The Longevity Formula

Methylene Blue: Miracle Cure or Medical Myth?

• Dr. Brandon Crawford • Season 1 • Episode 22

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Dr. Brandon Crawford extensively discussed the multifaceted benefits of methylene blue, a synthetic dye with a rich history dating back to 1876. While its origins lie in the textile industry, methylene blue possesses significant antimicrobial properties and has been historically used in treating malaria. Dr. Crawford highlighted its modern applications, particularly in cognitive enhancement, improved oxygen delivery, energy levels, and overall health optimization. He shared his personal journey of skepticism towards its efficacy, only to eventually incorporate it into his daily routine after thorough research. Furthermore, Dr. Crawford explained the physiological mechanisms of methylene blue, emphasizing its affinity for neurological tissue and its role in balancing oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitric oxide levels.

He also focused on its medical uses, including potential treatments for carbon monoxide poisoning, hangover prevention, and as a possible intervention for long-haul COVID-19. Safety is a key focus, with Dr. Crawford advising on appropriate dosing and the importance of consulting healthcare providers due to potential contraindications and interactions with certain medications. He stressed the significance of starting with small doses and closely monitoring the body's response.


What You’ll Learn

  • Dr. Brandon Crawford discusses the potential health benefits of methylene blue, initially used as a textile dye, now popular among biohackers and the holistic health community for its cognitive and health benefits.
  • Synthesized in 1876, methylene blue is an antimicrobial that was historically used to treat malaria and in the textile industry for dyeing blue jeans.
  • It enhances oxygen delivery, mitochondrial efficiency, and can be beneficial in cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, various infections, and potentially long-haul COVID.
  • Methylene blue demonstrates influence on neurological health, acting as an electron donor in the electron transport chain and showing potential benefits for psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
  • Dr. Crawford warns of contraindications, advising consultation with healthcare providers before use, especially for individuals with certain medical conditions or who are on specific medications.

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Dr. Brandon Crawford: Why is my urine and my tongue blue and should yours be? Well, by having a blue tongue and blue urine, I'm actually improving my cognition. Improving oxygen delivery to my tissues, improving my energy levels and helping to prevent illness and disease. What am I talking about? It's a product called methylene blue, and maybe you should consider taking it if you want to improve your health as well.

Voice Over: Welcome to the longevity formula. With Dr. Brandon Crawford, let's explore the new era of wellness. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Hey everyone. Welcome back to the podcast today. We're going to dive into a very interesting substance. It's now exploding through different subsets of people, especially crowds like the biohackers and the holistic health community.

It's a substance that I actually took a really long time to evaluate. I took almost a year, honestly, to really look at this specific substance because I just couldn't believe that something that honestly is synthetic it's a dye specifically could really be that good for you. It could be, you know, something that could really promote health.

I just didn't believe it. And so I did. It took about a year and really investigated it. And honestly, now I use this substance every single day. I really convinced myself after looking through the research and then experiencing a use of this product on myself and then in my family. that this is something that can actually help to promote health and can actually help to prevent illness and disease.

What I'm talking about is methylene blue. So if you don't know what methylene blue is it actually has been around for a very long time. It was actually first synthesized in 1876. It's initial use was actually. Used in the textile industry. It was used to dye blue jeans. That's right. It is a dye which is, you know, if you ever walking around certain conferences or whatever, you see people with these blue stained mouths it's from methylene blue.

And so it, it, it had various uses. I, again, it was first used for dying things like clothing, blue jeans, especially. But then. What was understood is that it is an antimicrobial, so it could be used for things like malaria. It was used as an antimalarial in fact, it was used in the military before things like you know, the prophylactic antimalarial treatments were created, they would actually give our troops methylene blue.

And they would test our troops. They would line them up. They would have them urinate in front of whatever the doctor or whatever was monitoring the situation. And if their urine was blue, they knew that they had an adequate amount of methylene blue in their system. If the urine was not blue, they would increase their dose.

And yes, it does turn your urine blue. So In smaller doses, it'll start to turn the urine kind of greenish and then it'll transition as the dose increases into this really bright, almost neon blue color. Very interesting, but that's, you know, a dosing strategy that we can talk about later. So like I was saying, like there, there is a lot of uncertainty about this product about this substance.

