Funki Jatti
21st August 2011, 02:39 PM
London, Aug 18 (IANS) A schoolgirl in Scotland has a rare condition following which she has been asked not to comb her hair too vigorously as it could lead to her brain shutting down.
Megan Stewart, 13, has a rare condition - Hair Brushing Syndrome - which means she must avoid wearing polyester or touching balloons. Any contact with electrical charges could confuse her brain into switching itself off or sending signals to her heart and lungs to make them do so, Daily Express reported.
Stewart has to dampen her hair to reduce static and lie down before combing it and is banned from participating in school science experiments.
The teenager, from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland was diagnosed three years ago, after she collapsed as her mother -Sharon brushed her hair.
Her mother Stewart, 41, said: 'I was brushing her hair when she flopped over and her lips turned blue. I thought she was having a fit, so we called the paramedics. It was really scary.'
The girl was taken to a hospital where medics revived her. It was two months later that neurologists made the diagnosis.
Doctors at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill in Glasgow, believe birth complications may be responsible for the condition.
She also suffers from asthma and dorsal stream dysfunction, a problem with the connection between her eye and brain which means she can't see fast-moving objects.
But the determined girl says: 'I know not to brush my hair too fast and if I feel unwell to stop doing it. I think I know what my limits are. I don't let it affect me and I can still live a normal life.'
Megan Stewart, 13, has a rare condition - Hair Brushing Syndrome - which means she must avoid wearing polyester or touching balloons. Any contact with electrical charges could confuse her brain into switching itself off or sending signals to her heart and lungs to make them do so, Daily Express reported.
Stewart has to dampen her hair to reduce static and lie down before combing it and is banned from participating in school science experiments.
The teenager, from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland was diagnosed three years ago, after she collapsed as her mother -Sharon brushed her hair.
Her mother Stewart, 41, said: 'I was brushing her hair when she flopped over and her lips turned blue. I thought she was having a fit, so we called the paramedics. It was really scary.'
The girl was taken to a hospital where medics revived her. It was two months later that neurologists made the diagnosis.
Doctors at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill in Glasgow, believe birth complications may be responsible for the condition.
She also suffers from asthma and dorsal stream dysfunction, a problem with the connection between her eye and brain which means she can't see fast-moving objects.
But the determined girl says: 'I know not to brush my hair too fast and if I feel unwell to stop doing it. I think I know what my limits are. I don't let it affect me and I can still live a normal life.'