A 'fit and healthy' mum nearly died after suffering a freak allergic reaction to herself that turned her breast milk bright green. Tia Doyle woke in the middle of the night with a bad stomach ache, believing her sickness and diarrhoea symptoms to be down to something she'd eaten.
However, within minutes, the 31-year-old's airways began closing before she collapsed unconscious on the floor. Tia's former partner found her unresponsive and she was rushed to hospital where doctors confirmed the mum-of-two had gone into anaphylaxis - a life-threatening allergic reaction.
Tia, who works as a director of a family pub company, had no prior history of allergies or intolerances before her hospitalisation. The mum underwent multiple tests that confirmed she had monoclonal mast cell activation syndrome - a rare immunological disorder causing recurrent episodes of allergy that may develop at any age.
Symptoms may be triggered by a number of factors, including eating, exertion, environmental conditions, emotional stress, or insect stings, according to the NHS. After being discharged from hospital Tia, who was breastfeeding her three-month-old at the time, even noticed her breast milk had turned a putrid green colour in the hours after her rapid decline in health.
It's believed that a change in colour of the breast milk may be due to an increase in immunoglobulins, white blood cells, and leukocytes - all cells that help fight illness. Tia said she has no idea what caused her anaphylaxis, but believes the stress and exhaustion of having a newborn may have played a part.
Tia, who lives in Torquay, Devon, said: "The week before [going into anaphylaxis] I had started to feel really unwell with sickness and diarrhoea, so I rang 111 and when they called me back a few hours later I felt fine again.
"They thought I'd maybe had an allergic reaction to something. Then a week later, everything was normal and I went to bed as usual before waking up at 4am with a bad stomach ache. Then I started getting a bit hot and sweaty and thought I'd definitely eaten something dodgy.
"Very quickly it felt like the room was starting to collapse in and I just had this feeling of doom in the pit of my stomach. I knew something really bad was happening. In that moment, I thought I was having an allergic reaction.
"I knew that I needed to call an ambulance right now. I dialled 999, they asked for my address and I don't remember anything after that - I'd collapsed. I could feel my throat was closing and I remember putting my fingers down my throat, trying to hold my throat open almost before fully passing out."
After Tia's ex-partner found her collapsed and unresponsive on the floor, she was rushed to hospital where doctors discovered the mum had suffered a severe allergic reaction. Tests later revealed Tia has a rare disorder that means her body can suffer an allergic reaction at any moment, even without a specific trigger.
Tia said: "I had a clean bill of health, I'd never been allergic or intolerant to anything. The specialist said they don't know what causes it to manifest. It could've been because my hormones were so high after having my second child. Something knocked my system and caused this to become non-dormant and active.
"It can be caused by anything and everything, there doesn't necessarily have to be a specific trigger. I obviously had a reaction to something within my own body that I had a reaction to in my sleep.
"A big trigger for it is stress and at that point I had a three-month-old baby so was probably tired and a bit stressed. I think that probably had an impact."
Tia's brush with death even led her breastmilk to change to a translucent green colour - indicative of her body fighting an illness or infection. Tia said: "When I got out of hospital, I needed to express milk and for the rest of the day it was just this clear putrid green colour.
"That was bizarre. Usually if you're ill or your children are ill, your body can sense it and it almost triggers something in your system and that's why the breast milk can change colour. I was very shocked. I've seen a slight green tinge but that was almost translucent.
"The anaphylaxis was very scary. Even now it's still scary. I'm a single mum at home with two kids. I have one of those panic alarms now. If you go into full anaphylaxis, it can be very deadly unless you get treatment for it.
"I think if my partner hadn't woken up, I would've died. My body was starting to shut down. My throat was swollen, my breathing was so constricted."
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