And that's why I was so hesitant to really incorporate it into my daily life and into my patient's daily lives. But there are reasons why we should use it. There are actual indications, medical indications for when we should use this product. There's also contraindications. There's times and reasons why we should not use the product.

So I want to make sure that I educate you about those purposes and when, and when, when we should use it and when we should not use it. So. Let's first talk about maybe some of the, just some of the properties of it, the physiology of it. The way that I explain methylene blue is like this. It does have, it does seem to have a higher affinity for neurological tissue.

So that's number one. Okay. We have to understand that. But what is it doing? Okay. It's actually helping to balance this, this ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide to nitric oxide. That's a very important balance that we need to understand, right? Nitric oxide boosters are kind of a craze right now and have been for a little bit.

And there is research that shows. You know, higher nitric oxide levels promote, you know, cognitive health and heart health and all these things. However, there's also physiological evidence you know, if you were to go to a neurophysiology textbook, right, that maybe you don't want to just boost your nitric oxide levels off the charts, right?

It can actually lead to deleterious events. And so things like methylene blue will help to restore this natural balance that you should have with oxygen. and nitric oxide. And again, carbon dioxide, because carbon dioxide is oftentimes not really given enough credit. The carbon dioxide actually helps the red blood cell to actually deliver the oxygen to the tissue.

And so without it, you can actually get you know, even if you have adequate oxygen levels in your body, in your blood, but you don't have adequate carbon dioxide levels, you can actually be become hypoxic, right? You can actually start to not have enough oxygen in the tissues. So methylene blue does a very good job at helping your red blood cells deliver that oxygen to your tissues, which is extremely important because if I put an oxygen mask on someone.

Yet that oxygen is not able to be delivered to the tissue. What good is it? Right? So it's not just about putting oxygen in someone, but it's actually about how well can you utilize that oxygen? And in fact one of the best cases, one of the best use cases for methylene blue are those scenarios where the red blood cell is having trouble delivering oxygen to the tissues?

Things like carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide poisoning is a very, very good example in use case for methylene blue. So if someone has carbon monoxide poisoning what's happening is the red blood cell is actually being saturated with carbon monoxide and it cannot actually you know, take up an oxygen to deliver it to the tissues.

And so if you just simply give someone oxygen you're still not really helping that individual to deliver oxygen to the tissue to perfuse their body. So this is a case where someone has carbon monoxide poisoning, they should actually be given methylene blue because that'll knock off the carbon monoxide from the red blood cell, help the red blood cell then deliver oxygen.

to the tissues. One thing that I really want to highlight here is that this is a very safe and effective antimicrobial so you can use it to help with viral infections. You can use it to help with bacterial infections. You can use it to help with fungal infections with mold and mycotoxin exposure. It can even help with parasitic infections.

So I personally for listening. Like to take it as a preventative measure, right? Because I'm coming in contact with a lot of people every day or I'm flying somewhere. Right. And when you're on that plane, there's people sneezing and all kinds of stuff. And I'm not a germaphobe at all. Right. I, I, Don't necessarily subscribe to the germ theory.

However I do understand that we need this healthy balance in our microbiome. And our microbiome is not just in our gut. It's on our skin. It's in our respiratory tract. It's in our sinus cavity. It's everywhere. So we have this natural flora that should be nice and balanced, right? So if there's this occurrence where pathogenic bacteria or virus or whatever starts to grow and replicate and becomes too big, right?

And overtakes the system, then you can get sick, right? And I don't have time to get sick. And so definitely, you know, I'm taking this every day for those purposes. And of course, one thing to iterate here is Always consult with your doctor before trying anything because there are contraindications.

We're going to get to those, but I do want you under medical management if you're wanting to take this. But again, I, I do take this every day. In fact, like I said, the military was using this as an anti malarial because it worked. Right. And that's the crazy thing. Why not use it now? I don't know.

It's cheap. It's effective. It's safe. And whenever something is cheap and effective, it seems to kind of go by the wayside, unfortunately, for reasons that maybe we won't get into at this point in time. But what else is it going to do? It's going to help the mitochondria. It's going to help the electron transport chain.

