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Should I be Worried?
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 336788" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>DaisyFace, I've just done some digging on Renfield Syndrome, beyond what I already knew or suspected. I was a bit concerned at a statement that ""sufferer's of Renfield's Syndrome need blood to live" which is definitely NOT a medical statement. It would be more correct (perhaps - you would have to interview such sufferers to determine this) that "sufferers of Renfield's BELIEVE they need blood to live".</p><p></p><p>Of course we all need blood to live, we need that blood to be our own, and to be kept safely in our circulatory system.</p><p></p><p>Even assuming Renfield's to be a genuine psychiatric condition (and there is some discussion on this) I do not believe your daughter meets the criteria. I believe your daughter WANTS to meet the criteria, but that is another story. The psychologisation of illness concerns me, especially the tendency to label everything that maybe doesn't really deserve its own discrete label. If we take this trend to its extremes, you would find they would give your daughter another label again - one which describes someone who doesn't have Renfield's Syndrome, but has a fetish for wanting to have Renfield's. Which is why I believe such psychiatrists will inevitably end up disappearing up their own fundamental orifices. [translation - no wonder so many shrinks are nuts]</p><p></p><p>I don't see any harm in your daughter researching this, even if she's researching it badly. She just doesn't fit, no matter how hard she tries to make it fit. She's a square peg, Renfield's Syndrome is a vanishingly small round hole.</p><p></p><p>Does Renfield's really exist? Probably. Someone somewhere probably meets most of these criteria. Is there anyone in the world who actually MUST drink blood in order to survive and also has a sexual fetish for drinking blood? I doubt it. That smacks of sensationalism and misinterpretation.</p><p></p><p>There are genuine medical conditions, porphyria-type diseases especially, where certainly in the past, pretty much the only way to keep the person alive was to give them blood to drink. It didn't have to be human blood. Porphyria is complex, is hereditary but also appears to need an environmental trigger as well as the gene, and has a number of different forms (including different severity). It really does come very close (in some presentations) to what we view as vampirism. It also genuinely exists. People with porphyria cannot make the heme molecule which we need in our blood to carry oxygen. Most of us process what we eat into a range of things, including heme. But those with porphyria cannot. Instead, they need heme from other sources. Our bodies naturally lose heme (and therefore need to always make more) because red blood cells, where much of the heme is located, age and die, to be processed by the liver. Several things can go wrong in porphyria - not only does a person become anaemic, but the stuff we make heme out of, porphyrin, builds up in the body of someone with porphyria and causes a lot of very odd symptoms. Exposure to the various known environmental triggers reduces the body's ability to cope with porphyrin, which is why these triggers will exacerbate symptoms.</p><p></p><p>And if your daughter has it, I would be amazed, surely you would have known it by now. Unless she has the adult onset form, in which case - why does she have it so young? The adult onset form does not appear to affect the skin, so they can go out in daylight. If she has porphyria, then it's very mild, or you would find her skin reacting to some extent at least, to being out in daylight. Certain foods would cause problems for her (including garlic and other members of the onion family, believe it or not) as would antibiotics, the Pill, alcohol, cigarettes, infection, puberty in females.</p><p></p><p>But you would have noticed.</p><p></p><p>"Common complications</p><p>Without medical treatment, complications of porphyria may include:</p><p>Permanent hair loss</p><p>Skin scarring</p><p>Permanent skin pigmentation changes</p><p>Dehydration</p><p>Breathing problems</p><p>High blood pressure (hypertension)</p><p>Low salt levels in the blood (hyponatremia)</p><p>Kidney failure</p><p>Liver problems, which may require a liver transplant in severe cases."</p><p><a href="http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Porphyria" target="_blank">http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Porphyria</a></p><p></p><p>Different types of porphyria require different treatments but these days there should be absolutely no need to ingest blood. Even in the past, that would only have helped in a few cases. But hey, it does make for sensational medical journal reading!</p><p></p><p>So I doubt it's porphyria. A blood test, urine test and/or stool test will confirm. I recall "mad King George" had problems with this, it took them ages to work out what was wrong until one someone noticed that the chamber pot containing the "royal wee" had been left standing and had gone the colour of stewed beetroot. Classic. Poor old George wasn't so mad after all.</p><p></p><p>Back to your daughter - she's on a jourey to find out. I doubt she will find anything that can really help her cram that square peg of hers into the tiny round hole of Renfield's. For a start, she's female and not male. Second, did she start by drinking her own blood? Does she crave it by the cupful? Does she get sexual jollies out of it? Or is this, as you strongly suspect (and others here also suspect) simply a girl with uncool depression, trying to make her condition seem more "cool"?