Vampirism a Medical Condition?

I felt that it was important to talk about the fact that some individuals that think themselves to be a vampire may actually have a serious medical condition that is in need of treatment.

Now let it be known that I personally don't believe in the existence of blood thirsty vampires that come into your room at night to such your blood. I believe they are just myths and a from of escapism for troubled individuals. When I was around eleven I was a big fan of Blade and what not, so I did a little research on vampires and the like. To my surprise I found several sites in which individuals claimed to be immortal, eternally beautiful, vampires. More or less the creatures depicted in the Dracula novel.

Anyway, they said that they apparently went through an awakening that caused them to found out they were vampires.

Some of the Symptoms that I've found listed are as follows:

''Sanguinarian vampires (vampires that drink blood) become light sensitive, certain foods upset their stomachs, they are more active at night, and they develop the taste for blood. Now by this I do not mean that they become blood lusting monsters. They simply become curious of the taste and have a slight urge to taste and or drink it...''

I found it interesting that these symptoms can actually be explained by medical science and in no way make you a vampire in the slightest.

The first medical condition is Renfield's Syndrome, also known as clinical vampirism, which causes the individual to crave blood because of the belief of its ''life-enhancing powers.'' The condition starts in childhood with an incident that involves the ingestion of blood in which the individual becomes excited.

After the individual reaches puberty the excitement turns more toward sexual arousal. As the individual grows older he or she way participate in auto-vampirism (consumption of one's own blood) and in some cases move on to the consumption of blood in animals or other individuals.


The second medical condition is porphyria. It is a disease that affects either the nervous system, the skin, or in some cases both. It is caused by a deficiency in the enzymes that create the enzyme heme, which plays a major part in creation  bone marrow and the functioning of some parts of the liver.

The symptoms for this include mood swings, aches and pains in the abdomen and various other body parts, numbness, blisters on the skin, itchy skin, and swollen skin when exposed to sunlight.

The attacks can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Sent in by Shadow, Copyright 2011

See:


Porphyrias are a group of inherited or acquired disorders of certain enzymes in the heme bio-synthetic pathway... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002188/

Nearly everything you want to know about Vampires!
The Vampire Compendium

The Dangers of Romanticizing Vampires