Killing Heart Muscles With Alcohol To Prevent Heart Attacks
Most people go to the hospital to prevent heart attacks. But a few, who have exhausted other treatments, go for the opposite reason. It’s called alcohol septal ablation, and think of it as a medical “hair of the dog.” To preempt future heart attacks, doctors literally shoot alcohol into your heart in a controlled, clinical setting. It’s typically used to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle. And unlike the swole biceps and pecs that inspire praise from gym bros (what, you thought you were going to get compliments from girls?), thick cardiac muscle kills you by blocking blood flow.
So when other options are infeasible, doctors thread a balloon-tipped catheter through an artery in the groin and into the heart, where it delivers a shot of pure alcohol— oh, wow, suddenly the heart attack sounds not so bad. Like alcohol entering through the mouth, it kills and shrinks cells, allowing blood to pass through the thinned scar tissue (sick-ass potential band name) that remains. And despite its seemingly quacky nature, septal ablation offers multiple benefits.
It only takes a couple of hours and requires just a day or two of downtime, limiting patients’ exposure to hospital food. Plus, it’s minimally invasive, compared to traditional operations that open you up like the Griswold family Christmas turkey. Consider the case of 71-year-old Consuelo Moore, owner of one enlarged heart. She chose septal ablation instead of surgery and was out of the hospital and clipping cat litter coupons a couple of days after receiving an alcohol injection straight to the ticker.
Infecting People With Parasitic Worms To Treat Inflammatory Disorders
Doctors are making people drink worm eggs. That’s not the intro of a Dateline hidden camera exposé and major lawsuit; it’s an experimental therapy using inflammation-suppressing parasitic worms. And a medical curveball for sure—who’d have guessed that future medicine would be less Star Trek and more Fear Factor.
Parasitic worm infections seem to dampen the immune system, so it doesn’t attack its own tissues, at least as much. With a disease like multiple sclerosis (MS), the body cannibalizes nerve cells, disrupting bodily movement and basic functions. So people like Jim Turk, who used to run marathons for fun, are eager to try new treatments. That’s why he jumped at the opportunity to drink 2,500 microscopic pig whipworm eggs every two weeks for three months.
Others, like Herbert Smith (understandably a pseudonym), chose self-treatment. A long-time Crohn’s disease sufferer, he underwent multiple operations to remove part of his small intestine. And when other interventions failed, he spent $4,000 on a three-month supply of those same worms, shipped from Europe. Both experienced significant relief and decreased inflammation, with Smith’s symptoms all but vanishing. But neither was able to continue treatment. And despite dramatic results for some, it’s still a mixed bag overall.
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