Thirteen-year-old Lucknow girl Twinkle Dwivedi is your average teenager, who likes to play with her friends watch TV. However, there is a terrifying bloody mystery about her that sets her apart -- she cries blood.
The rare disease that still remains undiagnosed and nameless causes her to bleed spontaneously from her head, hands and feet without any signs of an injury. Known as the "girl who cries blood", Twinkle Dwivedi has been the subject of numerous medical research studies and TV shows such as Body Shock and a National Geographic documentary.
While some call her rare disease a bad omen, others claim she is possessed. However Dr. George Buchanan, a paediatrician at the University of Texas Southwestern and Children's Medical Center in Dallas, who visited the 13-year-old plagued with the terrifying condition at the behest of National Geographic Channel, says that he believes Dwivedi's condition is most likely psychiatric rather than medical and that he suspects she suffers from Munchausen Syndrome wherein people imagine certain medical symptoms and then physically recreate them.
Dr. Buchanan revealed to the Today Show that when he examined Twinkle he found no signs of injury, and no feasible explanation as to where the blood was actually coming from. The blood appeared to simply seep through the skin, which he says was quite impossible.
He also points to the possibility that it could be Twinkle Dwivedi's mother who is suffering from Munchausen syndrome, and it is her who is creating the blood and placing it on her child.
Dr Bauchman also added that it is critical to note that no one other than Nandini, Twinkle Dwivedi's mother, has actually witnessed the bleeding actually begin.
The video below shows Dr Bauchman's interaction and diagnosis of Twinkle's bleeding episodes. He meets the "girl cries blood" eight hours ahead of schedule, as she gets one of her episodes in the middle of the night. Although, the blood flowing out of her skin usually does not cause much pain, during that particular episode, she did complain of the back of her head hurting.
Dr Bauchman is mystified when he can't find any wounds and exclaims, "I've not seen this before.. I am aware of any medical condition that I can explain scientifically as a haematologist knowing about blood clotting that would explain this."
