17-Year-Old Diagnosed With Rare Allergy To Water — Yes, Water

While few people have heard of aquagenic urticaria, also known as an allergy to water, it is a real condition. Alexandra Allen, a 17-year-old from Mapleton, Utah, is one of the people diagnosed with this incurable condition. The teen noticed her first severe reaction to water when she was 12 years old during a family vacation, ABC News reports. Allen recalls swimming in a pool and then waking up later that evening itching and covered in hives. What she thought initially was a chlorine allergy turned out to be something much different.

At age 15, Allen came across a story about aquagenic urticaria on the Internet and brought her research to her doctor’s attention. She fit the profile perfectly to her doctor’s amazement. Allen notes on her blog that she is a whole person despite the challenges her water allergy creates in her life. “There will be days when you lay in bed covered in hives or whatever your symptoms may be and think that maybe I’m a mess up, a flaw in the assembly line of humanity, a printing error in the contract of life,” writes Allen on her blog. Source: Alexandra Allen