Indian woman Rashida Khatun is crying … tears of blood! And her compatriot Savitri has tiny crystals falling from her eyes instead of tears. How can these mysterious phenomena be explained?
Bless or curse?
Rashida Khatun from Patna in northeastern India became famous throughout the world after June 17, 2009. On this day, many newspapers wrote that this girl was crying … tears of blood, and several times a day. “I don’t feel any pain when this happens, but, you must admit, it’s a shock when blood flows from my eyes instead of tears,” says Rashida.
Physicians are very puzzled by this case, but they cannot find a suitable explanation for the phenomenon. And local Hindu theologians decided that this girl was marked by the gods, so that mere mortals should worship her. And pilgrims come from everywhere, just to see the bloody tears in Rashida's eyes with their own eyes and to give her gifts in order to appease the
gods through her …
Compatriot Rashida, about whom the media reported in autumn 2008, was much less fortunate. At 13-year-old Twinkle Divedy from the Indian hinterland, blood oozes not only from the eyes, but also from the neck, nose, and heels, so doctors have to regularly transfuse her - otherwise the girl will die. But the worst thing is that her fellow countrymen do not idolize her, but curse her.
When people meet her on the street, people throw stones at her and shout curses. Twinkle's mother, 42-year-old Nandani Divedy, is desperately trying to help her daughter, who until recently was a normal child - she went to school, played with friends and loved to draw. But then suddenly her body began to bleed. Now this happens to her five to twenty times a day.
Unknown disease
However, they did not talk about bloody tears yesterday or today. Back in September 2002, it became known about Hind Mujah, a 23-year-old student from the Algerian city of Mascara, who has tears of blood every day, regardless of external stimuli. For the first time this phenomenon manifested itself in one of the local banks, where Hind did an internship as a notary. The girl was sitting at the computer when a cleaning lady who worked next to her noticed bloody tears in her eyes and screamed in horror. Since then, doctors have taken up the solution to the "miracle".
At first, they believed that Hind was bleeding. The girl was examined, but no pathology was found. Subsequently, the press reported that, apparently, it was still some unknown disease: Hind developed photophobia, periodically there are bouts of nausea and vomiting. The girl dreams of making a pilgrimage to Mecca: she believes that the holy places will give her healing.
Lebanese miracle
Twinkle Divedi and Hind Mujahhe have a sister in misfortune in Lebanon. Her name is Hasna Mohamed Meselmani. True, blood does not flow from Hasna's eyes, but … transparent crystals fall out! They are small, the size of a grain, but there are twenty or more of them per day. A girl from Lebanon has been "crying" with crystals since the age of 12. Fortunately, this does not cause pain, since these pieces of glass are surrounded by a jelly-like shell. At the exit from the eye, the crystal looks transparent, like a tear, but immediately hardens and whitens slightly, becoming sharp like a diamond - they can even cut glass! Hasna says the crystals don't hurt her. Local doctors cannot explain such an unusual phenomenon, and the girl's father hopes for the help of specialists from Europe and the USA.
According to Hasna, this story began in March 1996, and there is a lot of mysticism in it. The girl was at school when she felt some kind of foreign body in her eye - it turned out that it was the first crystal. A few days later she was sitting at home when she heard a knock on the window and, looking out, saw a man in white riding a white horse. The rider asked Hasna to leave, introduced himself as the messenger of heaven and said that Hasna "cries" with crystals at the will of Allah.
To Hasna's question when these stone tears will run out, the rider replied: "When the sky wills." The white rider appeared several more times and gave the girl various advice on how she should behave in this life. Hasna is convinced that the prophet Muhammad protects her.
This event excited the Arab world. The story was made public - thanks to television, magazines and newspapers. Religious figures, scientists and doctors were looking for an answer to the question of how such sharp crystals can appear from a girl's eyes and not injure her eyes.
There was a period when someone declared Hasna's crystal tears to be a fraud. But no one believed this, especially since the moment the crystals appeared from the girl's eyes, several close-up cameras were filming, and there was simply no way to cheat.
Western doctors are sure that the "Lebanese miracle" is cystinosis, a congenital disorder of amino acid metabolism, leading to an abnormally high content of cystine in the blood, kidneys and lymphatic system. At the same time, cystine accumulates in organs and tissues and its crystals are deposited, including in the cornea, and sometimes in the anterior chamber of the eye, in the iris, on the fundus and even in the optic nerve.
Amazing stones
A girl crying … with stones is a good plot for a fantasy novel. But here - no fantasy! In one of the villages of the Indian state of Jharkhand, 19-year-old Savitri lives, with tiny stones falling from the corners of her eyes instead of tears.
It began when she was 15 years old, and the schoolgirl was examined by doctors. They said they had never seen anything like it. The explanation for the phenomenon was never found. Well, the local population is trying to find their own explanation: either Savitri is possessed by an evil spirit, or, on the contrary, is the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess. At least these stones do not seem to her to be God's blessing. Why? Because every time before they appear, Savitri has an intolerable headache. And by the way, tiny stones appear in her not only from her eyes, but also from her ears, nose and mouth.
Savitri is under medical supervision. Pebbles from the mouth, in their opinion, can still be explained - they are apparently produced by the salivary glands. Under the stones from the nose and ears, doctors are also trying to provide a theoretical basis. “But for stones to appear from the eyes - no, this is the first time I hear about this,” says otolaryngologist Ragho Saran, who tried to treat Savitri. He believes that, perhaps, stone formation is associated with an increased calcium content in the girl's blood. And one of the Russian Internet sites considered it necessary to clarify that such conditions are called lacrimal stone disease, and they are associated with chronic inflammatory processes in the lacrimal ducts.
On one of the Arab sites there is an interesting video from a medical center, where one of the doctors talks about an unusual patient, from whose eyes pebbles of various shapes and sizes come out. There is even a shot showing this very moment: the doctor substitutes a white napkin when another dark (or even black) pebble rolls out of the girl's eye.
Well, once in the zone of the unknown, everyone is free to decide which version of events to accept and which version to reject …
