Gloria Ramirez's death may not be as mysterious as it seemed to be, and she was not the "Toxic Lady" the world dubbed her to be.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Leiem)
Gloria Ramirez's Mysterious Death
On Feb. 19, 1994, Gloria Ramirez was rushed to the hospital and was pronounced dead 45 minutes later. However, what caught the world's attention was the report that her body released fumes that allegedly made the doctors and nurses attending her sick.
Ramirez was only 31 years old and had late-stage cervical cancer, which probably contributed to her deteriorating medical condition. Before she was taken to the hospital, she suffered a rapid heartbeat and a drop in blood pressure.
Doctors and nurses got straight to work trying to save Ramirez's life. To the best of their ability, they adhered to protocol by giving her medication injections in an attempt to normalize her vital signs. Nothing was successful.
The woman's body had an odd oily sheen, which the nurses observed when they removed her top to put the defibrillator electrodes in. Her mouth gave off a fruity, garlicky fragrance that the medical staff could also sense. After that, nurses inserted a syringe into Ramirez's arm to draw blood. Particles or manila crystals were observed in her blood, and her blood had an ammonia odor.
After reviewing the blood sample, the attending physician concurred with the on-call nurses that evening. The patient didn't seem right, and it had nothing to do with heart failure.
Abruptly, one of the on-call nurses began to lose consciousness. Another nurse experienced breathing issues. A third nurse fainted and woke up with no movement in her arms or legs.
Six physicians failed to diagnose Ramirez due to recurrent unusual symptoms that seemed connected to the patient. The symptoms included nausea, transient paralysis, shortness of breath, and fainting.
Ramirez passed away that night, but even after her passing, things at the hospital only got stranger, leading some to refer to her as the "Toxic Lady."
Gloria Ramirez's Death Explained
Wendigoon explained in detail what happened to Ramirez on the day she died and why her body released fumes and smelled like garlic. The young mom may have used DMSO gel to treat cancer.
DMSO (dimethylsulfoxide) is typically used to lessen pain and speed up healing wounds, burns, and muscle and skeletal injuries. Many also turn to DMSO to treat headaches, inflammation, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and severe facial pain called tic douloureux.
DMSO2 is a naturally occurring chemical found in trace amounts throughout the body. It's a byproduct of the body's digestion process when one consumes plants and eggs.
But it's very sparse in the body to the point that some would never even test for it, and it naturally decomposes after about three days. It's also harmless in reasonable concentration. MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane) is a popular alternative. However, in Ramirez's case, it was not a trace amount. Based on the samples taken six weeks after she died, she had three times the normal amount of MSM, and since traces should have gone in three days, the findings suggested that she would have had dozens, if not hundreds or more, at the time of her death.
Pat Grant, an assistant deputy director, dug into the issue and found a link to DMSO. It was initially used as a pain reliever, but further studies in 1965 found that it could damage the eyes, so the FDA blocked it as a direct medication. However, it is still being used, but not as concentrated as in the 1960s.
In the 1980s, some scientists proposed that DMSO could be used as a cancer treatment. When it is highly concentrated, it's a powerful degreaser. Some athletes even reportedly use DMSO gel on their bodies for pain, but the same chemical is used as a cleaning agent.
As Grant researched it, he noticed that it had a strong garlic smell, the same scent in the emergency room when Ramirez was admitted to the hospital. In gel form, it also looked like a brightly oily lotion, similar to what they observed in Ramirez's chest when they revived her using a defibrillator.
However, it was not DMSO but DMSO2 that was found in her body. Interestingly, DMSO2 formed into crystals at room temperature and when exposed to oxygen, likely when Ramirez used an oxygen mask on her way into the hospital. While in Ramirez's body, it was too hot for DMSO2 to form into solid crystals, but when the blood was drawn out of her body and exposed to room temperature, it cooled down and formed solid shards.
However, DMSO and DMSO2 are not toxic enough to kill someone. As Grant continued his research, he learned that another chemical known as dimethylsulfate (DMS04) falls in the same category. DMS04 is a nerve gas. It was determined to be so dangerous that a 10-minute exposure to half a gram of it per cubic meter can kill someone. And 19 of the 20 symptoms reported on Ramirez's case that night were directly linked to the symptoms of DMSO4. The only one that wasn't linked was vomiting, which typically occurs when one has burning muscle spasms and paralysis.
It's not easy to convert DMSO2 into DMSO4 as it takes a lot of energy and not just adding two more atoms to come up with the latter. However, Grant realized that the defibrillator may have affected the process.
The defibrillator may have broken down everything (the DMSO that converted to DMSO2) to its based component and enabled Ramirez's body to reform the chemical and form DMSO4. This powerful chemical may have caused her death.
RELATED ARTICLE: Body of Xin Zhui: The Best Preserved Human Mummy in History
Check out more news and information on Medicine & Health in Science Times.
