Methylene blue, first discovered in the 20th century and used as a dye in the textile industry, has long been used for biological staining in histology, bacteriology, and hematology. In the late 90s and early 2000s, doctors were even using it in their cancer clinics.
Because of its unique physiochemical properties, it was the first synthetic drug used in medicine, having been used to treat malaria more than one century ago, because methylene blue is a powerful anti-microbial and anti-parasitic substance. Methylene blue was also one of the first drugs used for the treatment of patients with psychosis at the end of the 19th century and was the lead drug in the development of phenothiazine antipsychotic drugs in the mid-20th century. It was studied in bipolar disorder in the 1980s and has been investigated in neurodegenerative disorders in recent years.
Methylene Blue is an electron cycler. The electron transport chain is a series of four protein complexes that couple redox reactions, creating an electrochemical gradient that leads to the creation of ATP in a complete system named oxidative phosphorylation. It occurs in mitochondria in both cellular respiration and photosynthesis, according to the NIH.gov website. Put simply, methylene blue boosts oxygen consumption and cell respiration, providing you with more energy. As mentioned above, it is an extremely powerful mood balancer and can help with stress, anxiety and depression.
Methylene blue is activated by different light frequencies. It works perfectly on its own, but to increase its benefit, you could take it and go lie out in the sun, or take a near infra-red sauna or virtually any other type of light therapy to strengthen its effects.
So how do you take it? The literature shows that doses ranging from 0.5mg/kg - 2.0mg/kg are both safe and clinically effective. The general recommendation is 10 drops twice a day in water for a week, then 20 drops for another week, then 30 drops for another week, and so on, until you reach your desired dosage.
An excellent resource on methylene blue is Mark Sloan's "The Ultimate Guide to Methylene Blue", which I highly recommend for anyone looking to learn more about this wonderful product. "Clean" brand recommendations are on my "resources" page.