A woman in Brazil went into a coma for several days after smelling a hot chili pepper.
Thais Medeiros, 25, was cooking with her boyfriend and family when she rubbed the pepper on her nose and sniffed it.
Suddenly, her throat became itchy. In the hospital, doctors discovered she had cerebral edema, also known as brain swelling.
They believe she is likely allergic to the pepper.
Thais Medeiros, 25, of Brazil, was cooking with her family when she held a hot pepper to her nose. It caused her brain to swell, likely from an allergic reaction
It’s not clear what kind of pepper she smelled.
Cerebral edema is swelling caused by fluid building up in the brain.
When the fluid accumulates, it puts pressure on the skull, known as intracranial pressure (ICP). This reduces blood flow and oxygen to the brain, which means it can’t function properly.
Symptoms typically include headache, nausea, vomiting, vision problems, seizures, behavioral changes, memory loss, weakness or numbness, and loss of consciousness.
Ms Medeiros’ doctors believe an allergy caused her edema, but it can also stem from traumatic brain injuries, stroke, aneurysms, tumors, infections, or seizures.
She was in a coma for several days after smelling the pepper, though it’s unclear what treatment she underwent.
Typical treatments to reduce the pressure include brain surgery, medications, elevating the head, and putting the patient on a ventilator to give them more oxygen.
Ms Medeiros is slowly recovering, but it’s not clear if she will have lasting neurological issues from the edema.
Brain swelling can cause several long-term effects, including vision loss, headaches, altered mental status, depression, sleep issues, epilepsy, and brain damage.
There is no official data on how many cases of cerebral edema occur each year. About 2.5 million Americans suffer traumatic brain injury, a common cause of the condition, according to the Brain Trauma Foundation.
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