Health

What if Static Electricity Could Kill You? Meet This 13-Year-Old

Brushing hair is a no no. Playing with balloons or jumping on a trampoline? Forget about it. Wearing polyester clothing is also out of the question.

For those who have a rare disease called “hair brushing syndrome,” static electricity causes vital organs to shut down and could be fatal. Megan Stewart, according to the the Scottish Daily Record, is one of these rare cases.

Rare Disease Makes Static Electricity Fatal

In 2008, when Stewart’s mother was brushing her hair for school, the 13-year-old fell over  and her lips turned blue:

“She can‘t rub balloons on her head at parties and she can’t wear any shiny clothing.”

. . .

Sharon, 41, said: “I was brushing her hair in the living room when she flopped over and her lips turned blue.

“I thought she was having a fit, which she’d never had before, so we called the paramedics. It was really scary.”

Doctors at Glasgow’s Yorkhill hospital for sick kids, where Megan had spent the first year and a half of her life, told her parents they had only ever heard of one other case of the bizarre syndrome.

The Scottish Daily Record went on to report doctors as saying they believe the syndrome is a result of early complications. Stewart was born of an emergency cesarian section three months early at 2 pounds 3 ounces. Stewart had a hole in her diaphragm causing her stomach to fall through and leaving room for only one lung to grow. As a result of these complications, Stewart has asthma and dorsal stream dysfunction, which means she can’t see fast moving objects.

The Stewart‘s have found a way to brush Megan’s hair though. According to the Daily Mail, Stewart’s mother said they lay her down, cover her head with water to avoid static build up and brush. Stewart is planning a charity fundraiser on October 8 to increase awareness of this condition.

[H/T Technorati]

Comments (41)

  • tankyjo
    Posted on August 24, 2011 at 9:12am

    Die Trying, you have my permission. You first, always lead by example.

    Report Post » tankyjo  
  • conservativeKen1971
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:39am

    Die Trying is a troll. On topic however, I couldn’t imagine having something like this girl. All I can say is wow.

    Report Post » conservativeKen1971  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:53am

    It‘s because she’s a ginger and has no soul.

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
  • Die Trying
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 4:49pm

    this person and people like her are carriers of a genetic mutation, a mutation which is being passed down through the gene pool. In normal evolutionary process a mutation such as this, peanut allergies, etc, would lead to death, preventing this mutation from being passed on. By coddling these genetic freaks we are accomplishing the opposite of evolution. We are killing our species through un-natural selection. stop protecting the genetically inferior!

    Report Post »  
    • SenorStrange
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 4:55pm

      Spoken like a true evolutionist. Hitler would be proud.

      Report Post »  
    • IvanK
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 5:29pm

      Hmmm. Die Trying… That’s what the NAZI party and Eugenics did… You know… Socialists!

      Report Post » IvanK  
    • Whyismynamealwaystaken
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 5:38pm

      HEY Die Trying your brain mutation is worse then this little girls condition. I hope you find help.

      Report Post » Whyismynamealwaystaken  
    • woodyl1011fl
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 8:01pm

      A prospective Obama care medical bureaucrat; Dr. Singer would recommend you for a position on the Obama care death panels or as the Nazi’s called them selection offices or groups, Stalin called them selection sections. Marxist/Socialists always try to use catchy phrases. Isn’t evolution a really great religious worldview belief system taught in all our state religious education institutions from k-12 by our liberal elites as truth and run by our government and liberal judges! Seems to me history records in the twentieth century this same scenario has been played out before and began with same religious evolutionary belief system. Will we never learn!? Evolution besides being irrational, because among things it proclaims mutations are what brought us all here by chance random processes of adding information to matter and thus to our genome. Say what? Entropy says NO and this young lady’s condition is evidence of that law, everything is going the other way maybe that’s why liberals are liberals? Must be a genetic disorder of some kind either that or learned behavior or it could be both? Can it be unlearned and cured?

      Report Post »  
    • shaunv
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 8:09pm

      Thanks for your input adolf

      Report Post »  
    • CleanUpAisle2013
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 8:45pm

      Dear Die Trying,
      Please do.

