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A 33-year-old man with back pain decided to treat himself with an unusual remedy not supported by scientific research: he injected a dose of his own sperm every month for a year and a half.
The "alternative therapy" has baffled doctors at Tallaght University Hospital in Dublin, where the man's recently presented with severe back pain and a swollen arm, according to a case report published this month in the Irish Medical Journal.
"This is the first reported case of sperm injection to be used as a medical treatment," the doctors wrote in a report entitled "Harmless Back Pain: An Unusual Presentation of a Subcutaneous Abscess".
The unnamed man used his sperm "as an innovative method" to treat his chronic back pain, a decision he's made without any medical advice, the report says.
He bought a hypodermic needle online and injected a monthly dose of his sperm for 18 months.
The method does not seem to have worked.
The man went to the hospital several days after lifting a thick steel object. The pain in the lower back had worsened, according to the report. His right arm, in which he had injected the liquid several times, was red and swollen. An X-ray showed air trapped underneath, sperm having infiltrated into the soft tissues.
The doctors gave the man antimicrobial drugs. According to the report, his back improved during his stay in the hospital.
Doctors advise against injecting substances into the veins that are not intended for this purpose. Although the researchers injected sperm into animals such as rats and rabbits, no such cases have been observed in humans.
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Many research studies on the injection of harmful substances into the veins, such as mercury, gasoline, fluids for lighters and hydrochloric acid, have resulted in suicide, the doctors wrote.
But they found no medical literature on sperm injection in the treatment of back pain after a "comprehensive review" of scientific databases, publications and the wider Internet, including websites and forums "eclectic."
The report does not indicate how and where man invented the unconventional method, although this is not the first case where people who are not doctors take matters into their own hands.
Last year, the controversial biotechnology engineer Aaron Traywick injected an experimental treatment for herpes while on Facebook live at a conference in Austin. A few months later, he was found dead in a therapeutic tank inside a spa in Washington, D.C. Police did not suspect a criminal act and his cause of death was unknown.
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