of course, lots of of sub-classifications.

What caught my attention was the symptoms of this disease…which lead me to do some readings on the net and books (ok..i do read medical books to double check…hehe..i dont get everything out from wikipedia! aha.) The symptoms are very non-specific mainly neurological (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, ileus, dysuria, muscle hypotonia, respiratory failure, sensory neuropathy, seizures) and also photosensitivity.

History stretches til the time of Hippocrates who might be the first to describe it…not sure about it…

Anyway, that was not what really caught my attention….it was the idea of Vampires! Porphyria has been suggested as an explanation for the origin of vampire and werewolf legends. Additionally, it was believed that the patients’ missing heme could be absorbed through the stomach, correlating with the legends’ hematophagy (hema - blood, phagy – eating). very interesting indeed!!

next was the insanity exhibited by King George III. I have not look into it yet, but briefly read about it…and it was also mentioned in The Madness of King George, a play/film made in 1991/1994. Which was interesting because it was mentioned in CSI! -> a bit crazy of me to take into account everything said in the series??

Other commentators have suggested that Vincent van Gogh may have suffered from acute intermittent porphyria. Amazing too- because he is one of the first artist that i come to know about when i was very young! i stil can remember that drawing of his….anyway, i got to know about this famous artist through a movie…about a young boy that went back in time and met this amazing artist…ok, i did try looking for the drawing that i would remember him for…but i cant find it…it has a wheelbarrow in the middle of the drawing..erm……maybe next time!

but i found one of his popular drawing…

sunflower

**after several minutes of searching on the net **

wow…praise God! with the internet – anything is possible..but praise God because He lead me to find click to this page and i found the drawing! wow, i feel that the world is so much smaller with this thing called INTERNET! yay!!!

The Harvest

ok, next ->It has also been imagined that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon suffered from some form of porphyria (cf. Daniel 4) –> definately the chapter has nothing to do with it! shall ask my pastor about it.

Yup..that is all…so, my conclusionis that there are things to be learnt in every episodes of CSI…and like tonight, i’ve learnt something new – porphyria!