Mum-to-be thought she was becoming 'Avatar creature' after pregnancy symptom turned things blue
Pregnancy can come with numerous side effects, but one mother-to-be became concerned when she started 'leaking blue ink'.
Keisha Sethi, from London, discovered what she believes is a rare symptom seven-months into her pregnancy when her boyfriend noticed a blue stain on the toilet seat one morning and asked if she was wearing anything blue.
The 24-year-old then found out it wasn't just the toilet seat, but the stains were on her white pyjama top, her duvet, and pillowcases — leaving her feeling like a 'leaking octopus'.
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The women's fitness company owner was terrified that her inky stains may be a sign her pregnancy wasn't agreeing with her, so called up the triage but says even her doctor thought she was joking.
Keisha stayed up researching the bizarre symptom all night with her partner Brad, who soon discovered her colour-changing sweat to be a potential rare pregnancy side effect caused by hormonal changes.
The week-long staining left as suddenly as it had appeared, and two months on Keisha is now expecting a baby girl any day now.
As a fitness coach for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), Keisha thought she'd seen it all, but admits it was people on social media who provided her with an answer when even her doctor didn't know what it was.
One potential explanation given online is that pregnancy could potentially trigger chromhidrosis; a rare condition in which an excess of lipofuscin in your sweat glands changes the colour of your sweat to green, yellow or even blue.
Keisha said: "It just happened overnight. It was quite crazy actually, it was like I was leaking blue ink. I felt like an octopus.
"I had no idea what it was. I went to the loo a few times and my partner went into the bathroom and was like 'Keisha are you wearing something blue?
"I thought I was going crazy or that my partner had done something, I was very in denial it was me.
"I tried to wipe it but it just would not come off.
"That same night I went to check my clothes and I had blue stains on my white top that I'd normally wear to bed. There were stains on my pillows and the bedsheets.
"It turns out it was just my skin and the sweat changing colour due to hormones.
"I thought I was turning into [a creature from] Avatar."
After growing out of her jeans months before, she knew it wasn't denim stains on her toilet seat, so wondered if it could be something she ate — or worse a warning sign from their rainbow baby.
Keisha then took to TikTok to speak about her unusual symptom and found that many others had experienced the same thing.
Now, Keisha hopes to raise awareness of the rare symptom and advises other women to always see a doctor as well as branching out in their research, heading towards social media platforms like TikTok, and not just relying on Google.
Keisha said: "If you're dealing with an unknown symptom like I was, I'd say Google probably isn't the most helpful thing these days.
"Hopefully your doctor will be able to help."
You learn something new everyday.
Niamh Shackleton