An average morning took a life-threatening turn when Tennessee native Alicia was curling her little sister Gracie’s hair before church.
“I was maybe about five minutes in and she starts to gag a little and looks kind of pale,” Alicia explained in her Facebook caption. “I asked her if she was going to get sick and she shook her head yes.”
Alicia quickly ushered her two daughters out of the bathroom, and held Gracie’s hair back as she leaned over the toilet, preparing to throw up.
But if Alicia thought this was just a case of passing nausea, or maybe the onset of a stomach virus, she was soon proven wrong.
“Thirty seconds later … she looks at me,” Alicia continued. “She is extremely pale with blue lips and starts to pass out.”
As Alicia caught her sister in her arms, she took note of her pupils — they were huge.
Then, she screamed for help.
“Turns out there is something called hair-grooming syncope, which affects kids from ages 5-13,” Alicia explained. “They said they see about 1-5 cases a year. Turns out brushing, curling, braiding, or drying can cause nerve stimulation on the scalp and cause some children to have seizure-like symptoms.”
