Man Rushed to Hospital After Turning Blue Discovers It's Bedsheet Dye
A 42-year-old man from Derbyshire experienced a mortifying health scare when he was rushed to the hospital after turning blue from head to toe, only to discover the alarming discoloration was caused by dye from his unwashed new bedsheets.
The Blue Awakening
Tommy Lynch, a construction worker from Castle Gresley, Derbyshire, woke up one afternoon after sleeping for 14 hours to find his skin had turned a vivid blue color. "I looked like a Smurf," Lynch recounted. "I was extremely tired and confused, having just woken from a deep sleep."
The previous day, Lynch had noticed his hands appeared slightly blue when shaking someone's hand but dismissed it as being cold. On the second night of sleeping in his new navy blue king-size bedsheets—a gift from his friend Del to keep him warm in his barn home—Lynch overheated during sleep, which apparently activated the dye transfer.
Emergency Hospital Visit
When Lynch's friend Del came to check on him and saw his blue appearance, he immediately insisted they go to the hospital. "Del took one look at me and said I needed to go to the hospital," Lynch said. "He works as a carer, so I trusted his judgment."
At Queen's Hospital in Burton, Lynch was taken straight to see a doctor and given a bed within minutes. Concerned medical staff placed him on oxygen, with everyone in the A&E reception staring at him "like they'd seen a ghost." Lynch recalled approaching the desk uncertainly: "I didn't even know what to say: 'Hi, I've woken up blue.'"
The Diagnosis
The mystery was solved when a doctor rubbed Lynch's arm with an alcohol wipe, and the swab turned blue. "As soon as they wiped my arm and it came off blue, it clicked," Lynch said. "I was mortified."
Medical staff told Lynch they'd "never seen someone that colour who was still alive." Despite the embarrassment, Lynch said he gave the doctors "a good laugh" and noted that "they don't usually have funny stories in A&E."
Aftermath and Advice
Lynch, who has vitiligo and sleeps without clothing, stressed he didn't mean to waste medical time. He spent the next week trying to wash off the blue dye with multiple baths. "The water was blue," he said. "People were still looking at me weirdly as I had bath after bath, but it took a week."
The experience taught Lynch an important lesson: "I never knew you had to wash your sheets before you slept on them. The first thing I did when I got home was wash my sheets. I haven't gone blue since."
He offered wry advice to others: "Always wash your sheets before you sleep in them. Unless you want to jump the queue at A&E."
Communication Confusion
The situation created additional confusion when Lynch tried to call his mother. A patchy phone connection during his call to explain he'd "dyed" himself led her to initially believe someone was calling to say he had died. After confirming he was indeed alive, his mother had been panicking about his blood circulation upon seeing his blue photo.
Lynch's unusual experience serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of washing new bedding and provides an unexpected humorous story from what is typically a serious hospital environment.
