Local Doctor Uses Snail Venom To Stop Pain (OH)

[OhioChick]

Thought this was interesting........your thoughts?


Man-Made Venom Inserted Into Patients' Spines

POSTED: 4:45 pm EDT September 27, 2006
UPDATED: 6:16 pm EDT September 27, 2006

WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio -- Living with pain can sometimes be unbearable, so what can be done when pills and other medications aren't enough?

NewsChannel5's Alicia Scicolone reported that one local doctor may have the answer, and it comes from an unusual source: snails.

Dr. Emad Mikhail, of Great Lakes Pain Management in Willoughby Hills, is the first and only doctor in Ohio to use a man-made version of snail venom to help treat patients with chronic pain.

Multiple sclerosis patient Vincina Carlo lived on the strongest narcotic pain medication out there, and on the strongest doses allowed. Still, she suffered for years.

http://www.newsnet5.com/health/9948443/detail.html

[seriousstan]

1. Cone snail venom is some of the most complex venom in the animal

kingdom.

[freethought]

4. And probably among the most potent

Itis generally believed that most toxic venom is from the Box Jelly Fish(a.k.a. the Sea Wasp) that appears off of Australia'a beaches. Cone snail venom is not far behind, it is said it can kill in minutes.

[azygous]

2. Homeopathic medicine

consists of thousands of unusual remedies. I'm currently using snake venom to control hot flashes. My homeopathic practitioner says that the basic rule is to use substances that cause symptoms similar to the ailment you wish to treat. In my case, snake venom will normally cause fever, and it does seem to be lessening my symptoms. Before we had the wonderful world of pharmaceuticals with all the accompanying horrific side effects, we had natural medicines that worked probably as well or better. Cheaper certainly.

[Orrex]

3. Funny--that's the same rule that Sympathetic Magic uses

the basic rule is to use substances that cause symptoms similar to the ailment you wish to treat

I once stepped on a nail and punctured the sole of my foot, so to treat it in grand homeopathic fashion, I picked up an awl and jammed it into my foot as well, because it thereby caused a symptom remarkably similar to the ailment that I wished to treat. Namely, the hole in my foot. :crazy:

Before we had the wonderful world of pharmaceuticals with all the accompanying horrific side effects, we had natural medicines that worked probably as well or better.

Well, I submit that snake venom has some pretty heavy-duty side effects, such as tissue necrosis, nerve damage, blindness, and death. But if those don't count as side effects in your book, then so be it. And let's not forget that a great many pharmaceuticals are derived from natural substances, so it's simply false to create an arbitrary disnction between them. While we're at it, if you want to assert that natural medicines "worked probably as well or better," then you need to back up that claim with evidence beyond tradition and testimony.

Cheaper certainly.

No kidding? For a dollar I can sell you a glass of water that "remembers" the sodium I diluted into it 100X over, and it'll still be cheaper than the aspirin I talked you out of buying. But if it keeps a dollar out of the pockets of Evil Big Pharma, then it's worth it, no?

Don't get me wrong--advocates of homeopathy will find no shortage of friends and allies here in the Health forum, but that doesn't mean that the claims are any less absurd.

[varkam]

5. Welcome to DU!

:D

[knitter4democracy]

6. My hubby sometimes recommends homeopathy.

He doesn't personally believe in it, but he's seen it work for patients. So, if someone is at the end of her rope or treatment line, he suggests it. It's cheaper and less toxic, and if it works, that's for the best.

[DemExpat]

7. All of the great Homeopathic care and treatments that I have received

have been from medically trained and practicing physicians/verterinarians who have incorporated Homeopathy into their practice.
Even though they cannot understand how it works, it often does. So for the benefit of the human or animal who is suffering, it is prescribed inexpensively and without side effects - often with excellent results for many stubborn health conditions in our family and circle of friends.

DemEx

[Warpy]

8. The placebo effect is real

for a lot of people, and that's what homeopathic medicine offers.

Homeopathy has a place for people who arern't that sick, who may be hypochondriacs, or who have run out of options with allopathic medicine.