Tapeworm pills for weight loss are being sold on the dark web as doctor recalls one patients horrifying story

You can’t wriggle your way out of obesity.Doctors on YouTube have warned viewers that tapeworm egg pills are being sold on the dark web as a quick-fix weight loss solution — putting consumers at risk of serious illness and potentially death.The parasites are known to make a home in the human gut after their eggs are unwittingly consumed via undercooked meat products, with some that can grow up to 30 feet long while munching on their host’s post-chewed meals, thus triggering weight loss.

The bizarre practice of ingesting tapeworm eggs for weight loss goes back to at least the Victorian era, though it’s unclear how commonly the method was used.Dr.

Bernard Hsu, a US-based oncologist and host of Chubbyemu, a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing tales of medical oddities, reported on a case study of a woman who bought capsules filled with tapeworm eggs using cryptocurrency.The 21-year-old patient, referred to only as “TE,” had been struggling to lose weight conventionally through diet and exercise when she scrolled across an ad on social media for a “controversial” weight loss cure with convincing before-and-after photos.“TE was intrigued.A ‘forbidden’ method is one that must be so good, and so powerful, that it’s the one true secret that she needs to know,” Hsu began.TE wasted no time downing two of the tapeworm tablets and soon saw the results she’d hoped for — though it came at the uncomfortable cost of regular stomach cramps and bloating.

Still happy with her weight loss, she dismissed the symptoms.However, her worry grew after a shocking bathroom incident, as graphically recalled by Hsu.‘She thought she could feel something flapping and slapping around her cheeks while she was sitting down,” he said.

“When she was about to flush, she looked back and saw some tan, rectangular pieces floating around in the bowl creeping out of the bulk mass.” Again, TE chalked up her strange bowel movement as all part of the process — fat...