Hi I'm Dr Bernard (YS). I'm a toxicologist. People have been doing this for hundreds of years. Stop doing it. Don't do it. A TikToker Drank 1 Bottle Nutmeg Spice In A Protein Shake. This Is What Happened To His Brain. GG is a 19 year old man, presenting to the
emergency room with dry mouth, flushing and nausea. He tells the admitting nurse that tiny little
smurfs were dancing around his feet, and that some of them had turned into pickles. It was the funniest thing he had ever seen. GG was an average 19 year old in 2020 America. Because schools were closed, his classes were
online. He skipped them, so he could meme on the internet. Over the past few days, hashtag nutmeg challenge
had become popular. Nutmeg is when soccer players kick the ball
between their opponents legs. But that name could be taken literally. And in GG’s mind, he was gonna take it literally. He was going to drink a protein shake flavored
with a whole bottle of nutmeg spice and post the video online. Immediately after drinking a bottle of nutmeg
spice in his protein shake, GG felt, ok. It didn’t taste good. It felt grainy in his throat on the way down. It left a funny aftertaste, that he thought
should be minty, but wasn’t. The shake was mixed in cold water and he instantly
had a brain freeze. Im BadlandsChugs now he thought. Time to post the video online and play some
video games, he thought. As the hours passed, GG’s mouth started
drying out. He felt his tongue become like sandpaper,
grinding the roof of his mouth into sawdust. He drank a gallon of water, but the more he
drank, the thirstier he got. In the bathroom now. GG saw himself running in the mirror. But the faster he ran, the rounder he got. His walls started melting. His heart started pounding. But then little bugs started crawling underneath
his skin. He tried to drink more water and told his
mom that he was gonna drink the ocean. His face was as red as a beet. He was hot and flush and could feel himself,
crawling out of his skin. He drank a total of 4 gallons of water over
a few hours as his speech started to slur. He became visibly agitated, and as hard as
he tried, he just couldn’t urinate any of the water out. His bladder was like a balloon, ready to pop. In the bathroom, again. GG collapses. He starts seizing. In the commotion, his mom finds him on the
floor, drifting in and out of consciousness. She calls for 911, as he’s brought to the
emergency room, where we are now. At examination, GG was agitated, but alert. He was flushed, but had no fever. Breathing was normal. His heart rate was fast, his blood pressure
was high and he had an arrhythmia. He told doctors that little elves were crawling
up his stomach. He warned the doctors that the elves were
going to come out soon, bearing gifts of canned carrots. He said that even after drinking the entire
ocean, he still hadn’t urinated yet that day. But GG hung his head in silence. He gripped the armrests of his chair, fighting
the urge to vomit, as he seizes again, for the second time. Doctors had no idea that GG drank a whole
bottle of nutmeg. He didn’t tell them that. But given this history of present illness,
there’s several clues of what’s happening. GG complained of dry mouth. This is why he was so thirsty. But if 4 gallons of water didn’t fix it,
then what was going on? Well, it looks like he wasn’t producing
saliva. His body was flushed and red, but he didn’t
have a fever, and he wasn’t sweating. This brings us to the idea of “rest and
digest.” When you take a nap in the middle of the day,
you sweat. Your heart rate slows. That’s the rest. When you see or smell delicious food, you
salivate. That’s the digest. Both of these, are controlled by your nervous
system. But GG isn’t sweating despite being flushed. He doesn’t have any saliva in his mouth. His heart is pounding. All of this means that he has a blockage of
“rest and digest” in his nervous system. But where did this come from? At this point, GG didn’t know who he was
talking to anymore. He unlocked his phone and showed the doctors
the video he made, and this tells them everything they need to know, because the nutmeg spice
has poisoned his body, causing problems with his brain, and his heart. Nutmeg spice is from nutmeg tree. Ignore the spice part because if you drink
an entire bottle for haha funny tiktok memes, you’re not treating it like a spice. Like everything herbal and natural, nutmeg
has hundreds of chemicals in it. Natural things are all made of chemicals. Inside the spice, is a chemical named Myristicin. GG drank it, it went through his stomach,
into his intestines, and then absorbed into his liver, where it was broken down and metabolized. This metabolism, is so that parts of the chemicals
that are reactive get neutralized, so that they can’t damage other parts of the body. But how does this myristicin get broken down? Scientists thought this could happen, which
makes it look a lot like this alpha, methyl, phenyl-ethyl-amine. Am. feta. Amine. Something we know as treatment for ADHD, among
other things. In the synapse where nerves connect, chemicals
send signals. When the signal is done, the synapse needs