Now, this is a topic we can really discuss in depth or I would like to discuss in depth. So. Of course, being a guy that really focuses on things like laser and light therapy photobiomodulation, I live, you know, discussing the electron transport chain and researching the electron transport chain. And so in fact there is a paper that was written titled mitochondria as a target for neural protection, the role of methylene blue and photobiomodulation.

So I, I have a couple of other podcasts talking about photobiomodulation that I would like for you to refer to, and you can go and learn about that there. But what you need to understand is that methylene blue can also impact this electron transport chain situation. It actually acts like an electron donor, right?

So it's actually going in there and helping to give electrons. To the electron transport chain. Specifically, it's going to influence complex one inside a chrome C oxidase. Now it's going to do more than that, but those are specifically what's quoted in this research study. And if we can influence, especially cytochrome C oxidase, which is an enzyme that's transporting right into complex four.

Well, then we're going to have higher efficiency. Producing our exclusion zone water at complex four and then driving our ATP synthase pump to produce more ATP, which is our fuel source for the cell. So methylene blue is great at improving cellular efficiency, mitochondrial efficiency, right? And remember what I've said in the past, if you can improve.

The mitochondrial health, the mitochondrial efficiency in the cell, then it's simply going to do what it's supposed to do better, right? So if it needs to heal better, it is going to do that. If it needs to produce a neurotransmitter, it'll do that more efficiency or more efficiently. If it needs to, whatever, right?

It's just going to do it better. So that is honestly a big reason why I take it On a regular date on a regular basis. I'm taking methylene blue to increase my cellular efficiency, to improve my mitochondrial efficiency and my electron transport chain. Big reason. Now there is this whole other topic that we can get into this concept of long haul COVID obviously since 2020 everyone is hyper aware of you know, different diseases and all of these things that are being passed around, but very fixated on, you know, not wanting to get a respiratory illness.

And specifically, you know, people are suffering with this long haul COVID situation. Now, what I'll tell you is. Am I concerned about getting COVID? No, I'm not. But I do believe that there is a mutant virus that is being created. And, and I don't necessarily want to worry about combating that. I do know that methylene blue helps me to not get sick from those things so I can travel around the world.

And have just a bit more confidence that I'm not going to be, you know, said that I'm not going to succumb to one of these mutant viruses. It's going to help me and bolster my immune system and bolster my protective mechanisms so that I don't succumb to that type of stuff. But if you do have something like long haul COVID, this might be something to consider taking.

I would also advise, you know, I'm a big proponent of also taking a certain type of enzyme called serrapeptase. Serrapeptase, think of it like the master enzyme in the body. It helps regulate basically all the different biological biochemical processes. Serrapeptase is really good at preventing and treating fibrosis, fibrotic tissue and scar tissue development.

So if you remember, you know, back in the COVID days, a big problem was fibrosis and scarring of the lungs. Now what we see is there's also scarring and fibrosis and whatnot throughout the entire body, right? You're hearing about clots and these things being pulled out of people's veins and whatever that is, right?

So I personally. I am taking serpeptase on a regular basis with methylene blue to try and combat whatever this thing is that's been created and spread around the world. It's just one of the things that I do. And honestly, I, I, I do think I do have my family, not my kids are not taking serpeptase, but they are taking methylene blue.

So those are some things that you can think about, but Some other indications, right? So there's this thing called meth and mo glob and Nemia. Okay. It's always hard for me to say it's kind of a tongue twister. But this is a condition where the hemoglobin in the blood is altered so that it cannot effectively release oxygen to the body tissues.

This is one of the primary indications of use. For methylene blue. And by the way, you will see hospitals actually use methylene blue specifically in this situation, right? So this is not just one of these outlier things that traditional medicine is not acknowledging and it's not giving credence to you.

Like it does have indications of use. In fact, the world health organization has methylene blue on their short list of things that you should always have, like when you're traveling and things like that. So it is acknowledged to have. Very good benefit. Another indication is cyanide poisoning. So what I'll tell you is that really almost any type of poisoning can typically benefit from taking methylene blue.

Now, don't just rely on this, right? So if you get And if you're an acute poisoning or some kind of toxicity or something like that, I'm not telling you to not go to the hospital or not seek appropriate care and just reach for your methylene blue. That's not what I'm saying. But in things like cyanide poisoning specifically and other things, methylene blue can actually improve your health status and help you to overcome that.