</p><p></p><p>Your daughter is highly intelligent. by the way, husband is currently reading "The Book Thief" also had a bit of trouble getting into it but I think he's enjoying it now. The thing is, it's complex. And your girl "gets it" from the review I read that she wrote. So she's smart, a deep thinker. She knows something is wrong, probably can't accept "mere depression" as the label. </p><p></p><p>Let her explore. I think you are right to keep tracking it so you can be ready to jump sideways if this turns nastier than I think it should. But I think it is healthy for her to inform herself. Of course she's making a hash of it to begin with - I think we all did this, especially when we were in love with our own theories (hey, maybe there's a label for being in love with your own theory? A sort of theoryphilia? Sorry, I think I spent too long at that last site).</p><p></p><p>If she wants to use herself as the topic of research, she also needs to realise that in presenting it to the class, she is exposing herself a great deal. if it's only being handed in to the teacher then let her have her head and do what she wants, then try to give her extra direction to go purely as a discussion paper, no conclusions needed. Just a spreading out of "here is part of the spectrum of humanity" type of thing. The attraction of vampires in Gothic times, was the fear of your soul being lost, coupled with the 'lack of personal responsibility' component. These irreligious times have removed the spiritual aspect of vampirism, pretty much, and brought the sexual side of it to the fore. Without the soul aspect of it, the mysticism side of it also begins to wane. The vampire's powers were allegedly satanic in origin. In reality, there is no such power and even modern vampire mythology is moving away from much of this power, towards more personal strengths and abilities, rather than power over other people. Also, the whole horror of vampires originally, was that "life force exists in the blood" belief that was common then - too much medical science has intruded these days for people to really believe this any more. And that is what Renfield believed, in Bram Stoker's novel - he believed that by eating whatever little creatures he could catch in his cell at the asylum, he would gain the life force of these creatures. And in the novel, Renfield became more rat-like and roach-like in his behaviours. Not exactly something to aspire to.</p><p></p><p>If she believes herself to be evil, really evil, and extremely violent - then she is not like Renfield. He was a slave, a servant. That is NOT cool.</p><p></p><p>But again - that is mythology and fantasy. Worth mentioning in a discussion paper, but if that paper is at all factual (or pretending to be) then she has to mention the sub-group of humanity who play at being vampires but who in reality are mere mortals like the rest of us.</p><p>I don't think these social vampires are necessarily getting a sexual kick out of it, either. Although by association you could build up a conditioned response of sexual high from vampiric behaviour. </p><p></p><p>The consequences of handing in such an assignment will be interesting - at the very least, the school should react with alarm bells and any doubts cast in your direction will be swept away.</p><p></p><p>Keep tabs on what she is researching, do make sure she is writing stuff down so she has something to hand in. It is most important she hands something in. She needs to keep a bibliography of everything she reads even if she doesn't actually use it in her final paper.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 336788, member: 1991"] DaisyFace, I've just done some digging on Renfield Syndrome, beyond what I already knew or suspected. I was a bit concerned at a statement that ""sufferer's of Renfield's Syndrome need blood to live" which is definitely NOT a medical statement. It would be more correct (perhaps - you would have to interview such sufferers to determine this) that "sufferers of Renfield's BELIEVE they need blood to live". Of course we all need blood to live, we need that blood to be our own, and to be kept safely in our circulatory system. Even assuming Renfield's to be a genuine psychiatric condition (and there is some discussion on this) I do not believe your daughter meets the criteria. I believe your daughter WANTS to meet the criteria, but that is another story. The psychologisation of illness concerns me, especially the tendency to label everything that maybe doesn't really deserve its own discrete label. If we take this trend to its extremes, you would find they would give your daughter another label again - one which describes someone who doesn't have Renfield's Syndrome, but has a fetish for wanting to have Renfield's. Which is why I believe such psychiatrists will inevitably end up disappearing up their own fundamental orifices. [translation - no wonder so many shrinks are nuts] I don't see any harm in your daughter researching this, even if she's researching it badly. She just doesn't fit, no matter how hard she tries to make it fit. She's a square peg, Renfield's Syndrome is a vanishingly small round hole. Does Renfield's really exist? Probably. Someone somewhere probably meets most of these criteria. Is there anyone in the world who actually MUST drink blood in order to survive and also has a sexual fetish for drinking blood? I doubt it. That smacks of sensationalism and misinterpretation. There are genuine medical conditions, porphyria-type diseases especially, where certainly in the past, pretty much the only way to keep the person alive was to give them blood to drink. It didn't have to be human blood. Porphyria is complex, is hereditary but also appears to need an environmental trigger as well as the gene, and has a number of different forms (including different severity). It really does come very close (in some presentations) to what we view as vampirism. It also genuinely exists. People with porphyria cannot make the heme molecule which we need in our blood to carry oxygen. Most of us process what we eat into a range of things, including heme. But those with porphyria cannot. Instead, they need heme from other sources. Our bodies naturally lose heme (and therefore need to always make more) because red blood cells, where much of the heme is located, age and die, to be processed by the liver. Several