      Report Post » CleanUpAisle2013  
    • mashuser
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 9:36pm

      DieTrying – never mind the concept that modern medicine has helped humans get past many many ills. God forbid you ever get sick with cancer because the cells in your body are inclined to get cancer when you’re 60 years old or so. I suppose you will voluntarily forgo the surgery and just die a painful cancerous death?

      Report Post »  
    • Cold War Vet
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 3:45am

      @ DIE TRYING

      Joseph Mengele would be proud of you too!

      For those who don’t know, Dr. Joseph Mengele was the Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination camp doctor who did horrible medical experiments/torture on children. He must have been some kind of liberal-progressive…

      It’s not my judgement call to play God, and terminate a life like that. I could never harm this girl, and would never dream of harming her as a baby.

      Report Post » Cold War Vet  
    • Cold War Vet
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 3:52am

      @ WOODYL1011FL

      Funny you should mention these things. Obama does have an uncomfirmed, appointed (without congressional oversight, of course) medical czar named Donald Berwick. You ought to check this guy out. He’s the Saul “kill 25 million people” Alinsky of medicine. Not only is he socialistic, he’s downright Stalinist. We should start calling him Donald “save a buck, let ‘em die” Berwick.

      http://www.neuezeitgeist.wordpress.com

      Report Post » Cold War Vet  
    • The Third Archon
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 6:53am

      “We are killing our species through un-natural selection. stop protecting the genetically inferior!”
      Actually we are only killing those that are the children of those who posses the gene. And actually we aren’t doing that–we’re keeping them alive, the way we keep their parents alive, and ALL of us in fact, with a little thing called technology.

      Technology > Evolution

      Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • green_manalishi
      Posted on August 23, 2011 at 9:30am

      I knew card carrying lib Obama supporters where evolutionary retreads

      Report Post »  
    • timel0rd
      Posted on August 25, 2011 at 3:37am

      What Die Trying says would be correct if human beings were merely wild beasts and our only purpose was to survive and procreate. Human beings, however, are far more complex. An Enlightened Evolusionist understands that to be successful as a species, we need to do more than reproduce. Beethoven was deaf, Ray Charles was blind, Stephen Hawking has ALS. Ingenuity, creativity, imagination are far more important to humanity than merely surviving long enough to pass on our genes.

      Report Post »  
  • GENEPAGLIARI
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 4:35pm

    It is the AMPS that will kill you or stop your heart and other organs. It only takes a very small amount of amperage ( i believe it is less than .3 ) to do the damage. It is in the neighborhood of 10 milliamps to be more precise, very little current.

    Report Post »  
  • Charb
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 2:30pm

    @Randy

    You said: “5 minutes doing a little internet research proved this story is BS”

    Wow! Really. Did you read the article you linked to? It confirms the story while correcting the apparent name of the syndrome. Guess you didn’t really have an extra 5 min???

    Report Post » Charb  
    • One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 2:44pm

      I guess that means don‘t believe everything you read from know it all’s who don’t read the entire articles they link to ;) lol

      “The explanation for Megan’s seizure is almost certainly Hair-Combing Syncope, and not Hair Brushing Syndrome, which I now suspect doesn’t really exist. “

      Report Post » One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew  
  • JeffScism
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 1:20pm

    Static Electricity can really kill you. Try grabbing the metal part of a hovering helicopter sometime, it MUST touch ground before you grab on, otherwise HUGE static discharge will fry you. That is why they usually drop a cable to the ground before they try to pick someone up. To discharge the static electrical build-up.

    Report Post »  
    • jb.kibs
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 9:18pm

      ever heard of a Leyden jar? look it up. static electricity can kill anyone.

      Report Post »  
  • J.C. McGlynn
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 1:16pm

    A grounding strap, like the ones used on cars a long time ago, might help.

    Report Post » J.C. McGlynn  
  • MotorOfTheWorld
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:57pm

    She wouldn’t survive here in Colorado.

