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There have always been tales of blue people in mythology, popular fiction, and in the news. Yes, blue people exist here and there in the real world.
Two conditions cause people to live and be (literally) blue. Methemoglobinemia is a condition in which the blood carries less-than-normal amounts of oxygen, making the blood appear blue. Argyria is caused by the ingestion of silver, usually for medicinal purposes. The effects of silver ingestion are permanent, and if the consumption of silver continues long enough, can be fatal.
Methemoglobinemia can be acquired through use of certain drugs, or can be inherited through the presence of recessive genes. There have been reports of blue families or tribes through history that could be explained by inherited Methemoglobinemia. The best-documented of these is the Blue Fugates of Kentucky.
Martin Fugate emigrated from France in 1820 and married Elizabeth Smith, a Kentucky native. Apparently, both had the very rare recessive gene for Methemoglobinemia. Four of their seven children were blue! They lived in an isolated area of eastern Kentucky and their children grew up and married those who lived close to them, meaning a very few families in the area, or even their own cousins. One Fugate son married his mother’s younger sister. Over several generations of intermarriage within these same few clans, the recessive genes were preserved and the Fugates came to be known as the Blue Fugates. The exact reason for their color wasn’t known until medical tests were conducted in the 1960s. In the early 80s, only three blue members of the Fugate family were reported surviving.
Before the advent of antibiotics, silver nitrate and colloidal silver were used as antiseptics. Captain Fred Walters was prescribed silver as a remedy for locomotor ataxia, a degenerative neural disease. It turned his skin so blue that by 1891, he was exhibiting himself at side shows for profit. At the time, the poisonous effects of silver were unknown. Walters continued to take silver to maintain his profitable blue coloring until his heart gave out in 1923. He had essentially died of silver poisoning.
Because of “products containing silver, which have flooded the market in past years”, the state of Florida posted a warning that silver is unsafe to consume. Accompanying the warning are these photos of a victim of argyria, shown beside a healthy man to highlight the difference in color. Online information on the safety and efficacy of colloidal silver supplements varies from “no side effects at all” to “unsafe and ineffective”, depending on where the funding comes from. The FDA says such products are not judged to be safe.
Rosemary Jacobs began using nose drops containing colloidal silver when she was 11 years old. Within a few years, her skin had turned blue. Despite discontinuing the use of colloidal silver, Jacobs face remained blue for decades, as particles of silver were embedded in her skin and organs. In the 70s (after this picture was taken), Jacobs underwent dermabrasion treatments, which removed the top layers of her skin. She now has blotchy pink skin. Jacobs is campaigning against colloidal silver dietary supplements because of what happened to her.
Paul Karason began using colloidal silver 15 years ago. He believes his blue skin was caused by rubbing the concoction on his skin to treat dermatitis, and not by drinking it. Karason, who is sometimes referred to as “Papa Smurf” continues to drink colloidal silver as a cure-all. See a video report here.
Montana Libertarian Stan Jones was an unsuccessful candidate for the US Senate in 2002 and in 2006. He is also a victim of argyria. Jones began using colloidal silver he made himself in anticipation of antibiotic shortages predicted from the Y2K scare. He continues to take colloidal silver and believes in its health benefits.
There are other conditions that can cause the skin to turn blue, usually due to lack of oxygen, but serious cyanosis must be treated immediately and is not a condition people can just “live with”. And then there are people who go the extra mile to appear blue.
Comments (13)
Comment
Too cool.
posted by Jennings on 9-11-2008 at 9:17 am
The grandmother on the paternal Fugate side was named Luna. It’s almost too perfect!
Everybody sing!:
Blue Luna of Kentucky, keep on shining,
Shine on the one that’s gone and proved untrue;
Blue Luna of Kentucky, keep on shining,
Shine on the one that’s gone and left you blue.
It was on a moonlight night, the stars were shining bright;
And they whispered from on high, your love had said goodbye.
Blue Luna of Kentucky, keep on shining,
Shine on the one that’s gone and said goodbye.
posted by Boggy Creek Creature on 9-11-2008 at 9:18 am
how can they continue selling these quack-medicines! it is scary. 10 years 15 years ago? that is too recent for such treatments to be available. they should be banned!
posted by septer on 9-11-2008 at 9:30 am
So, I really like that the Google ads under this article are advertising colloidal silver, one of them for medical purposes, because I’m sure that after reading this people are just dying to get their hands on some.
posted by Megan on 9-11-2008 at 12:58 pm
I’m totally going to buy some today! And when I start to turn blue, well, I’m just going to keep on takin’ it! I wonder if it will match my blue eyes.
posted by karissa on 9-11-2008 at 1:26 pm
whenever i paint people i make their skin blue because it’s easier than trying to get perfect skin tone.
to see it click on my name
posted by kat on 9-11-2008 at 1:47 pm
Great article Miss Cellania, very well researched.
