TIL Botox is considered the deadliest known natural substance ever recorded in chemical literature
From biological weapon to cosmetic product is crazy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulinum_toxinOpen linkView original on sh.itjust.works276
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My favorite killjoy activity is telling people Botox is actually made from the same shit that causes Botulism and watching the disbelief shift into horror when they look it up on their phones.
If they develop a special one for men it should be Bro-tox.
There is an antifertility surgery which uses botulism toxin to paralyze the dartos and cremaster muscles in people with testicles, so that the testes are unable to maintain the temperature range needed for gamete viability. Everyone calls it “Scrotox.”
Why would anyone opt for this over a vasectomy?
I don’t know. Same for the infrared light thing. Neither sounds like a guarantee.
It saved my life essentially. I was getting 16 migraines a month now I get zero.
That's amazing. What part of you was paralyzed to reduce the headaches?
Jaw neck forehead back part of head (that part imo hurts the most during injections) every 3 months for no migraines is pretty worth it.
Fascinating! I'm glad you're feeling better.
My wife got this done. It was over 150 individual injections in her jaw, head, and neck.
It has been absolutely life changing for her following years of constant migraines. She was able to come off of nine separate medications as a result too.
Yikes, but worth it!
not OP, but i believe it is usually to do with the jaw
Jaw or neck or face
A teaspoon of botulism toxin could kill millions or something. But with the right dosage it is safe.
The dosage makes the poison.
To little = nothing
To much = dead
Just right? Maybe get high?
The history of human mind expansion in three lines.
Interestingly, I just heard this on another lemmy post about alcohol. It wasn't well received there, lol
Two in my coffee please
The absolute coolness that is science and stuff amazes me! We saw a deadly poison, studied the shit outta it, now keep it and use it like a pet! It's really neat!
All those glp-1 agonists that are all the rage right now are because scientists recognized the gila lizard can go long periods without eating while keeping its blood sugar stable and studied its venom
The current drugs like ozempic are synthetic though, no actual gila venom
Also fun fact: the guy that discovered the effect figured it out in the early 90s and actually patented it himself because for years no one was interested. Pharmaceutical industry was apparently “disinterested” and it wasn’t moved forward until 2002 (exenatide/byetta, a precursor to more efficacious drugs like tirzepatide/zepbound/mounjaro, which coincidentally made Eli Lilly the most valuable drug company in the world. Another fun fact is that Lilly partnered with another smaller company to make exenatide then Lilly dissolved the partnership in 2011, allowing the smaller company to keep the rights, likely because they saw the opportunity for the next steps)
You would be amazed at how stupid big pharma can be, they can put government to shame.
Funny enough the NIH funded research was cited by republicans like Rand Paul in their wastebook as an example of some “dumb bullshit” that we are wasting our money on. Funnier enough this practice was started by a Democrat in the 70s and 80s (William proxmire from Wisconsin and his “Golden Fleece awards”)
They (all corporations,) are run by money grubbers, not experts in the fields they are managing. Pfizer's executives probably don't know shit about drugs.
Not just cosmetic, I believe it’s used to treat migraines and possibly other issues. Crazy stuff.
A few billionths of a single gram in a muscle will kill you. That's fucking nuts that it's used on people.
Dose makes the poison. Even the most toxic substance known to man can have benefits in a small enough dose.
Warfarin saved a lot of lives as a blood thinner, it also killed a lot of rats.
And predators that eat rats :(
If you ingest antifreeze, the cure is a measured amount of alcohol to counter the effects. The poison of my poison is my cure.
Same with methanol poisoning from tainted or improperly made alcohol beverages . The treatment is to drink proper alcohol beverages.
I learned this from the episode of House with LL Cool J
Didnt LL drink printer toner?
Yeah but I think House asked him if he drank antifreeze, and then LL said printer toner, I could be wrong though it’s been a bit since rewatched
It might be controversial to some, but I always thought they were an okay band.
Which one? The Cure, or Poison?
And in some cases it’s essential for brain development and function like iodine.
I was a part of the noburp community on the old site. In the last decade it's been used to cure that. The body metabolizes it after about 6 months, but having that assistance often helps build the muscle memory and people can usually burp after that. I personally had it done twice and can still do small burps at last, and my daughter (toddler, born very prematurely) had it done at the beginning of the year. Her physical medicine doctor mentioned it as a possibility, and when I told him about the burping thing he basically equated Botox in the medical community with Windex in My Big Fat Greek Wedding
What's the symptoms/consequences of not being able to burp?
