California woman details a 'waterless' life due to her very rare allergy: 'I’m always dehydrated'
Fox News
A woman named Tessa Hansen-Smith regularly shares on social media the details of her rare allergy to water — she breaks out in hives if she comes into contact with it. Here's what to know.
That's a question that Tessa Hansen-Smith, 25, has to ask herself every day, as she contracts hives after any contact with water. Today, she's raising awareness about one of the rarest kind of allergies known as aquagenic urticaria, a condition in which people break out in hives after they come into contact with water. Her doctors first thought the culprit was soaps and shampoos in the shower — but the condition persisted. If she doesn’t have access to milk throughout the day, she becomes so thirsty that she can’t resist chugging water ± which can lead to fainting from the pain, she said previously. She limits her activities because she can’t get too dirty or engage in activities that cause her to sweat too much. People with hives generally get new rashes for a few days to a few weeks, but when they persist for six weeks or longer, they are termed chronic hives.
After she told students in college at University of California, Davis, about her diagnosis, some would deliberately splash water or hurl ice cubes at her because they didn’t believe her, according to a recent report.