Doctors ready to help Ahana get cured, donations flow

Hyderabad: Medical experts and ordinary people offered to help Ahana Begum, the three-year-old girl who is bleeding from her eyes, ears and other body parts, after the report in these columns on Friday.

Dr Kaleem Mohammed, a clinical pharmacist at Hope Clinic in the US, said he was in the city and could arrange a medical consultation with doctors from the US. Explaining the condition, he said, “Sweating and blood pressure are in part regulated by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. One can manage this condition by reducing blood pressure and sweating.” He said propranolol, a commonly used beta blocker (blood pressure medication), had been shown to help patients.

He said there was a study of a case of hematidrosis being successfully treated with propranolol by the Jiangsu Institute of Hematology in China.

Dr Shashidhar Tatavarthy, head of ENT and Head Neck Surgery in Artemis Hospital, Gurugram, said this was a rare disorder and literature on it was very scanty. He said he had treated eight children in different parts of the country. The children are provided free consultations and tests.

Ahana Begum was again admitted to Rainbow Hospital, Banjara Hills, on Friday. Her father Mohammed Afzal said she was sweating blood again.

Dr Sirisha Rani, who is treating Ahana, said doctors had concluded that she was suffering from hematidrosis with severe autonomic dysfunction. “The heart rate control is an issue leading to excessive sweating, drowsiness, falling unconscious, shooting up of blood pressure.”

She said medicines were helping Ahana and the number of episodes had significantly dropped. She said the hospital had treated four children with this condition. 

Mr Vishal Varma of Malkajgiri said some friends on a WhatsApp group were pooling money for Ahana’s family. Mr Abdul Samad of Banjara Hills promised to help the girl.