Altered States, Corpus Ad Reductio

I'm still ill, with a cold that has turned into some sort of god-awful throat/sinus infection. I have been so since last Friday. I've been up since 4:30. The only reason I'm up is to get symptom relief because I feel like I'm being smothered. I think the fever has finally subsided, but I'm still unwell. Hopefully the worst is over. I'm preparing a dosage strong enough to hopefully sedate me for at least four hours. During this waking hour with a foggy head, trying to remain quiet, I returned to the blogsphere to re-read and edit some of my last entry as I'm waiting for the junk to kick in. Reviewing that, and reflecting on what I went through so far, I'm concluding that Neo-Citron is another thing that could have been concocted by some voodoo witch doctor.

I'm growing impatient, and decided to get myself checked over a few days ago to see if I haven't got something else other than a just a sinus infection, plus I acquired a prescription for other stuff that makes Neo Citron look as benign as friggin' bubble gum.

With me being sick throughout the week, crazy ideas from a medication addled-mind are starting bubble up to the surface. I've been noticing various things have been happening, ranging from silly matters to the very serious, that are making me wonder about and question the elemental essence of the human body that keeps it alive, and how far it could be stripped down to the barest minimum and yet still survive. When you sit down and think about it, it's by quite a lot.

Firstly, you have to consider that some of the living mass of the human body isn't even human. It's estimated that bacteria cells, and those of other organisms, outnumber human cells in and on the body by 10 to 1! No matter how clean we think we are, we're a microcosm for numerous other living germs and creatures. For instance, you have colonies of bacteria in your digestive system that work symbiotically with you to break down your food. You have lots of other greeblies that live parasitically, or are predators for such things, and thus maintain a balance. One could assume that part of the dramatic weight loss that follows a potent and toxic treatment like radioactive chemotherapy for cancer perhaps results from a massive die off and elimination of thousands of species of these little microorganisms alone. Actually, despite the large numbers of them, the conservative estimate is only 1-2% for the body's mass comprised of these living bacteria, fungi, and other microscopic florae and faunae.

Next, your body produces and harbours varying amounts of non-living tissue, or accumulated waste material from immune system and metabolic processes. Hair, finger/toe nails, dead skin cells/dandruff, scar tissue, urine, feces, lymph, sweat, saliva all constitute a significant amount of weight. By the way things feel like right now, I'm guessing that between 10 and 15 percent of my head's mass alone is pure phlegm and mucous.  I'm guessing that another 3-4 % of the body's mass contains all those substances I mentioned. Maybe that guess is high, but I've just come to naturally assume and expect that most people are so full of shit to begin with*.

Then, there is body fat composition. Adipose tissue has a purpose in storing energy, keeping us warm, making hormones, and is essential for metabolizing fat soluble vitamin compounds. However, most of us carry around way too much excess, and can lose a lot before there is a negative impact. Essential body fat for males is 2-5%, and 10-15% for females. Average body fat for men is 18-24% for men, and 25-31% for females. For the sake of simplicity, let's make our specimen body for reduction an average male of 21 % BF going to maximum essential body fat. There is then a huge reduction in body mass of 12 kg from an initial 80 kg mass.

Now we move on to remaining living human tissues and organs that can be removed which still can allow for a still-living body. These non-lethal removals could include**:

• All the arms and legs up to the socket joints
• the teeth
• the tonsils
• the thyroid gland
• one lung
• 3/4 of the liver
• the gall bladder
• the spleen
• one kidney
• 2/3 of small intestine
• 1/2 of the colon
• the appendix
• the genitals

After that, there is then a further reduction of about 40% of the human body's initial mass.

And then there is the brain. I'm sure we all have witnessed people who don't use that thing entirely. Seriously though, I remember reading about one case of an adolescent male who, after being a victim of a drive-by shooting in the States, lost almost the entire left hemisphere of his brain, and miraculously survived. Thanks to immediate medical intervention, his youth, and the phenomenon of neuroplasticity, he was still able to walk, talk, and maintain most of his bodily functions. An exceptional case for sure. But for now, let's be pragmatic and remove the motor cortex (since there are no arms and legs left to move). I'm guessing that would be about 200 grams worth of grey matter.

Hence, I roughly figure that up to 63%, almost two thirds of the mass of the body could be rendered inert or removed, and still survive . . . in theory. So, why bother determining all this? To explore some rational way of finding hope and comfort I suppose.  Someone I know has recently been a victim of a stroke; a particularly severe one. Knowing the limit of what a body can take in terms of impairment makes the odds of recovery, or at least potential for adaptability, then seem greater.


*- I've found data which states the amount of fecal matter carried around in an adult body at any one time can range from 2 to 15 pounds  (0.9 - 6.8 kilograms).

**- I'm generous and merciful; so I left the sensory organs alone (eyes, ears, nose, tongue). I'm sure some would argue about genitals being categorized as non-essential.