things can go wrong in porphyria - not only does a person become anaemic, but the stuff we make heme out of, porphyrin, builds up in the body of someone with porphyria and causes a lot of very odd symptoms. Exposure to the various known environmental triggers reduces the body's ability to cope with porphyrin, which is why these triggers will exacerbate symptoms. And if your daughter has it, I would be amazed, surely you would have known it by now. Unless she has the adult onset form, in which case - why does she have it so young? The adult onset form does not appear to affect the skin, so they can go out in daylight. If she has porphyria, then it's very mild, or you would find her skin reacting to some extent at least, to being out in daylight. Certain foods would cause problems for her (including garlic and other members of the onion family, believe it or not) as would antibiotics, the Pill, alcohol, cigarettes, infection, puberty in females. But you would have noticed. "Common complications Without medical treatment, complications of porphyria may include: Permanent hair loss Skin scarring Permanent skin pigmentation changes Dehydration Breathing problems High blood pressure (hypertension) Low salt levels in the blood (hyponatremia) Kidney failure Liver problems, which may require a liver transplant in severe cases." [url]http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Porphyria[/url] Different types of porphyria require different treatments but these days there should be absolutely no need to ingest blood. Even in the past, that would only have helped in a few cases. But hey, it does make for sensational medical journal reading! So I doubt it's porphyria. A blood test, urine test and/or stool test will confirm. I recall "mad King George" had problems with this, it took them ages to work out what was wrong until one someone noticed that the chamber pot containing the "royal wee" had been left standing and had gone the colour of stewed beetroot. Classic. Poor old George wasn't so mad after all. Back to your daughter - she's on a jourey to find out. I doubt she will find anything that can really help her cram that square peg of hers into the tiny round hole of Renfield's. For a start, she's female and not male. Second, did she start by drinking her own blood? Does she crave it by the cupful? Does she get sexual jollies out of it? Or is this, as you strongly suspect (and others here also suspect) simply a girl with uncool depression, trying to make her condition seem more "cool"? Your daughter is highly intelligent. by the way, husband is currently reading "The Book Thief" also had a bit of trouble getting into it but I think he's enjoying it now. The thing is, it's complex. And your girl "gets it" from the review I read that she wrote. So she's smart, a deep thinker. She knows something is wrong, probably can't accept "mere depression" as the label. Let her explore. I think you are right to keep tracking it so you can be ready to jump sideways if this turns nastier than I think it should. But I think it is healthy for her to inform herself. Of course she's making a hash of it to begin with - I think we all did this, especially when we were in love with our own theories (hey, maybe there's a label for being in love with your own theory? A sort of theoryphilia? Sorry, I think I spent too long at that last site). If she wants to use herself as the topic of research, she also needs to realise that in presenting it to the class, she is exposing herself a great deal. if it's only being handed in to the teacher then let her have her head and do what she wants, then try to give her extra direction to go purely as a discussion paper, no conclusions needed. Just a spreading out of "here is part of the spectrum of humanity" type of thing. The attraction of vampires in Gothic times, was the fear of your soul being lost, coupled with the 'lack of personal responsibility' component. These irreligious times have removed the spiritual aspect of vampirism, pretty much, and brought the sexual side of it to the fore. Without the soul aspect of it, the mysticism side of it also begins to wane. The vampire's powers were allegedly satanic in origin. In reality, there is no such power and even modern vampire mythology is moving away from much of this power, towards more personal strengths and abilities, rather than power over other people. Also, the whole horror of vampires originally, was that "life force exists in the blood" belief that was common then - too much medical science has intruded these days for people to really believe this any more. And that is what Renfield believed, in Bram Stoker's novel - he believed that by eating whatever little creatures he could catch in his cell at the asylum, he would gain the life force of these creatures. And in the novel, Renfield became more rat-like and roach-like in his behaviours. Not exactly something to aspire to. If she believes herself to be evil, really evil, and extremely violent - then she is not like Renfield. He was a slave, a servant. That is NOT cool. But again - that is mythology and fantasy. Worth mentioning in a discussion paper, but if that paper is at all factual (or pretending to be) then she has to mention the sub-group of humanity who play at being vampires but who in reality are mere mortals like the rest of us. I don't think these social vampires are necessarily getting a sexual kick out of it, either. Although by association you could build up a conditioned response of sexual high from vampiric behaviour. The consequences of handing in such an assignment will be interesting - at the very least, the school should react with alarm bells and any doubts cast in your direction will be swept away. Keep tabs on what she is researching, do make sure she is writing stuff down so she has something to hand in. It is most important she hands something in. She needs to keep a bibliography of everything she reads even if she doesn't actually use it in her final paper. Marg [/QUOTE]
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