A transgender beauty queen was left bedridden and covered in horror wounds from a mystery illness that has stumped doctors in the Philippines.

Jhon Joel Alday, better known by her nickname Princess Ocampo, 29, was famous for consistently SCORING first place in the local gay beauty pageants in her hometown of Balayan in Batangas province.

But from the glamorous catwalks on which she used to strut every week, stricken Princess is now bound to her bed, emaciated and in pain from the still-unidentified disease ravaging her body.

The condition has immobilised nearly all of her limbs, except for her right arm, which she uses to grab food and water from an icebox next to her bed.

She said: 'Every day, all I feel is pain. I feel pity for myself. My skin can't be touched carelessly because the tiniest contact really hurts. When the pain is unbearable, I sometimes think, dear God, I give up. I just want to die.'

The veteran pageant-goer said her health had taken a downturn last year, when she fell ill from a fever.

Doctors had told her she had hypothyroidism and a blood infection.

A seemingly innocuous pimple had also emerged on her forehead, but before long, the skin blemish had propagated and spread throughout her skin, developing into festering lesions.

Princess admitted that she had 'abused' her body when she was still healthy.

She said: 'After work, I usually went drinking, went out, stayed up late. I was taking hormone pills too, which were probably all mixed-up in my body.'

With her father dead and her mother having left the family for a new lover, Princess only has her brother Jaypee to rely on.

The devoted sibling, who already has a family of his own, will visit her house every day to change her clothes and dress her wounds. Because they had no money to go to the hospital, they relied on an herbal remedy - boiled guava leaves said to have antibacterial properties - to keep Princess's illness at bay.

Thanks to social media, local authorities have learned of her precarious condition and went to her house on September 15 to transport her to a hospital.

They used a folding bed as a makeshift stretcher and carried her across fields to the Medical Center Western Batangas Hospital, where she underwent multiple laboratory tests and check-ups. Friends and relatives were alarmed when, in the middle of procedures, Princess suddenly suffered convulsions.

Dr. Ma. Belen Pilit-Hizon, an endocrinologist at the hospital, said: 'Her seizures could be a result of an infection or there could be problems in her neurological system that we also need to check. She has subclinical hypothyroidism which means that she has low levels of thyroid hormone in her blood. When you have hypothyroidism, you can develop skin conditions.'

Princess was confined at the hospital so medical experts can better monitor her condition and try to give a diagnosis.

Dr. Dan Joseph Olpindo, Batangas Medical Centre internist, said: 'From impressions about her skin, she may have staphylococcal scalded syndrome, cutaneous tuberculosis or skin tuberculosis.

'She needs to undergo a more extensive workup. It will take weeks and even months before her skin lesions can be cured.

'We've already called in our specialists - the dermatologists, the infectious disease specialists, and even neurologists and endocrinologists. All of them are involved in the management of Princess's health.'

Princess is now calling on Good Samaritans for donations to help fund her treatments.

She said: 'Anyone who has the money to help, I hope you can spare me some donations. Any amount, even coins, I will accept wholeheartedly, because I really need help.'

Despite the challenges she is currently facing, the brave woman said she tries to be positive whenever she can.

She said: 'Let's not think about what we are going through. Let's think about how we can overcome it. You can't give up because everything has a solution. I really hope that I will get better so I can still do the things I want to do.'