The Mirror
Meet Samara Rose Ingraffia, a 25-year-old housebound woman who constantly feels like she is being burned alive from the inside out.
Somehow, it’s even more terrifying than it sounds.
Ingraffia suffers from erythromelalgia – also known as Man on Fire Syndrome – a rare genetic condition that makes her feel like she has second degree burns all over her body. She was only 9-years-old when she started experiencing symptoms, but it took years for doctors to diagnose her.
“I don’t know what the worst part of this condition would be. It affects everything in my life,” she says in an interview found on The Mirror. “It’s all consuming and it’s just maddening to be constantly burning alive – it’s Hell on Earth.”
Ingraffia also suffers from Renauld’s Syndrome, another rare condition that causes her body to dramatically react to the slightest of temperature drops. In order for her to lead a relatively normal life, Ingraffia can only be exposed to temperatures of 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
Her father – an ex-professor who is conducting his own research on the condition – suffers from erythromelalgia and Renauld’s Syndrome, as well.
“Whenever there’s a slight increase in warmth, the body massively overreacts and floods blood to the skin,” he explains. “The blood then gets stuck in the skin which leads to horrific nerve pain. Whenever someone with Renaulds is exposed to cooler temperatures, the blood withdraws from the skin, causing a sort of numb kind of burning. When I get into temperatures above 62, 63 degrees Fahrenheit, especially if I do any sort of movement, it feels like I’m in an oven.”
We’re officially never complaining about the weather again.
Woman Suffers From Man on Fire Syndrome & It's More Terrifying Than It Sounds