to clear itself so that signals aren’t sent nonstop. This means those chemicals need to be pumped
back in, or broken down. But if an alpha, methyl, phenyl-ethyl-amine
is present, the synapse doesn’t get cleared. It goes into the cell and forces more chemical
out, sending signals non-stop, continuously stimulating the nerve. This is why we call it a stimulant. This could be the reason for GG’s problems
at the moment, but something’s wrong. Alpha, methyl, phenyl-ethyl-amine in large
amounts pushes out things like adrenaline. What happens during an adrenaline rush? Your heart starts to race. Your body temperature increases. You might even urinate yourself. The adrenaline rush puts you in “fight or
flight” mode. This is the exact opposite of “rest and
digest” mode. Both of these are controlled by opposite ends
of the same nervous system. Blockage of “rest and digest” which is
what GG appears to have, doesn’t mean a promotion of “fight or flight” mode. If the nutmeg he ate, became a large dose
of alpha, methyl, phenyl-ethyl-amine in his body, then he should be in fight or flight
mode. He wouldn’t be holding on to urine like
the way he is, and he would have a high body temperature, which would mean fever. But he doesn’t have those, meaning myristicin
might not be broken down this way. And this isn’t the only chemical in nutmeg
spice. Elemicin, which is only 1 change away from
myristicin is in it. After liver metabolism, elemicin could look
like another phenyl-ethyl-amine. One that comes from a cactus, and causes hallucinations. This could explain GG’s tweaked out state. But the reality is, we’re not sure these
breakdowns actually happen in humans, because GG has a blockage of “rest and digest”
and not a promotion of “fight or flight.” While nutmeg is a funny spice and haha tiktok
memes, it does things in the body. Maybe it does become psychoactive chemicals
in the body, OR the chemicals in it are already psychoactive in themselves, when consumed
in large amounts, like a whole bottle in a protein shake, but we still don’t know for
sure. This isn’t something to play around with. The reason that something hasn’t been done
about this might be because almost no one says the experience is pleasant. Overwhelmingly, no one ever wants to do it
again. You shouldn’t ever do it in the first place. Usually, herbal products that are common today
have Greek and Roman roots, but nutmeg trees don’t grow anywhere near Greece or Rome. Western Ancients never wrote about nutmeg. They probably didn’t know about it. 1195 AD was the first written account of it
in Europe when an Emperor (Henry VI) entered Rome and the streets were fumigated with Myristica,
that’s nutmeg before chemists knew what myristicin was. It was Arabian traders who imported it in
from islands. The effects of nutmeg on the brain and the
heart have been known for hundreds of years now. In the 1300’s a book of remedies, written
in High Middle German described using nutmeg to get drunk. In 1576, Flemish physician Lobelius described
an English woman who became delirious after eating 10 or 12 nutmegs. The English thought it could treat gas, but
to no avail. Nutmeg has been around, and well known for
centuries, but the effects aren’t so funny when they’re happening. The Illinois Poison Center looked back and
saw that 1 person had died during nutmeg toxicity, but not sure if it was because it was with
other medicines. For GG, the only thing that can be done is
to let the spice clear from his body except, something’s wrong. While huge amounts of nutmeg can affect the
brain, the limited records that we have, dont usually say it causes seizures. GG said he drank 4 gallons of water since
he drank that spicy protein shake. And he also noted that he didn’t and couldn’t
urinate. If he drank all that water, and none of it
has exited his body from either end, then where could that water be? As this question is raised, GG seizes again
in front of the medical team. And he doesn’t regain consciousness after
it’s over. Doctor’s suspicions are confirmed to find
that GG not only has nutmeg poisoning, but he also has hyponatremia. Hypo meaning low. Natre referring to sodium, or more formally
natrium as shown by its symbol on the periodic table of elements. And Emia meaning presence in blood. Low sodium presence in blood. GG wasn’t able to urinate. Urinary retention is a blockage of "rest and digest." As his bladder stretched and distended, it
signaled to the body to hold on to water by releasing something called anti-diuretic hormone,
also known as vasopressin. If a diuretic causes someone to urinate, then
an anti-diuretic prevents someone from urinating. If the bladder is stretched, the body doesn’t
want to produce any more urine, because it’ll stretch the bladder more, so it lets out hormone
to tell everything to stop and hold on to water. GG was also nauseous. Vomiting is a way that someone will lose water. So nausea is a powerful stimulus for the release
of anti-diuretic hormone. All of this meaning that those 4 gallons of
water he drank, are now sitting inside of him, unable to get out. But if nothing has left his body, then how
is it possible there is low sodium? Nothing has left his body, so there shouldn’t