In fact, if you're a binge drinker, which I'm not promoting that, but. Methylene blue can actually help with hangovers. It can actually help prevent hangovers too. So, if you are having a few drinks and you think you're having a few too many or whatever then take your methylene blue before you go to bed.

And that will help prevent a hangover or if you wake up you get that nauseous, headache feeling, whatever reach for your methylene blue. Even if I do, you know, I don't drink a lot, but I might have some tequila every now and then I'm a tequila guy. I will actually take some methylene blue after I drink the tequila again, just for preventative measures, right?

Because I want to, you know, I want to get my body when it needs. But I also want to have some fun and I want to live my life. Another indication of use urinary tract infections. And we do this, we do this with our patients all the time. So if someone has a UTI. Of course, we, you know, tell them to seek proper medical care.

We put them in contact with their PCP or whatever it is but we do advise them that methylene blue may be something for them to consider. And again, it, it is effective some sources would say it's as effective as antibiotics. Some say even more effective but it can be effective, right?

And then this is interesting. So I've phosphamide induced encephalopathy, right? So encephalopathy is obviously, you know, dealing with the brain. This is where methylene blue can be used to treat this condition. This is a complication from chemotherapy, right? So if someone's, you know, being treated with chemotherapy, maybe bring this up to the oncologist and be like, Hey, you know, maybe this would be something to take in conjunction.

Again, I don't practice oncology. This isn't what I'm doing. I'm just reading what, you know, is in the literature here. It's been used in surgery. It can be used as a surgical marker, which is interesting again, because it does have a certain uptake, right? A higher uptake into certain tissues. And so in surgeries, they'll use this.

In fact it was interesting, Dr. Jack Cruz, who is a neurosurgeon will actually give methylene blue to his patients before and during, you know, while he's operating. He's not doing it necessarily to stain tissue. He's doing it. To actually help that person thrive better and recover better during the surgery and after the surgery, again, because it's going to help balance the oxygen to nitric oxide to carbon dioxide, all these ratios, it's going to help with toxicities.

It's going to help really just help the cell survive and live better. Right. And so I thought that was really interesting that he actually. We'll give IV methylene blue during a surgery. Very interesting. So methylene blue has also been used for various psychiatric disorders. So methylene blue, it's been investigated for its potential in treating psychiatric disorders, including manic states and depression.

So it, it does have an influence on the central nervous system. It does have an influence on the brain. Okay. Some of this is not extremely well defined. It does seem to have a positive impact on dopamine and dopamine systems. It definitely influences serotonin in your serotonergic systems. Now let's also remember that the majority of serotonin is actually produced in your gut.

So if it's influencing serotonin, which we know it is, because one of the contraindications is actually use of MAOIs, right? So monoamine oxidase inhibitors and SSRIs which is your selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. So those are actually contraindications because if you're taking something to basically increase the expression or increase serotonin.

This can cause serotonin toxicity which is not good, right? So we don't want to do that. So that is a contraindication. So we know that methylene blue will, will have an influence on our neurotransmitters, specifically our dopamine systems and our serotonin systems. And we do see that in people with depressive disorders or manic disorders or whatever it is.

They do tend to actually have positive reactions to this. Again, always work with your qualified health care providers, you know, and always let them know what you're doing or wanting to do. I don't want you to do anything, you know, and, and get hurt. So I, these are real conditions and, and I do want you to have the help of someone properly trained.

Right. There's also something called. So, this is a condition associated with vasodilatory shock, okay commonly occurring after cardiac surgeries. So, methylene blue can increase vascular resistance and blood pressure. So, again, it just helps to normalize things. I, I do see that. People with low blood pressure tend to respond very well to methylene blue, but I'll be honest.

I do also see that people with high blood pressure respond well to methylene blue. So I'm not going to pretend like I fully understand what's going on there. The only way I can explain that is again, if we're improving cellular efficiency, then whatever that cell needs to do, it's going to do it better, right?

So this is almost like that photobiomodulation discussion that I've had. Multiple times where laser therapy, light therapy is very modulatory. It's very regulatory. So you do kind of see that happening a little bit with methylene blue as well. Not to the same extent, right? This is a chemical that will bind to certain receptors and actually push metabolism in a certain way.

