Porphyria is a group of diseases in which substances called porphyrins build up, negatively affecting the skin or nervous system. Most types of porphyria are inherited from one or both of a person's parents, and are due to a mutation in one of the genes that make heme. Treatment depends on the type of porphyria and a person's symptoms. The precise frequency of porphyria is unclear: it is estimated that it affects somewhere between 1 and per 50, people. These diseases primarily affect the nervous system , resulting in episodic crises known as acute attacks. The major symptom of an acute attack is abdominal pain , often accompanied by vomiting , hypertension elevated blood pressure , and tachycardia an abnormally rapid heart rate.
King George’s Blue Urine Gives the Color Royal Blue New Meaning
What was the truth about the madness of George III? - BBC News
Just when you think you can't learn anything from the royal baby coverage, you uncover a rare metabolic disorder in the baby's namesake. Learn why porphyria can drive you mad, and make your urine blue. There's a new King George on the horizon, and while listening to coverage of it, I learned a little something about a previous King George. I'd heard one of them went mad, but I didn't know that he famously peed blue. A little digging and I found out that both are symptoms of the same condition - porphyria.
In , King George III slipped into pure madness and was soon forced to retire from public life completely. Could his mental illness and pools of blue be related? It could all come down to a genetic blood disorder called porphyria.
Porphyria in the Royal Family The porphyrias are a group of disorders connected with the production of haem, which is used to make haemoglobin in red blood cells. There are seven different types of porphyria and in most cases they are inherited. In each type, there is a lack of one of the enzymes which controls one of the steps in haem synthesis.