The madness of King George

Hi all
Just (half) watching this film, i wondered what you all thought (if anything) of this.

I thought it (the madness) was the result of syphallis. It appears not. I haven't watched the whole film yet so don't know. but i was so intrigued i looked it up. Now the film has just said his urine was blue, whereas i just saw another bbc website that gives it as dark red that means it was 'porphyria'.

Any thoughts or knowledge anyone?

cheers

 

Almost certainly porphyria. The BBC site is interesting:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3889903.stm

 

Hi Sarra.
Flipping heck John, how come you know about that? Could it be that's where we get 'blue blood' from? You will know, i'm ignorant in history.

Blimey if you look at how they were, we're lucky to have this monarchy. Big debate now.

I was told that blood is blue till it comes into oxygen. is that right?

cheers

 

Blue blood is an English expression recorded since 1834 for noble birth or descent; it is a translation of the Spanish phrase sangre azul, which described the Spanish royal family and other high nobility who claimed to be 'pure', free of Moorish or Jewish blood, being of Visigothic descent. There is no connection between the phrase and the actual blood color of nobility; however, in the ancient agricultural societies of Europe the whole upper class had superficial veins that might be more visible and appear bluish by comparison to the rest of the pale-pinkish skin, as the skin itself was not tanned. In contrast with the working class of the time (mainly peasants), nobility and in general upper class people did not have to work outdoors, and mostly lived sheltered from the sun by dwellings and attire.

In other words no. Healthy blood is red from red corpuscles. :D

 

Thank you Sarra, as per you are great.

Does 'porphira' still exist? i mean it it still diagnosed?


Thanks

cheers

 

It's rare and is still (as far as I know) incurable. But modern drugs allow, as with many things, total control of the symptoms. It is not a form of madness but the extreme pain causes convulsions etc.

 

Hi Sarraceniac, i knew it. i'm from the upper classes Thats why my veins show. I have pale skin too. Definately. Still bleed a good red though, so must have healthly 'corpusclues'. :D

Why does it happen John? I mean what causes it? Why was it around then but not around now, or not diagnosed?

Sorry don't mean to go on. Just interesting, I know you know about it. Am i speaking to an alien You know everything. No can't be, cos you have a sense of humour too. If i am can i come and live on your planet?

cheers

Keep on.

 

Borrowers, I do know everything. At least I know that going through life without a sense of humour dramatically shortens that life. Seriously, nobody knows everything, not even a lot of people who think that they do.

This is not really my area. I used to chop hearts up. Well actually not the hearts themselves but the tubes going in and out of them. As I understand it Porphyria is more common in women than men and is inherited. Men get it (it is VERY VERY rare in either sex) but it usually has an outside stimulant. In the case of George IIII they think that the antimony that he was treated with, which contains a lot of arsenic, was the stimulant. It may have started with alcohol but when they treated it the 'cure' made it worse.

Sorry. You really need a toxicologist not a cardiologist for this. But knowing GC, we'll get one eventually.

 

I seem to remember that the outward symptoms of this disease include pallid skin, reddish eyes and sensitivity to light. It's thought that sufferers from this rare disease might have been the basis for some of the legends about vampires.

 

Sounds like me when I first get up in the morning :D though you can forget the vampire bit,never been any good at drinking blood :eek:

 

What about B****Y Marys, Kandy?

 

John, I think you must be part Yank because we Brits spell COLOUR with a U. :D :D :D

 

No David. not part yank. But I did internship in Chicago after my first degree in Toronto. Occasionally I revert even after all these years. And don't worry it won't be long before Brits are using American English as standard.

My web browser (Firefox) has an American spell checker and the only time I get really annoyed with it is when it insists that I should change whisky to whiskey. I don't mind if it means Irish so much but I've got a feeling that it has Kentucky in mind. :D