The main ones you see almost universally are
There are also things like hiccups, hypersalivation, constipation, and things like that that are common but not guaranteed.
My daughter has been pretty underweight for a while. I realized she's had massive farts, and a bit of a big belly given the rest of her relatively small size. She was super hard to burp as an infant (that varies a lot in adults with the condition) and it pretty much stopped after a while. Basically the bloat kills the appetite.
Thank you for the detailed answer, first time I've heard of anyone not being able to burp but it sounds very unpleasant. So the Botox treatment can solve or at least alleviate the issue?
Yeah, there's basically a "valve" muscle in the esophagus called the upper esophageal sphincter (either a part of the cricopharynx, vice versa, or they're the same... Not sure). It stays closed for the most part, but opens for swallowing and burping. Swallowing is generally fine, but burping not so much. You may have seen the term R-CPD in the thread, that stands for Retrograde (outward direction) Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction. There's a similar condition called achalasia, which is also treated with Botox, but that also has swallowing issues unlike R-CPD.
Anyway, the Botox helps that muscle relax. The body metabolizes it after several months, but in that time you have "training wheels" that help develop muscle memory to burp. About 80% of people are "one and done" with that one shot. I personally had a second and don't really have "tasteable" burps, but I do have small ones that seem to help.
It's funny, because before I suspected that issue in my daughter we saw a pediatric ENT (the type of doctor who performs the procedure). Knowing it's an obscure thing many doctors have a hard time grasping, I told him about it figuring it may plant a seed for some parent in the future. His response? "That's funny, I don't burp either. What you said makes sense though." I would have loved to go back to him, but unfortunately he moved across the country in the meantime. Ended up going to another doctor in the practice who is amazing though!
It was strange finding out that other people had the same issue
I would strongly suggest getting the treatment if you can! It's a super simple procedure.
Luckily mine is only semi no burp; I can force it out with some effort. My theory is it's because I played a wind instrument.
R-CPD for those interested in the procedure. I think a doctor in Chicago came up with it?
Pretty much. It affects people differently, but one guy talked to manually any doctor who would listen. Dr. Bastian in Chicagoland has a YouTube channel about laryngology (basically all throat stuff) and that guy who had so many issues with not being able to burp contacted Dr. Bastian about it. He told him to get some Botox on the muscle of the throat that releases gas, and the guy ended up flying to Chicago to have it done. Dr. Bastian is pretty legendary in that community now. He also has a very impressive background even before that.
I actually went to that practice for my first injection and was originally booked to see Dr. Bastian. He fell sick the week I was there, but another doctor in the practice was able to do it instead since I came from out of town. Honestly everyone there is great!
But also, I saw similar symptoms in my toddler daughter, who was very underweight (getting better!). It was hard, because it can be difficult enough to find someone willing to do it for an adult, but a young child? Nobody wants to take that risk. Most specialists I talked to thought it made sense, but it really wasn't their area (fair) or they'd get skeptical. The ENT we saw about it was HORRIBLE and basically chased us out because it was a zebra. Eventually I booked a telehealth visit with Dr. Bastian just to see if I was projecting my own experiences on her, and he was the kindest man. Sent a letter with his opinion for me to show other providers, and I think it really helped show I wasn't insane.
Daughter eventually had it done by a pediatric ENT doctor who has done it before. She did great for several days but snapped back after an endoscopy about a week later. We're trying again in about a month and a half!
Sorry to ramble, but this has been such a big thing for me personally!
Yes! It can be used to treat paralysis in the digestive tract too. It's crazy what a little poison can do 😉
A bottle of aspirin or ibuprofen can kill you.
Tylenol is even worse. Even a few extra pills can cause severe liver issues and potential death.
Follow the instructions on the bottle, people!
Oh now you tell me. 😉
In my graduate neurology class, we learned how it works and that affected nerves can pass it along to adjacent nerves, disabling them as well. This takes multiple doses over time, so one or two treatments is not a huge concern. The professor then told us how shocked he was to learn that 15 year olds are getting injections.
fuuuuuck thats... terrifying.
One microgram per kg? Jesus fucking Christ
The intravenous one is 3 orders of magnitude lower. μg is 10^-6^. ng is 10^-9^.
NANOgram when iv
Fuck that's crazy, its lethal dose by mouth is LSD's standard dose by mouth 😂
The canning companies were under pressure to fix the issue or they were cooked.