'I'm so allergic to myself it feels like I'm burning alive after just laughing'
A young woman who says her body reacts to 'everything' feels like she's being 'burned alive' after laughing or crying too much.
Beth Tsangarides is so 'allergic to herself' that chuckling, sobbing and smelling spices can send her body into anaphylaxis shock and make her skin scorched, weeping and scabby. The 20-year-old has suffered with the ailment since the age of 15 and says it's baffled doctors for years, who have dubbed her a 'medical mystery'.
Beth suffers from mobility issues, fainting and seizures that make her unable to work, meaning her partner, Sasha Hay, 20, is her full-time carer. "Medical professionals say I'm a medical mystery and that this is something they have never seen before. They don't understand how a body can do something like this," Beth explains. "My partner and my whole family joke about it that I'm allergic to myself."
Her family jokes that she is 'allergic to herself' but medics are truly baffled by her allergic reactions (Kennedy News and Media)
She says it is 'excruciating' when her body goes into anaphylaxis and she feels like she's being 'burned alive' (Kennedy News and Media)Five years ago, Beth woke up one morning with a rash on her face and "everything just went downhill" from there. "My bowels, kidneys, everything just kind of stopped working," she said. "Everything I do affects my skin or my body in some way. Whether I'm laughing too much or crying or emotional, my skin can start flaring. It feels like I'm being burned alive, it's excruciating."
Beth, from Deal, Kent, was diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS) at 18, and is now undergoing testing to get an official diagnosis for the cause of her skin issues. PoTS is a condition that causes an abnormal increase in your heart rate after standing up. According to the NHS, common symptoms include dizziness, fainting, health palpitations and chest pain.
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"The way I describe it is like someone being burnt in a fire or an acid attack. For some people that's what it looks like as well," she continued. "No matter what I do, even if someone else with PoTS can do something, my body reacts differently to it." Beth is most sensitive to food and says she lives "in a bubble" because of airborne allergies.
Beth has been diagnosed with PoTS and is undergoing more tests to get to the root of the issue (Kennedy News and Media)
The 20-year-old has gained a newfound confidence by wearing make-up to cover her rashes and scabs (Kennedy News and Media)"If I'm around the smells of certain spices and herbs or something very strong smelling, it can cause me to stop breathing and have a severe reaction on my face. I'm very limited to what I can eat and it's scary," she said. "Pasta is my best friend, because it's the only thing I've never had a reaction to. I try to stick to plain things like plain chicken nuggets. I don't go out to eat. If I do it has to be pre-planned and after speaking to the chef."
Beth felt lonely at school and 'didn't have many friends', as her skin would flare up and cause her pain, which stopped her from socialising. "I was isolated in a room because we didn't know what I would react to, so I would be in the first aid room and constantly being checked on by teachers," she explained. "People would look at me through the window and rumours were going around about what was actually wrong with me."
She continued: "It really did affect my confidence at an early age. I didn't want to go out... I would get comments from people at school saying 'pizza face' and 'tomato face'. They used to affect me but now I just laugh." Beth said her condition has changed her mentally. "I'll never know who I would've been without all of this. That's something I think about every day, 'what would I be doing right now if I hadn't gotten ill?'" she explained.
Beth was cruelly called 'pizza face' by bullies in school but has now learnt to laugh off the trolls (Kennedy News and Media)In her late teens, Beth was unable to wear make-up but now she braves putting it on and feels much more confident. "I wore make-up as a teenager a lot. I had really bad acne and I used to love doing make-up looks," she said. "When my skin first flared I knew I would never be able to put make-up on it again. My doctors just told me to avoid it completely because there's a risk of infection.
"I was just brave enough to try it again and I think that's all to do with the confidence I've gained over the last year. I did so much research into it and looked at every ingredient in everything. I was so happy when I realised it wasn't hurting and I wasn't flaring. It was crazy. It was so weird seeing my skin so smooth and without any imperfections or scarring."
She added: "It brought tears to my eyes because it wasn't even the fact I wanted to cover my skin, just the feeling of make-up on my skin felt so refreshing and like I was a new person. My partner was in shock. She's never seen me in make-up and she doesn't see make-up as a big thing or wear it herself. She did look at me and then looked away because she thought I was a different person. She couldn't believe how different I looked."
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