Celebrities with M.E | WORLDS HOTTEST PEPPER video

Eating an insanely hot Carolina Reaper pepper on YouTube for ME/CFS advocacy. Includes a list of celebrities with ME/CFS.

And vomiting. Lots and lots of vomiting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgyqYKjJVnc

 

Yikes.

 

What else does a pepper have to do before it's safe from being eaten?!

Um..hope it was worth it

 

A couple years ago, a friend of a friend of mine ate a ghost pepper, and while repeatedly vomiting tore his esophagus. He nearly died and spent almost a month in the hospital. The case was published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.

I don't recommend this form of advocacy.

 

I've liked your post @Webdog, but what I really meant was a cringe and a sharp intake of breath.

 

Okay, yes, maybe we can just challenge celebrities to come out rather than anyone eating one of these things ever again.
Healthy people should not do this to their bodies, much less PwME!

I hate to think how far back this set him

 

Would I be right in assuming that your friend is extremely proud of himself?

 

When I was a teenager, several years before I became ill, a "friend" of mine had a party at their house where they laid out some food, including a platter of "taco chips." It was my good luck to be the first (and only) person to eat some. It turns out my friend, conspiring with his mother, had laid out some "hot pepper" taco chips without telling anyone. At the time, I knew nothing about chili peppers and their effects, so, when my throat started to burn, I had no idea what was happening. It was hugely distressing and unpleasant and lasted for what seemed like 30 minutes. I had nothing to compare it to, but I doubt that it was anywhere near what a hotter pepper could be like. I drank a LOT of water. Good times.

Having said that, the "heat" you feel from chili peppers is not due to actual hot temperatures or even due to some corrosive, cell damaging chemical. Chili peppers contain a molecule that binds to a certain cell receptor which just happens to be the one that transmits heat signals to the brain. The high temperature you feel is an "illusion," in the sense that it is not caused by temperature at all. The pain, however, is real, though it is not caused by cell damage. You can be injured by your reaction to the pain. Among other things, you can release a lot of adrenaline due to "panic." I could see a vulnerable person having a stroke or heart attack just due to the rise in blood pressure. I believe the immune system will also react in an attempt to address the "injury." That will send blood to the local tissues and inflame them. That would probably add to the sense of heat, though probably not by much.

It looks like the person in the video has been training himself by gradually working his way up to hotter and hotter peppers. It's kind of a case of "mind over matter," or "mind over mind" in this case.