The content of this podcast is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended as,

nor should it be considered a substitute for professional medical advice.

Oh, how I feel.

Bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, itchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy, bitchy and bitchy.

Hello, everyone. This is Karen Nicol family nurse practitioner and this is Itchy and Bitchie a podcast that provides answers to your many unanswered health questions You probably get questions from friends and family like

Where do you get your dry cleaning done? Do you have a plumber you can

recommend? What's your favorite plant food for your flowers? I don't get those questions. I get

questions about supplements or tests nearly every day. Should I take this supplement or that

supplement? Should I have this urine or blood

test done? So the latest question I got was, should I take methylene blue? When I get a question

like that, I immediately think social media must be flooded with advertisements for this supplement. And sure enough, there it is,

all over social media. It even pops up in an ad in my solitaire game. Yes. Oh my. Well, when this

person asked me the question, they texted these exact words, should I take

methylene blue? That's all the info I got. So I asked, why do you want to take the supplement?

What do you think it will do for you? And the response was the question, brain health?

So I thought, maybe I should talk about this. So what is methylene blue? Well,

let's start with the history of this substance that is being peddled across social media right now.

Methylene blue is a vibrantly colored cobalt blue dye that was first used in 1876 as a textile dye.

As a matter of fact, it is one of the world's oldest synthetic dyes.

A few years after it was used as a fabric dye, scientists started using it to stain microorganisms

to help diagnose certain infections when examining them under a microscope.

In 1891, it was found to be useful to treat malaria.

...