REAL VAMPIRES AMONG US! YIKES!

[sublime_necromancer]

So I'm reading "True Vampires" By Sondra London (ITS THAT GOOD OF A BOOK!)....and I'm especially attracted to one of the subjects in the book titled...VAMPIRE VIRUS>

Seems as though, there ARE REAL VAMPIRES AMONG US!

Here's a little excerp...

"A rare disorder in the cynthesis of blood called Porphyria causes many of the same symptoms that have traditionally been associated with the vampire.

There are eight different varieties of this genetic anomaly (strange condiition) that cause severe abdominal pain (really bad stomach aches), eruptions of the skin (skin rashes), sensitivity to light, difficulty breathing, and a transformation of the appearance. More then 50, 000 Americans suffer from one of the eight variations of Porphyria.

In May of 1985, David Dolphin (his real name!) PhD., a chemistry professor at the Uni. of B.C (YAY FOR SMART CANADIANS!), found that today's "vampires" are actually people who suffer from the disease; trying to "cure" the symptoms of the disease.

His research found that the therapy for Porphyria includes injections of Heme, a component of blood.

However, he found that fangs do not actually enlarge in the process or "transformation". The gums are drawn back, having the illusion of the fangs getting larger. (These were just Canines...most people have them from grinding their teeth).

The myth of garlic on the "vampires" is partially true as well. The vapours and juices from garlic, the component of garlic"dialkyl" seem to harm symptoms of Porphyria by breaking down the Heme in the infected person's blood.  

[The War on Indifference]

Anyone who thinks that Porphyria=Vampirism needs to stop taking Law&Order seriously. It is true that Heme is a component of blood and most Porphyriac's symptoms are caused by a deficiency of this chemical. Heme, however, not being a basal dietary pillar like a vitamin or mineral or amino acid, doesn't cause cravings and certainly wouldn't inspire bloodlust in someone unless it was suggested by an outside source that consumption of the vital fluid would cure their ailments. Besides, blood in itself only has trace amounts of the chemical. It would require staggering quantities of blood to satisfy the deficiency, even temporarily.
With the sudden pop-culturalization and romanticising/overeroticising of vampires and a movement promoting this non-existent parody of vampirism and an entire subculture spawned from it, though, we start to understand why dumb Hottopicoids have started calling themselves "Sanguinarians" and "Psychopires" and "hybrids", all of which are, by the way, terms that in themselves only have slight implications of vampiristic tendancies.

Also, all the tendancies that Dr. Dolphin and Ms. London cite can come from more common, more reasonable afflictions which are far more likely to have caused vampyre hysteria throughout European history.
Rabies can cause averision to light and strong sensations like the smell of garlic due to hypersensitivity. It can also cause delusions and mania which can drive the rabid person to do harm to others and incite odd behavior like fixations and irrational compulsions of which can be applied to almost anything within the warped reality the rabid may suffer under. I'm just speculating, here, but something as stigmatized as blood could possibly be an object of unreasonable interest to one suffering under the maddening condition.
Malnutrition and other deprivations as well can clear the way for disease, especiallly oral disease in a time when dentistry was a foreign practice even to Aristocrats. Such illnesses could have cause gums to recede and give the appearance of teeth growing longer. It was also noted that many "vampyres" were really corpses, decomposing in a way that differed from expectation. Corpses, reasonably so, carried disease and were just in general unhealthy to be around, leading to the idea that vampirism was a contagious affliction. As the skin decomposed, it would recede, giving the image that teeth, nails and hair had grown longer since the body was buried.

And though I don't deny the reality of Porphyria, the symptoms are so broad and the diagnosis so rare that I can't help but wonder that it isn't just a variation of another existing condition. I do wonder too that a sort of social pressure can cause hypochondriasis and do so desire to find a statistic or two detailing the base number of people with Porphyria against the number with associations to the Vampire subculture.

So, that's my rant on psuedopires and acadamians speculating and being taken as authorities on a subject that most people are ignorant about anyway. Anyone care to call bullshit on either side?  

[Henneth Annun]

Sin_through_Existence

Malnutrition and other deprivations as well can clear the way for disease, especiallly oral disease in a time when dentistry was a foreign practice even to Aristocrats. Such illnesses could have cause gums to recede and give the appearance of teeth growing longer. It was also noted that many "vampyres" were really corpses, decomposing in a way that differed from expectation. Corpses, reasonably so, carried disease and were just in general unhealthy to be around, leading to the idea that vampirism was a contagious affliction. As the skin decomposed, it would recede, giving the image that teeth, nails and hair had grown longer since the body was buried.

To add to this paragraph....

When the body decays, it eventually becomes bloated with gas that can push the blood up into the mouth and into other areas, so if you dig up a corpse at the right time it will apear bloated and bloody, like something that just gorged itself with blood (like a vampire). If you stake the corpse, the gas will be released and, inevitably, blood will come come out of the mouth and maybe the eyes too.

Oddly enough, only the bodies of those suspected of being vampires were ever dug up and observed, so of course the strange decomposition of the corpse would be noticed only in the suspects and not in the other people.