Happy House Warming as well.
posted by J. Tithonus Pednaud on 9-11-2008 at 6:32 pm
Not that this is really related, but my sisters and I call our dad Papa Smurf. No idea why or how the name stuck, though. His eyes are the only thing that’s blue.
posted by Cassie on 9-11-2008 at 7:43 pm
OMG dude what is up with the monkey looking dude? Scary!
Jiff
http://www.Fireme.To/udi
posted by Jip Lewis on 9-12-2008 at 7:32 am
the guy with the glasses TOTALLY looks like poppa smurf!! and what’s even funnier is the fact that other people have already called him that!
posted by GraphicArtist2k5 on 9-12-2008 at 8:09 am
I know that this probably not be posted or believed, but I for one am proof that colloidal silver isn’t harmful and DOES work when USED CORRECTLY! The key here is the same as a lot of things we consume or use, MODERATION.
I once had been in contact with Rosemary Jacobs, and in her case, it was a doctor that overprescribed silver didn’t use his head. She blames the silver, I blame the idiot doctor, as I have a problem with my wife’s doctor that kept overusing prednisone for her lung infections (when there are antibotics that helped it and did, including a little silver along with it). As a result, she now has congestive heart from water building up around her heart form him prescribing too much Prednisone. A lot of doctors that know how dangerous it is won’t prescribe it or limit it’s use to severe cases.
I have been using colloidal silver for several years not and I’m not blue, or even got a hint of blue. I maintain a dose of a half of a dropper (40PPM) under my tongue about once a week, sometimes longer when I forget. If I start sniffling or feel an infection coming on, I increase to every other day for a few days and my nose or system goes back to normal. I also put some on a band-aid and make sores heal much faster. (Something that Curad finally figured out) I can show you papers where the Federal Government admits that silver kills bacteria. Water purficatin filters for use in the remote wilderness have silver incorporated in them. Silver is used in the filters in the Space Shuttle.They sell socks that have silver particles weaved into them somehow to kill smelly foot problems, and the local sewer processing plants are saying that they are worried that those particles that get washed out of those socks may start killing the bacteria they use for processing waste sent there. This was on the news.
So don’t try to tell me how dangerous silver is when the government uses it, it just the big pharma can’t charge 500% over cost for it because you and me can get a little machine and make it at home that just as pure and SAFER than all the drugs they advertise on TV with all the DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING side effects that go with them. Let’s see now, how many people that have abused silver have died…so far I count one. How many have tuned blue that we can verify at the moment? I count three. And yes, “Papa Smurf” will leave the world too soon if he doesn’t stop the intake of the amount of silver he is ingesting or just stop it. Just like people on Oxygen that got there because of smoking and still wont puffing those cancer sticks even on Oxygen. Oh and yes, even too much oxygen will kill you too, a known fact, maam. My own brother, born at 6 months premature in 1955 was given way too much oxygen, he survived, but his brain stayed at the level of a 6 month old child until he died in 2001.
It just rankles me to no end when I see biased idiocy like you just posted here on your site. Did you not research the subject deep enough or did you just listen to the ones that would lose money if the truth were to be put out to the public? Respond if you have the courage….. W Barnsdall
posted by William Barnsdall on 9-12-2008 at 11:43 am
What’s to respond to? I linked to information found on the web. I doubt the FDA has lost any money over sales of colloidal silver.
posted by Miss Cellania on 9-12-2008 at 11:55 am
Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.
While reading this article I learned about Methemoglobinemia, which I had never heard of before, so I read a bit more about that in the Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.
While reading this article I learned about Methemoglobinemia, which I had never heard of before, so I read a bit more about that at the healthatoz site cited in your info:
And I discovered this factoid:
“Treatment
For acquired methemoglobinemia the typical treatment is with methylene blue.
This is administered with an IV over a five-minute period and results are
typically seen within 20 minutes. Methylene blue reduces methemoglobin back to
hemoglobin.”
In other words, methylene blue is able to donate some electrons to the
mis-folded hemoglobin cells which allows the hemoglobin to resume the proper
form that allows them to carry the oxygen molecule.
And this reminded me of a news item that I had seen some time ago:
“Potential Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Cure Found In Century-old Drug”
published online at the Science Daily website regarding “Methylene blue”.
So maybe the reason Methlene Blue help’s to prevent the degenerative diseases of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases is that it corrects mis-conformed hemoglobin cells and allows hemoglobin to better carry oxygen to the cells and carry carbon dioxide and other waste products away from the brain cells, thus allowing the brain cells to be healthier??? Just wondering…:
posted by wl on 9-13-2008 at 3:22 am