Monday 30 March 2015

Jesus the ergot ridden bread of madness

My saviour from babble looks like Valerie Tarico.
John 6v25 has Jesus say,"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty"
On one hand this could be false advertising but on the other hand does Christianity act like a poison which subdues appetite and thirst for knowledge? Maybe Jesus is the bread with ergot in it. It certainly has errors got. But maybe as modern science has derived uses for ergot chemistry, Valerie's analysis of the Christ myth offers a cure and shows the scriptures are evidence that the supernatural realm is a failed hypothesis.
Ergotism is the effect of long term ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the Claviceps purpurea fungus that infects rye and other cereals. The symptoms can be roughly divided into convulsive symptoms and gangrenous symptoms.
Convulsive symptoms include painful seizures and spasms, diarrhea, paresthesias, itching, mental effects including mania or psychosis, headaches, nausea and vomiting.
In the Middle Ages, the gangrenous poisoning was known as "holy fire" or "Saint Anthony's fire", named after monks of the Order of St. Anthony who were particularly successful at treating this ailment. However it wasn't until 1676 that the cause was identified by Denis Dodart.
In the last century ergoline drugs have been derived from ergot.
Ergotamine is used medicinally for treatment of acute migraine attacks (sometimes in combination with caffeine). Medicinal usage of ergot fungus began in the 16th century to induce childbirth, yet dosage uncertainties discouraged the use. It has been used to prevent post-partum haemorrhage (bleeding after childbirth). It was first isolated from the ergot fungus by Arthur Stoll at Sandoz in 1918 and marketed as Gynergen in 1921
In addition to the naturally occurring ergonovine (used as an oxytocic) andergotamine (a vasoconstrictor used to control migraine), synthetic derivatives of importance are the oxytocic methergine, the anti-migraine drugs dihydroergotamine and methysergide, hydergine (a mixture of dihydroergotoxine mesylates, INN: ergoline mesylates), and bromocriptine, used for numerous purposes including treatment of Parkinson's disease. Newer synthetic ergolines used for Parkinson's disease include pergolide and lisuride.
Ergot: the story of a parasitic fungus (1958) on Youtube channel Wellcome library tells the story well.

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