There were and are no vampires, just people accused of being them.
Hey, hundreds of years ago, who could you blame on the rampant diseases and unsanitary conditions that spread bacteria and foulness everywhere? Let's blame that old reclusive widow down the street who always yells at people to keep them away from her vegtable patch so that no one steals her food because everyone's so desperate. Sudenly a bunch of people in the town get sick. The barmaid gets infected with something, and spreads it to everyone else in the town, except the widow because she stays away from people and doesn't bother anyone. Now what will the town blame, the widow of course. She's executed, but people still get sick because the disease hasn't run its course yet. People start developing red bleeding sores all over their body and coughing up phlegm and blood. Oh no! Let's see if that widow is really dead. They dig her up, she's bloated and there's blood in her mouth and her teeth and hair are longer. They stake her, the release of gases makes a sound, which they think is the "vampire" groaning and dying as blood trickles out of her mouth and eyes. The "vampire" is dead.

That's the "vampire" story.  

[The War on Indifference]

XWraith_LordX

Sin_through_Existence

Malnutrition and other deprivations as well can clear the way for disease, especiallly oral disease in a time when dentistry was a foreign practice even to Aristocrats. Such illnesses could have cause gums to recede and give the appearance of teeth growing longer. It was also noted that many "vampyres" were really corpses, decomposing in a way that differed from expectation. Corpses, reasonably so, carried disease and were just in general unhealthy to be around, leading to the idea that vampirism was a contagious affliction. As the skin decomposed, it would recede, giving the image that teeth, nails and hair had grown longer since the body was buried.

To add to this paragraph....

When the body decays, it eventually becomes bloated with gas that can push the blood up into the mouth and into other areas, so if you dig up a corpse at the right time it will apear bloated and bloody, like something that just gorged itself with blood (like a vampire). If you stake the corpse, the gas will be released and, inevitably, blood will come come out of the mouth and maybe the eyes too.

Oddly enough, only the bodies of those suspected of being vampires were ever dug up and observed, so of course the strange decomposition of the corpse would be noticed only in the suspects and not in the other people.

There were and are no vampires, just people accused of being them.
Hey, hundreds of years ago, who could you blame on the rampant diseases and unsanitary conditions that spread bacteria and foulness everywhere? Let's blame that old reclusive widow down the street who always yells at people to keep them away from her vegtable patch so that no one steals her food because everyone's so desperate. Sudenly a bunch of people in the town get sick. The barmaid gets infected with something, and spreads it to everyone else in the town, except the widow because she stays away from people and doesn't bother anyone. Now what will the town blame, the widow of course. She's executed, but people still get sick because the disease hasn't run its course yet. People start developing red bleeding sores all over their body and coughing up phlegm and blood. Oh no! Let's see if that widow is really dead. They dig her up, she's bloated and there's blood in her mouth and her teeth and hair are longer. They stake her, the release of gases makes a sound, which they think is the "vampire" groaning and dying as blood trickles out of her mouth and eyes. The "vampire" is dead.

That's the "vampire" story.

I am somewhat knowledgeable on that, but I must say that you articulate your point marvelously. I don't think I could relate a blood component deficiency to superstitions of the dark ages more eloquently if I tried.  

[-Resurrected Writer-]

This is somehow reminding me of how children with progeria were once called goblins.  

[Henneth Annun]

-Resurrected Writer-

This is somehow reminding me of how children with progeria were once called goblins.

It all ties down to the same thing really. Lack of human understanding....  

[Digital Malevolence]

XWraith_LordX

-Resurrected Writer-

This is somehow reminding me of how children with progeria were once called goblins.

It all ties down to the same thing really. Lack of human understanding....

Unfortunately, thats human nature.  

[Henneth Annun]

Digital Malevolence

XWraith_LordX

-Resurrected Writer-

This is somehow reminding me of how children with progeria were once called goblins.

It all ties down to the same thing really. Lack of human understanding....

Unfortunately, thats human nature.

SNAFU.  

[sublime_necromancer]

So the bloating is also rigamortis? Right? Wrong? When I read the passage that I posted in the first post, it got me pretty excited...as we simpled minded folk tend to be (not pointing fingers of negative criticism in any directions). I'll be honest when I say I'm not one to do deep research on these types of things (on the main point that my intense ADD won't allow it). Though for some reason, I collect the info like a packrat.  

[Henneth Annun]

No, rigor mortis is when your muscles freeze up, your body becomes stiff. Rigor mortis is before bloating.

Bloating occurs during the decomposition stage. smile I believe this happens withing 2-3 days of death, but that can vary depending on the climate and soil, and other things.  

[Twisted Maggot]

Oh my God... I have severe abdominal pain, sensitivity to light, and people always tell me I look like I have fangs... eek  

[Eskimos are so gay]

Isis11213

Oh my God... I have severe abdominal pain, sensitivity to light, and people always tell me I look like I have fangs... eek

Sorry, but I'm 99.99999% sure you don't have this. neutral

You'd probably know if you did. Or you'd have been diagnosed with something at this point.  

[Twisted Maggot]

Oh, thank god. sweatdrop  

[Henneth Annun]

Isis11213

Oh my God... I have severe abdominal pain, sensitivity to light, and people always tell me I look like I have fangs... eek

You don't have it. 99.999% sure you don't.

If you read up on a dozen different disorders, you could convince yourself that you had every single one of them. xd

Trust me, you're probably fine. smile  

[Eskimos are so gay]

Isis11213

Oh, thank god. sweatdrop

Wow, usually people are harder to convince of things like that. confused