I think there was an episode last year on House, MD....where they removed this 7 foot tape worm from a person, or maybe it was Grey's Anatomy....originally the person was DX'd to have some strange disease...but detective doctors proved otherwise.

the only place worms don't bother me is in the garden....ICK!

Another dangerous old-fashioned method of losing weight was ingesting the chemical DMP or 2,4 dinotrophenyl. This substance was used extensively in WWI munitions plants. Workers in those plants started dropping weight like crazy. In 1920 Standford University conducted a study which proved DMP did indeed cause rapid weight loss with no decrease in calories or increase in exercise. Doctors began prescribing it to their patients.

These patients definitely lost weight. Unfortunately quite a few of them died.

DMP directly affects cellular metabolism by changing the way the cells respond to energy so that more of the calories taken in are turned directly into heat instead of being stored or used to fuel body processes. This raises the body temperature. At low doses of the chemical patients would be uncomfortably feverish. At higher doses their temperatures would skyrocket past the fever zone (101 to 104 degrees, through the sunstroke zone (105 to 112 degrees) and beyond.

Essentially these patients were cooked to death from the inside out.

DMP was banned for weight loss in the 1930's. It's still sold legally as a fungicide and weedkiller.

Believe it or not DMP has been making a comeback as a weight loss drug among hard core body builders.

bump 10:18: If any of you ever read the Seabiscuit book that came out a few years ago, one chapter goes into the horrible abuses jockeys inflicted on themselves to keep their weight down (fortunately the movie version doesn't go into that). It mentions tapeworms, laxatives and some awful substance that sometimes even exploded in the bottle

OH MY GOD YES! I have the severe heebie-jeebies after reading that. *shudders*
That is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard about in my entire life. Well, realisticly... probably the most disgusting thing. But ucky to the unteenth degree for sure and certain.

Check out this NY Times article...
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...770212,00.html

Oh my. Sanitized, too.

thats really creepy! and icky!

wow!

yup it is creepy allright...but really how many creepy things are we doing in this day and age to lose weight...it is kind of sad how many scams there is out there right now, that in another 50 or so years there is going to be people that are making the same kind of comments about us and what we have done to try and lose weight...there will never be a simple easy fast way to be skinny....

I'm watching a show right now on E (Diet Fads) that says this is true! It is illegal in the US, but this guy went to an impoverished country to get the worm! Then he said when he was "done" he took a pill to kill it. He said he FELT the worm being killed in his body b/c it was twitching! I swear I started gagging just thinking about it!!!! I don't know how anyone can purposely do this!

Ok I was having a bad day and eating chips,,,,bad bad bad...but after reading the last post...the chips went into the garbage.....grosssssss

LOL You made me laugh! My job is done!

LMBO!!! That would be a different worm that causes dogs to do that! LOL

My 8th grade drama teacher told us about this one day because there were so many girls taking the Dexatrim capsules back then. She said that they rolled the tapeworms and put them into the capsules and explained what tapeworms did! A very effective scare tactic to us 8th grade girls...25 yrs ago!

That guy on the E show was crazy and if I understood it right he only lost 12 lbs that is just plain stupid! I don't need things that aren't supposed to coming out of my rear!