The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
allthatsinteresting.com
allthatsinteresting.com
I wish they had included at least one photograph of this.
> Using research collected from studies of isolated Alaskan Eskimo populations, Cawein was able to conclude that the Fugates carried a rare hereditary blood disorder that causes excessive levels of methemoglobin in their blood.
> Cawein devised a cure for this disorder: more blue. Counterintuitively, the best chemical for activating the body’s process of turning methemoglobin to hemoglobin is methylene blue dye. The Fugates he treated ingested this dye and within a few minutes, the blue coloration of their skin disappeared, and their skin turned pink.
> As long as they kept ingesting pills of the substance regularly, these blue people of Kentucky could live their lives normally.
I can't confirm they are direct lineage or anything, though. I only know they were Fugate from eastern KY. It's not a particularly common name, nor is eastern KY particularly well populated so figure they are related in some manner.
Methemoglobinemia looks far less severe: https://blogs.brown.edu/emergency-medicine-residency/citw-14...
In animals/plants this is why inbreeding can serve a useful function. If you want to detect a recessive gene, but either don't have access to genetic testing or are not sure which gene is involved, you in-breed until you see individuals who express the recessive gene. These individuals inherited the recessive gene from both parents. You then know which parental lines carry the gene, which lets you select for or against it.
Are there any examples of species doing this 'deliberately'?
Many animals can inbreed with much less downside.
There are lab mice that are entirely homozygous (inbred until every gene they have is identical). They're not quite as prolific as normal mice, but they survive.
Almost sounds like homeopathy, without the dilution, that actually works.
Using a blue substance to cure someone who's blue is similar to the first gimmick, but here they actually use the substance and medically tested it.
There, I saved you the cost of the water pills. You don't need costly, potentially dangerous additive laced medicine if you're just looking for the placebo effect.
Another thread trending on the value of placebo: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28887705
Some of the pills are made using toxic fillers. It's not enough I'd panic over, you can get the placebo effect without ingesting anything shady/expensive.
I’d hypothesize that the more expensive the pill, the better the effect.
I did find this, https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/10/fda-homeopathic-teet... which shows there is some risk, though again you're most likely fine.
>I’d hypothesize that the more expensive the pill, the better the effect.
For you, sure. For your daughter, I bet your confident recommendation is the most important aspect.
So when the conditions are here, as they seemingly were for your daughters, it's great.
Yet, homeopathy, when considered as a potent product, didn't help, because it is not potent. The conditions enabling the placebo effect did. And no one would complain about that :)
The problem arises when homeopathy is sold and marketed as potent _per se_.
Then use a substance that causes the same symptom (usually not the ailment, only one of the symptoms), and then dilute it away.
So it scores 2 out of 3. But the dilution part is important :)
Makes you pee blue, can treat effects of carbon monoxide poisoning, etc. There were lots of opportunities for someone with blue skin to have encountered the stuff.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/why-people-nobl...
Some of the Hindu gods have blue skin, maybe they just had Methemoglobinemia.
But since metHb is dysfunctional and cannot bind oxygen and you need levels of at least 10% metHb to be visible as cyanosis: Why didn't they exhibit oxygen-deficit related symptoms?
Or can your body compensate with other mechanism if it's congenital? At least when it is visibly induced you most certainly will also suffer from symptoms like shortness of breath etc.
It would seem you are correct but these effects weren't touched on by the article.
The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21096062 - Sept 2019 (86 comments)
There are several well-publicized cases, all of which were self-inflicted.
I would imagine the actual hue of the blueness would be different.
> However, by the early 1960s, some members of the Fugate clan had begun to resent their cobalt-tinted skin. Not only did their skin mark them as different, but by that time, people had already begun to associate their skin color with the family’s history of inbreeding.
Maybe that particular family had it much worse but I don't think I'd ever see someone with it and think "they're blue." Though if it's like poor circulation, it'd looks a bit more blue in person.
Different conditions. What happens with colloidal silver is the buildup of silver oxides in tissues, permanently staining them blue.
Note: do not do this!