So it's not. It does not have the same safety profile as photobiomodulation, but it is very similar in nature, right? Methylene blue will help with radiation exposure. Very important, and another big reason that I take it every day, honestly because non native EMF exposure is a problem. Here's how I'll explain it.

So if you were to take a steak and put it in the microwave and cook it, is that state going to dry out or is it going to get nice and juicy and whatever, right? And it's not, it's going to dry out. So imagine you're that piece of steak. And you're being exposed to all these non native EMFs. What's going on is you're actually drying up your exclusion zone water in your cells, right?

So you are becoming that dried up piece of steak. It's very important to reverse this and prevent it as much as possible. That exclusion zone water literally acts as your cell's battery pack. And especially when the cell's damaged. And you get that inflammatory, that swelling, this is compressing your exclusions on water and actually generating more electrons.

It's literally acting like a battery. So we need to do something to reverse this because I'm sorry, but non native EMS are not going anywhere anytime soon. They're only going to continue to increase. And it's getting very difficult to hide from this and to avoid it. In fact, I, living in. You know, the Austin, Texas area, it's extremely difficult to avoid it.

I mean, you can't essentially, I'm not going to wrap myself in tin foil and walk around not going to happen. You know, you can wear all the EMF protectors and all these things and, and help a lot that way. I'm, I'm not saying don't do that, but it's still. Just kind of a necessary evil at this point in time.

So taking something like methylene blue is going to be very beneficial. I've talked a lot about, you know, red and near infrared light and how that can actually help increase exclusions on water too, especially the wavelength that I've put into our new lasers, which is the nine 75 nanometers does a fantastic job at increasing exclusions on water out of complex four.

So that's a great way as well. Getting your daily. Exposure to that wavelength of light. Methylene blue has also been used in photodynamic therapy. Now, photodynamic therapy is interesting. And I was actually speaking to another provider about this several months ago about how he treated a type of brain tumor like a very aggressive brain tumor with photodynamic therapy.

And what that is, is where you insert or inject a dye into someone. And this dye, again, has certain degrees of uptake into different tissue. The case I'm speaking about, it was not methylene blue, it was something else, but he injected the person with the dye that had a greater uptake into cancerous tissue, waited, I think it was about 36 hours.

And so non cancerous tissue cleared the dye, but the dye still was in the cancerous lesions. And then he took a laser, again, specifically developed for this procedure, and lasered it. Through the brain, right. All the areas of the brain. But the dye. Absorbed the, the photons more than the other tissue and would heat up and it actually killed the cancerous lesions.

That's a great example of photodynamic therapy. Methylene blue has this beautiful interplay with photobiomodulation where it will actually improve the efficiency of methylene blue if you take it and then you're using laser light therapy. Again, it has a greater affinity. For nervous tissue for the brain and for the nervous system.

And so that's another reason why we actually want our patients using methylene blue and sometimes we'll actually put them on it while they're working with us in the clinic, because we're going to be using lasers on them so I can actually have a greater influence on their nervous system while they're working with us.

So just know that it's, it's very cool. So again, you know, methylene blue has a long history. It's, it's proven to be very safe. I take it every day. My kids take it. They don't take it every day. But I do give it to them usually once or twice a week, right? So, there's many other reasons to take methylene blue.

Some of them have been well defined in the literature. Some of them are loosely defined in literature and there's also a lot of anecdata out there, right? So a lot of anecdotal you know information, which I think we need to pay attention to. We just need to qualify it, right? So things like cognitive function and memory retention there are studies on this where methylene blue has been showed to improve cognition.

In memory. So people with dementia or if you have dementia in your family maybe you should be taking some ethylene blue. It acts as an antioxidant. Again, we talked about mitochondrial function. It can improve, I would say modulate blood flow. Those are some studies that have that I've seen there too.

Again, there's, there's studies on neurodegenerative diseases. I was actually co managing a patient that has Parkinson's and I, I was thrilled to see that when the patient came to me that functional medicine provider already had that patient on methylene blue because they understood the importance of giving someone with Parkinson's, which is a neuro degenerative disorder, methylene blue.

