Girl, 3, forgets to breathe!

Bengaluru, Jan. 28: She forgets, not her homework or her glass of milk, but she forgets to breathe. This three-year-old, who should be playing around like any other normal child, is in need of a special machine to help her breathe. Hruthika was hospitalised in Mysore with a severe cold and cough, which was followed by a cardiac complication. Unable to breathe, she was shifted to the ICU, where she was put on a mechanical ventilator to help her breathe. Once she was stable, she was taken off the ventilator. Then she was doing fine for a day till she stopped breathing again, needing the help of a breathing machine. The frequency of the attacks gradually increased and her breathing condition deteriorated. She was referred to us and we diagnosed her with an extremely rare genetic disorder, called Late-onset central hypoventilation syndrome with hypothalamic dysfunction, explained Dr. Gunda Srinivas, Manipal Hospital. He said this is a condition in which a person forgets to breathe, while other parts of the body function normally. This can turn into a life-threatening disease if the patient is not taken to the hospital within 15 minutes, he said.Normally, in the breathing mechanism, the brain sends signals to the lungs and muscles to breathe; whereas in this case, the respiratory functioning is not normal. Currently, the child has been operated upon to make her breathe. The child may have to be connected to the breathing machine life-long, depending on her response in the coming days, added Dr. Srinivas.

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