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The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
31–40 of 91 posts
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#32The discovery of the treatment in the methylene blue dye is quite fascinating. How exactly did someone figure that out for such a rare condition? And imagine being deep blue all your life and everyone knowing you as blue, then you take this blue pill and bam, you're pink as can be. Must have seemed like practical magic.
> And imagine being deep blue all your life and everyone knowing you as blue, then you take this blue pill and bam, you're pink as can be. Must have seemed like practical magic. Almost sounds like homeopathy, without the dilution, that actually works.
So, not homeopathy?
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And imagine being deep blue all your life and everyone knowing you as blue, then you take this blue pill and bam, you're pink as can be. Must have seemed like practical magic. Almost sounds like homeopathy, without the dilution, that actually works.
So, not homeopathy?
I get their point, homeopathy has two bs gimmicks. The first is to use a substance that causes the ailment as a cure, the second is to replace that substance with water/sugar and the idea of the substance.
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.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#34>Though today Benjy and most of the Fugate family descendants have lost their blue coloring, the tint still comes out in their skin when they are cold or flush with anger. I wish they had included at least one photograph of this.
I went to college in Kentucky with two of the Fugates, twins in fact. Sorry to report, neither were blue in color.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#35Not to be insensitive, but it would have been interesting if they had a member of the family play an Andorian in Star Trek. Think about it.
It's more of a gray-ish blue, not bright blue like those characters.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#36This article touches on something that remains very true today: if you want to study genetic disorders you look at closely-related populations. If the condition you want to study is linked to a recessive gene, you want to find (or create) an isolated population with that gene.
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.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, not homeopathy?
I get their point, homeopathy has two bs gimmicks. The first is to use a substance that causes the ailment as a cure, the second is to replace that substance with water/sugar and the idea of the substance. 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.
For the sake of clarity: I will not stand on the side of homeopathy, ever. It's placebo effect marketing rather than evidence-based science and hence not worth my money.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#38The discovery of the treatment in the methylene blue dye is quite fascinating. How exactly did someone figure that out for such a rare condition? And imagine being deep blue all your life and everyone knowing you as blue, then you take this blue pill and bam, you're pink as can be. Must have seemed like practical magic.
> And imagine being deep blue all your life and everyone knowing you as blue, then you take this blue pill and bam, you're pink as can be. Must have seemed like practical magic. Almost sounds like homeopathy, without the dilution, that actually works.
Not really. This isn't like cures like. This is triggering a biological system to do something. There is a buildup of a substance that he body could break down but doesn't. So you do something to trigger the system into action. This is more like hydrating someone in order to trigger their kidneys to work harder and thereby flush out some other toxin.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's some photos of Paul Karason on Google Images, who developed the same condition from silver poisoning.
He turned blue from silver poisoning, he did not develop methemoglobinemia from it.
Silver nitrate is a known cause of acquired methemoglobinemia.
Re: The Fugate family of Kentucky has had blue skin for centuries (2017)
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, not homeopathy?
I get their point, homeopathy has two bs gimmicks. The first is to use a substance that causes the ailment as a cure, the second is to replace that substance with water/sugar and the idea of the substance. 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.
It has three gimmicks, the first is to never look at causes, only at symptoms.
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 :)