So it was actually You know, number one surprised because this was you know, a medical doctor, but they at least understood the use case of this the substance. Right. But what I want to talk about now is actually the contraindications because I want you to be informed about what, you know, what you should not use this for and what can happen.

Right. Okay. So. Obviously if anytime you start something, you should start with small doses, right? So I want you to start a small doses. I'll give you some dosing recommendations. I'll actually tell you, you know, what product I actually use and everything. But if you have any type of hypersensitivity reaction, if you have any type of, you know, bad reaction to it, don't just keep taking it.

Like talk to someone. I want you to talk to someone anyway, before you start. But yeah, But there are some issues if you have severe renal insufficiency. So those are your kidneys. So if your kidneys are not working well make sure that you're at least working with a doctor that can walk you through how to use that.

I'm not saying you can't just saying, saying that you, you need to be working with someone to help you there. It's relatively contra contraindicated in G six PD deficient patients. So that's a genetic type of disorder. It can cause severe hemolysis also in patients with Heinz body anemia.

So if you have Heinz body anemia let's not take methylene blue, right? Neonates are also particularly prone to adverse events with methylene blue. So if you do have a neonate, And they're, you know, they're in critical care or had some type of traumatic birth or something like that. Definitely work with someone.

We've given it to patients like that, but we monitor them and we qualify that this is a good idea for them. So if you do have that type of you know, loved one or whoever it is that, you know, may have a neonate that, you know, they're thinking about using methylene blue. Contact someone that would know how to use this in them, but we've used it, but it is also something, you know, where there could be an increase in adverse events in that population.

It does interfere with pulse oximeters. So one thing I want. The practitioners listening to understand is if you're like really dosing a patient up on methylene blue, right? So their urine is this bright blue they're feeling great. Everything's really good and they come into the practice and you put a pulse oximeter on them and you're like, 92 percent oxygen.

What's going on? Or 95 percent oxygen. Why aren't you 98, 99, 100? So methylene blue will, can, it can, not always, but can give you some false readings on your pulse oximeter. So do know that. Okay. And again, I'll say it again. I said it earlier, if someone's taking a MAO inhibitor, so monoamine oxidase inhibitor that can lead to a potentially fatal serotonin toxicity event.

We also advise people if they're on a SSRI, so Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor, we do advise if you're going to try it to start in small doses and again, you know, be under the care of someone. I do have people who I do have patients that take SSRIs that are on methylene blue and they are experiencing good results, but we started with a very low dose and we slowly titrated them up.

So I'm not saying you can't take it. Be a little more cautious with your MAO inhibitors though. So. Those are, you know, the, the main contraindications now let's talk about dosing. Okay. So, in the research, right you'll see that therapeutic doses are about two milligrams per kilogram. What you're going to mainly see in the literature is to keep the dose at kilogram dosage level.

Again, this is coming out of the research. I've dosed people. Beyond this typically in, you know, pathological disorders, traumatic brain injury, which there are studies on traumatic brain injury and using methylene blue. I, I do suggest that I do want my, my TBI patients to be on methylene blue. I do want.

to monitor them. And I do want to be the one walking them through how to use that. I don't want you to go and just try this on your own. But it can again, help with oxygen delivery and all the things that you vitally need after a TBI. But so from a dosing perspective, that two milligram per kilogram body weight is kind of the target therapeutic dose.

Now, what I'll tell you is this I typically have been using the product from compass labs. So C O M P a S S laboratory. com. So compass laboratory. com. I use the 1 percent solution and I'll typically dropper about 20 drops of this until like a shot of water. And I'll just shoot it back right now.

What I would also advise you to do is to swish it around in your mouth because yes, you'll get that blue mouth effect. It'll look like you've been making out with a Smurf. But it's really good for your teeth. It'll whiten your teeth. It'll help prevent cavities and things like this. It'll help with the microbiome in your mouth.

So it is very good for dentition. But I'll do that again every morning. The half life of methylene blue is about five to six hours. So. I do tell people to dose it twice a day especially if you're, you know, working and you, you have a high paced lifestyle, you're stressed out all the time or whatever it may be.

