Woman’s blood turns blue after reaction to medication

It was a medical phenomenon that could have been the subject of a sci-fi flick — only it was real.

A 25-year-old woman from Providence, Rhode Island, arrived at the hospital experiencing weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath and skin discoloration.

In a strange twist, the doctors who examined her discovered her blood had turned blue.

Drs. Otis Warren and Benjamin Blackwood published their case study in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.

According to the doctors, the young woman’s condition was caused by topical benzocaine — the active ingredient in products such as Orajel and Anbesol — which she had used to treat a toothache.

Her “cyanotic” appearance — the medical term for her blue skin discoloration — indicated her blood was not properly oxygenating. She was ultimately diagnosed with methemoglobinemia, a condition that occurs when red blood cells contain abnormal levels of methemoglobin — a form of hemoglobin that can’t carry oxygen to tissues.

“So the oxygen levels are actually quite high in the blood, but it’s recorded as being low,” Warren told The Post. “And the tissues — brain, heart, muscle — are not getting the oxygen because the blood is selfishly holding on to it.”

He explained that benzocaine is an “oxidizer” of iron in the blood — changing its molecular structure so that it has “a very high affinity for oxygen.”

Thankfully, there’s an antidote called methylene blue that normalizes the structure of the iron so that it can properly oxygenate the body.

Why this happens to some people “is unclear,” said Warren, adding that the condition is very “idiosyncratic” and may be caused by a genetic predisposition. However, doctors believe the condition is more likely to be triggered when the medication is used “to excess.”

Warren does not know exactly how much benzocaine the woman used — only that she said she “didn’t use the whole bottle.”

The FDA warns that methemoglobinemia caused by over-the-counter benzocaine can have a “serious and potentially fatal” impact on young children, and parents should refrain from using the drug on their teething toddlers.

Although the woman’s case was triggered by medication, there are famous genetic carriers of the trait that causes methemoglobinemia — most notably, the Fugate family of Kentucky. Reports of “the Blue Fugates,” or the Blue People of Kentucky, go back to the early 19th century. Benjamin Stacy, born in 1975, is the last known living Fugate to exhibit the condition.

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