redbackwolf's blog: "vampires"

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Findings

 There are several medical disorders that could have led the belief of vampires actually existing and one of these is PORPHYRIA which comes from the Greek word porphyros meaning reddish-purple.  This refers to a substance that is prominent in the blood and urine of a person that has the symptoms of Porphyria which is a combination of 7 main types of diseases and 4 acute types of diseases, which were first identified in the nineteenth century. These diseases are rare and it is only in the twentieth century that they have been pinpointed and described.

They are metabolic disorders that are caused by an enzyme deficiency that inhibits the synthesis of haema (haemoglobin) and Myoglobin; the more extreme varieties cause an extreme sensitivity to light, various forms of digestive disorders.

Prophyrins are complex organic compounds which are sensitive to light and form the basis of respiratory pigments. Porphrins are crucial to many metabolic systems in plants, animals and micro-organisms.

The main types of disorders that are listed below are the ones that have the possibility of being linked to vampirism:

Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP)

It is an inherited condition which is characterised by periodic attacks of gastrointestinal disturbances, abdominal colic and psychotic episodes and it is able to be passed from generation to generation and can possibly be passed on from parent to child. Both male and female children are of an equal chance to be affected. This condition is incurable however a parent cannot be blamed for passing this condition onto their children.

Variegate Porphyria (VP)

Like AIP, VP is an inherited condition and is prone to cause skin problems and to the acute attack. In Variegate Porphyria, the skin changes and the physical manifestations on the skin are fragility, blistering, milia, furrowing and scarring occur in sun-exposed skin and attacks of Acute Porphyria may not occur at the same time also there is reports of schizophrenia like behaviour can occur.

Hereditary Coproporphyria (HCP)

This is also an inherited condition HCP suffers are prone to Acute Attacks and can have skin problems during Acute Attacks but also with these attacks and with prolonged exposure to sunlight blisters can be caused and there are often psychiatric episodes (e.g. Hysteria), then peripheral neuropathies.

Porphyria Cutanea Tarda (PCT)

This disorder is a form of hepatic porphyria which is characterised by sensitivity to sunlight resulting in bullae (blisters) that rupture easily to leave shallow ulcers. This occurs in 2 forms: a sporadic, nonfamilial form that begins to show symptoms in middle age and shows normal amounts uroporphyrinogen decarbolyse with diminished activity in the liver and then there is a familial form in which there is an autosominal dominant deficiency of uroprophyrinogen decarbolyse in the liver and red blood cells.

Congenital Porhyria (CP)

This is the rarest form of these disorders and is primarily a skin condition and uniquely inherited as a recessive condition which means that both parents are symptomatic carriers.

Erythropoietic Protoporphyria (EPP)

The symptoms of EPP are like AIP, VC and HC as in the fact that it is an inherited disorder that is passed onto a child from a parent. People with EPP suffer skin problems however do not develop skin problems neither are drugs a problem. However there is a possibility that the liver may become involved in later years.

It was hypothesised by biochemist David Dolphin in 1985 that Erythropoietin Protoporphyria cases may have been the cause of vampire legends and that injections of haemoglobin (red blood corpuscles) into a person that had this affliction would be cured.

It was critiqued by Paul Barber who first noted that there was no evidence to support that drinking blood would have any effect on the symptoms of the disease however in recent years it has been scientifically and medically accepted that there are now treatments but no cure for this rare disease and extreme care must be taken to avoid triggering the factors that can cause these symptoms to become active.

Treatments range from avoiding alcohol to sunlight and even certain medicines like the contraceptive pill and even taking extreme measures as to not allow the skin to be damaged as in some cases it has been found that the skin heals very slowly.

Many of these symptoms have referred to descriptions of corpses rather than living people.

The press coverage of the Porphyria hypothesis in the popular press was of great distress to those that have suffered from this malady as; the Los Angeles Times for example, provided broad coverage as did many other tabloids. Dr Jerome Marmorstein a physician from California convinced the times to do follow up coverage countering its previous article.

Add Anaemia to these theories and the factors that are associated to Anaemia which are a reduction of either a red blood corpuscles or haemoglobin and the symptoms of this disease which are a pale complexion, fatigue and in some extreme circumstances fainting spells and also a disorder, though a rare condition is Catalepsy which is a disorder of the nervous system that causes a form of suspended animation. It causes a loss of voluntary motion, rigidity to the muscles, as well as decreased sensitivity to pain and heat. A person suffering from catalepsy can see and hear but cannot move. Their breathing, pulse, and other regulatory functions are slowed that to an untrained eye, it would seem as though they were dead. This condition can last from minutes to days.

There is a psychological affliction that is not officially recognised by the Psychological Board and that is Renfield Syndrome or the technical term Clinical Vampirism which is in it self a form of Schizophrenia but this condition is not registered in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) the possible reason for this is that a patient can and often does meet more than one criteria for a diagnosis (Gross 2005).

Herschel Prins (1984) whom is a British authority on Clinical Vampirism (Renfield Syndrome) whose work has been invaluable in defining the syndrome, points out that in psychiatric literature the word “Vampirism” has been used for a spectrum of phenomena. These include rare syndromes such as necrophagia (eating of the flesh of the dead humans), Necrophilia (sexual excitement and contact with corpses), necrosadism (the abuse of corpses) have all been included within this spectrum since the 19^th century and add this to the traditional meaning of drinking blood of other people (vampirism) and the drinking of one’s own blood (autovampirism).

Dr R von Krafft Ebbing (categorised several different psychological conditions that ranged from fetishism which is in itself a form of deviant behaviour that is cross cultured  to mental disorders that ranged from those that have been highlighted above by Herschel Prins.

According to B Love and to R Von Krafft Ebbing there are several different types of fetishism that can be accredited to vampirism such as Odaxielagnia (biting) which  could have added to the vampire myths along with the act of Vampirism which is mentioned above and human saliva which has enzymes within it that has the ability to destroy some viruses and so the urge to lick an open wound could be a natural act even though to some of a more deviant behaviour could find this act a sexual arousal and so this could have added to the rise of the myths and legends of Vampires .

In times past this sexual deviant behaviour could have been seen as either Satanic or just generally evil behaviour and so it would have tied into the devil worship scenerio and in some ancient cultures a form of blood letting was used instead of human sacrifices that was required for their Gods and Goddesses and could have been seen by the Catholic and Christian faith to be seen as against God and Scripture as God chastised and punished Cain for killing his brother Abel and cast him from the Garden of Eden and condemned him to walk the Earth for eternity (McGrath) according to some Societies this to could also account to the vampire myths.