So sometimes I just take it once in the morning. Sometimes I take it morning and afternoon. But just drop it. You know, some people, some people will just put it straight into the mouth and their mouth will be really blue for a longer period of time. Which is fine. It's, it's temporary and the staining of the teeth thing will go away and they'll be.

you know, wider afterwards. So that's where I dose it, right? So I'm a you know, about a 200 pound male. And so that's the dosage that I'll typically use for adults now for peds for kiddos, I'll literally just start at one drop, right? So I'll start them at one drop. Some kids tolerate that just fine, and they can actually go up a little higher.

You know, typically five drops is usually where I'll stop in a kid. Again, everything is very relative based on the needs of that individual. And I want, again, I want them working with a qualified practitioner. But my kids, you know, I've got a 13 year old and a nine year old. I'll give them both five drops a methylene blue mixing water.

They'll take it down. They actually like, they'll, they'll sometimes take a little bit more to turn their pee even more blue because they love going to school and freaking out their friends in the bathroom. It's kind of funny. But that's how we do that now. Some kids, especially. younger, you know, pediatrics we'll actually take that one drop and dilute it in water and then give them part of that water.

Right? So sometimes we need to dilute it even more. Again, these are strategies that need to be done with your healthcare provider. But it can be done. And you can see very good benefit. There was also some research. Investigating if methylene blue had a positive or a negative impact on the gut microbiome.

This was interesting. And what it showed is that there was a dose dependent change in the microbiome. So there was a, a, you know, a dose that had a positive influence on the microbiome, but once you exceeded and I completely forget what that dose was, I believe it was. You went above that five milligram or yeah, five milligram per kilogram body weight is I believe what the the metric was, then you actually started to see an adverse effect on the microbiome.

But the, what I want to extrapolate from that is this, you can influence the gut microbiome by taking methylene blue. So if there is a parasitic infection, if there's some kind of, you know, overgrowth in the gut SIBO, a small or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. I do employ methylene blue to help me in those situations when I'm navigating those issues with patients.

So it can be very advantageous. What I'll typically tell people is this start taking it, you know, start at lower dosages. Monitor your urine, right? You first want to see that greenish color change. You know that you're starting to saturate your body. And then for an adult, if you get up to 20 drops of this product that I mentioned earlier from compass labs, you would get up to 20 drops and your urine is not changing colors.

Stay at that dose for awhile, right? Stay at that dose. What's really interesting is that if you're not seeing the color change in the urine, your body is using that methylene blue like crazy and it's not excreting it. So just stay at that dose. I don't want anyone to go, you know, too far beyond that, especially initially.

And over time, you'll then start to see the changes in color in the urine. So, you know, I like to keep, you know, My urine, that nice kind of bluish color. That means, you know, I've, I've done a good job of saturating my body. My body has used enough of it and now it's excreting what it didn't use. So that's kind of how I dose myself.

Right. So this is a fun topic. There's. So many different things that we can talk about regarding methylene blue. Those are just some of the, you know, the things that came top of mind today when I sat down in front of the cameras and said, Hey, let's talk about methylene blue. It's something that has proven to be very safe.

I, I do just want to reiterate that, Hey, this is something that causes a change in the body. Traditional medicine acknowledges it. Holistic medicine in healthcare acknowledges it. So it can cause some really good things, but there are some scenarios where it can cause some really bad things, right?

You don't want to cause a hemolytic anemia. You don't want to cause a serotonin storm. So this is something that, you know, you need to. Understand and you need to, you need to work with someone that really understands how to use this and deploy this product to promote health because it can be something that really promotes health.

It is safe. It is effective. It does have a positive influence on cellular energy, right? And if we can really, at the end of the day, if we can get down to improving the health of the mitochondria, then we're moving in the right direction, right? So I hope that you found this information useful. Again, the reason why I'm here, the reason why I come out of clinic and I sit in front of these cameras is to try and reach more people.

That is why I'm doing this because people are struggling. People are suffering. And sometimes they just don't have to. So please share this content if there's someone that you know that could benefit from this information. Again, thank you for tuning in and I hope to see you next time.

Voice Over: We hope today's episode has inspired you to take that next step towards your best self. Remember, the path to longevity is paved with small daily decisions. Your journey is unique and every step, every choice brings you closer to your ultimate vision of a healthier, happier life. For more insights, tips and resources, visit drbrandoncrawford.com


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Dr. Brandon Crawford

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