[4yearlurker]

I have a book called The Horse and Buggy Doctor. In it he tells a story of a young girl in Appalachia who was deathly ill with a swollen stomach from a tape worm. He told the girl parents to not give the girl any food for three days. On the third day they tied her to a tree and put a saucer of warm milk under her nose. A few minutes later the tape worm started to come out of her mouth looking for the milk. They grabbed the tape worm and kept pulling till it was out. It was almost 6 feet long.

[DUMBGRUNT]

There are a few tapeworm legends floating around in addition to the weight-loss one, so let’s clear some of those up first. One is that you can get rid of a tapeworm by coaxing it out with a bowl of milk and cookies placed near your mouth. Not true. A tapeworm is not Santa Claus, and not only does it live in your intestine — with a stomach and esophagus between it and anything near your mouth — but it doesn’t even have any sensory organs that would allow it to detect the presence of food. Remember, this is a very simple creature. It can’t smell or see. This is the same reason that putting some enticing food near the other end of your digestive tract won’t draw out a tapeworm either. If you have a tapeworm, simply take your pill and let nature take its course.
https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/weight-loss/tapeworm-weight-loss2.htm

[lizma2]

[farming pharmer]

We had a Philippine patient in the hospital some 20 years ago who was coughing uncontrollably. A throat exam revealed this guy was trying to cough up a worm.

One of the physicians grabbed it with some kind of instrument and coiled it like spaghetti on a fork while the guy coughed it up.

Moral of the story: Philippines? Not going there. Ever.