    Report Post »  
  • randy
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:55pm

    5 minutes doing a little internet research proved this story is BS
    http://gizmodo.com/5832521/would-it-kill-this-girl-to-brush-her-hair–actually-yes.

    Gee Blazers, do your homework and stop believing everything you read.

    UPDATE: Long story short, it does indeed apear to me that this is a case of bad doctoring and poor diagnosing. The explanation for Megan’s seizure is almost certainly Hair-Combing Syncope, and not Hair Brushing Syndrome, which I now suspect doesn’t really exist. We at Gizmodo try to always do thorough research, but sometimes we do make mistakes, especially before our coffee has kicked in. Thank you, commenters, for keeping us honest.

    Report Post » randy  
    • insaneserenity
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 2:02pm

      anyone who ever believes everything they read is a really scary fool.

      Report Post »  
    • loriann12
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 4:26pm

      I thought it was only liberals who believed everything they heard…especially if it’s bad and about conservatives.

      Report Post »  
    • Carborendum
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 10:24pm

      Did you actually read the article? It confirms, not refutes, this story. You really must be a liberal. You read one thing and believe it says another.

      Report Post »  
  • thomasdaddy
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:51pm

    I once worked in an office that would have the cleaning crew spray fabric softener on the floors to eliminate the static electricity that is generated from walking across the office. There are going to be a lot of place this young lady won’t be able to go simply because of the threat! I feel for her….

    Report Post » thomasdaddy  
  • hifi74
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:34pm

    Man, people like that you really feel sorry for. Everyday mundane things put their lives at risk and for something that most people wouldn’t even give a second thought too. It’s bizarre how some people have to deal with goofy syndromes like this due to allergies or different complications.

    Report Post » hifi74  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:32pm

    Yikes…. Poor kid.

    Report Post » biohazard23  
  • johnsell
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:31pm

    I would venture that condition is tied to her early trauma and the static electricity acts as a stimulation of the earlier incident in the same manner that a post hypnotic suggestion operates and could be remedied with counselling until that incident no longer has any effect on her.

    Report Post »  
    • 8jrts
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:51pm

      Yeah sure….counseling will keep her organs from shutting down?? Genius…

      Report Post » 8jrts  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 1:08pm

      Coverage under Barrycare?

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
    • johnsell
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 1:16pm

      As a matter of fact, counselling can keep her organs from shutting down as it is mind over matter. How do you think some are able to control their breathing and heart rate using their minds. If the incident is below her awareness level , it will control her organs as in a hypnotic condition, but put her in control of what she isn’t aware of and the condition will de-stimulate.

      Report Post »  
    • loriann12
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 4:29pm

      I had a really high temperature as a 22 month old (I’m talking 107.9 and don‘t tell me it’s impossible, because it’s confirmed – doc said if I’d been older it would have killed me). For years (maybe into the 2nd grade) I could convince myself I had a fever and run 102-103. I made myself get a fever when we got a new puppy so I could stay home and play with it. Mom didn’t believe me that I was sick, stuck a thermometer in my mouth and left. She thought I’d put it on the light bulb, so she retook it and stood there to watch me. 103.

      Report Post »  
    • 8jrts
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 4:30pm

      That’s a big IF…how about IF it’s a short in her “electrical system” from being premature birth…you know like the way the brain sends impulses to the body and there is a malfunction, I don’t think counseling will help. If it would, I bet it would help with cancers too, mind over matter, like you said…. but I sure don’t hear about those cures.

      Report Post » 8jrts  
  • AlansTigg
    Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:19pm

    Wow that would be a very difficult situation to totally avoid…I get static shocks every winter, all winter…wonder how they handle that

    Report Post » AlansTigg  
    • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:29pm

      She should probably move to where it is warm and humid year ’round. Kind of like the bubble-boy from the 70′s.

      Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
    • ValiantDefender
      Posted on August 22, 2011 at 12:47pm

      Good lookin’ gal…Just can‘t kiss unless you’re a well grounded guy! =P Srsly. Sometimes I shock my wife and kids around the house (especially the winter).

      Report Post » ValiantDefender  

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