Woman hospitalized with brain swelling — she sniffed too many hot peppers

A Brazilian woman named Thais Medeiros is still recovering in the hospital six months after experiencing serious brain swelling from sniffing a super spicy chili pepper.

“I miss her a lot and I want my daughter to come home, but I understand that she needs to stay there,” the patient’s, mom Adriana Medeiros, told Globo’s Brazilian news site G1.

The freak accident occurred back in February while the 25-year-old gal was helping her boyfriend cook dinner for his parents at his home in Anápolis in central Brazil.

The occasion took a turn for the worse after Thais sniffed a pickled goat pepper — a fiery variety popular in the region that has a Scoville rating (a rubric for measuring pepper heat) of between 15,000 to 30,000 — and rubbed it on her nose.

Thais reportedly fell ill with an itchy throat, per Jam Press, whereupon she was rushed to a hospital in Anápolis. She was subsequently transferred to a facility in her hometown of Goiânia, reported G1.

Tests revealed that the patient had suffered from swelling of the brain, known as edema, which experts believe was caused by an allergic reaction to the pepper.

It was reportedly so severe that Thais spent several days in a coma after sniffing the chili.

Meanwhile, her mother Adriana pointed out that her daughter had preexisting conditions including bronchitis and asthma.

Salvation seemed to come after Thais was discharged from the hospital on July 31; however, she had to return four days later after she experienced a high fever and reddish urine, G1 reported.

And while Thais was originally slated to return home on Aug. 10, she experienced a bronchospasm — a tightening of the airways in the lungs — that prevented her from leaving.

Currently, there is no definite date of release for Thais, who has been left unable to speak or walk following the ordeal.

Doctors worry that she won’t be able to resume her normal activities due to the neurological problems caused by the lack of oxygen.

Her distraught mother just wants her daughter to come home.

“The [other] daughters ask why she doesn’t come home, and I think about her all the time,” Adriana said. “When I go to make some food that she liked, I remember our moments together and it hurts too much.”