be less sodium present, right? Yes.. but the water in your body is made of
0.9% sodium chloride. So, for every 1 L of water, there is 9g of
salt. Most of the water in your body is inside your
cells, and in general exists with 0.9% sodium chloride. In the medical world, we call this “Normal
Saline” and “isotonic.” The interesting thing about sodium is that
wherever it is, water will flow towards it. In this small science experiment, I dissolve
salt in this water and place it into a tube. I submerge the tube in a pool of distilled
water. And you’ll see that water flows towards
the salt. That water flows towards the sodium. If water flows towards where there’s salt,
and GG’s blood has low sodium presence in blood, then it means that his body water is
flowing in to the cells. This would mean that his organs are swelling
with water. This would mean that it’s going into his
stomach and intestines. That should be ok, because your abdomen is
soft. But the water would also be going in to his
liver. It would be flowing into his heart and his
muscles, but those aren’t enclosed in a hard space either, so it wouldn’t be too
big a problem if they swelled up in side. But how about the brain? The brain is enclosed inside a hard space,
the skull. The brain only has space to expand 8% in volume
until it starts to crush up against the sides of the skull, and ooze out the sutures. As water keeps flowing into the sodium-rich
cells of GG’s body, his brain is starting to crush up against the sides of his skull,
smashing blood vessels as it expands, preventing blood flow and causing hypoxia, or the deprivation
of oxygen. This damage upon brain expansion is called
herniation, and means permanent brain damage in GG’s case. The psychosis. The hallucinations. The final seizure without regain of consciousness. Since GG is still breathing, it may not be
too late, he may not have herniated his brain just yet. The easiest way to treat this problem of his,
at this point, is to use the same science that diagnosed his hyponatremia. If water follows sodium, and water is flowing
into his organs, then the fix is to draw that water out of his organs with even saltier
water. If 0.9% sodium chloride is the standard in his body,
and the water he drank is flowing towards that gradient, then infusing 3% hypertonic
sodium water into his veins will reverse the flow of that water, back into his blood stream,
and out of his brain. Doctors use a catheter to pull urine out of
his bladder. There’s not much they can do to reverse
the nutmeg other than to wait it out. All of these are the reasons why it’s not
clear what nutmeg really does to the body. If nutmeg does become an alpha, methyl, phenyl
ethyl amine, excess of those do cause the body to release lots of anti-diuretic hormone,
causing someone to hold on to water. But did that actually happen? Or was it because nutmeg caused anticholinergic
toxidrome, causing urinary retention? Holding on to urine and stretching the bladder
causes ADH secretion. Nausea also stimulates it too. Which one was it? The psychoactive events following nutmeg could
obscure the neurologic signs of confusion, agitation and delirium that is also caused
by physical changes to the brain during hyponatremia, when the water starts to swell into the brain,
and the brain starts to expand against the skull. Luckily for GG, no herniation occurred in
his brain, and the 3% sodium infusion was enough to solve the hyponatremia and draw
the water out of his brain. Upon regaining consciousness, he realized
no amount of views on Tiktok made that terrible experience worth it. Thank you so much for watching. Take care of yourself. And be well.
Guys, I did not realize this was going to spiral out of control like this... We do NOT reccomend trying Nutmeg! Especially if you are inexperienced with other drugs.
I know this guy, I like him, this is gonna be interesting.
Well, I'm sure nutmeg doesn't get metabolised in amph like compounds.
But it does have to have some effect on the endo canabinoid system and I think it is indeed a mild maoi.
But wouldn't the long ass time it takes to take effects, mean that it gets metabolised into something else and don't get to the brain as myristicin or elimicin. I tried space paste like 3 days ago, and the experience was a bit more psychedelic and colorful, so maybe it does does influence the Enzym to be processed differently. I need to try it more times to be sure tho.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27296774/ That's interesting too, we now that it nutmeg has indeed an effect on the endo canabinoid system.
Idk if I still think it nutmeg as an anticholinergic effects. If yes than it's pretty mild.
And he said that most people don't like nutmeg, but thats because people who don't speak the loudest and are the stupidest who just too large doses. But I don't mind him saying that.
It was a matter of time... I hope nothing serious happened but it should be made an example for curious teens from tik tok
Well just because this guy is so stupid that he would drink 4 gallons of water doesn't mean nutmeg is to blame for everything.
had what was coming