Elephant Helps a Man with a Cold

Obviously this is totally far-fetched, but I had to post it anyway because it made me smile!

National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week

Many of the animals that are used in therapeutic ways came from animal shelters.

This week is National Animal Shelter Appreciation week.  This is the perfect time for me to to share this video from the SPCA of Wake County in North Carolina, that a friend of mine works at.  Unfortunately, the music has been pulled from the video, but as they say on their webpage "you can't keep a dog down".  There are instructions on the video to get around it.

Lastly, another friend has two dogs that need to be adopted.  They were found in a Wal-Mart parking lot and have had their shots and are healthy.  They are about 7-9 months old and some kind of lab/German Shepard mix.  If you're interested, let me know.  Otherwise, pass the information on because her apartment doesn't really have room for these guys along with the two dogs she already has.

Look at these boys!

Sam- posing for the camera.

Wally- just hanging out.

Brotherly love

***Update! Sam has been adopted but Wally is still looking for a forever home.***

Dog Lead Dog World

A few weeks ago, I ran across the story of Lily, a Great Dane, who was born with a  condition that led her eyelashes to grow into her eyes. Veterinarians removed her eyes when she was just a puppy.

I would have thought life would be pretty hard for Lily but, she found a guide in her friend Maddison, another Great Dane.

Unfortunately, after 6 years, her humans could no longer take care of the two large dogs and was looking for someone willing to take them both.

Just 9 days later, the story of Lily and Maddison being adopted made the news.

Maddison is a great reminder of what it means to be a friend.

Happy Halloween!

Mae Sai Mai, a Bengal tiger in the Sriracha Tiger Zoo, is "giving back".  She was nursed by a pig for 4 months when she was just a cub.

You've Got Worms?!

In honor of Halloween coming up, I figured that this week I will spotlight "creepy crawly" critters and their ability to help us heal.  Enjoy!

You've got worms?!

When you heard about someone having worms, it's usually something that they are getting treated for, not  a treatment.

But today, you will learn that some worms are actually being used to help people fight some pretty serious disorders: Multiple Sclerosis, Crohn's disease and Type I Diabetes to name a few.

Don't see the connection?  It turns out that the these diseases, along with other autoimmune diseases are a result of an overactive immune system.  So the thought behind using the worms, or "helminthic therapy" as it's called, is that your body now has something to fight, besides itself.

Interesting theory, right?

Well one guy named Jasper Lawrence was so determined to try hookworms to cure his asthma that he went to Cameroon (the one place the World Health Organization mentioned as having hookworms).  You can read about his adventure and how he traveled to Africa with the sole purpose of getting infected with hookworms.

He now, is a vendor of hookworms and his asthma is in remission.

Jasper sounds pretty extreme and maybe that might put you off from thinking about helminthic therapy, but he's not the only one with these findings.  Here's a website that lists many studies and their results for people with diseases ranging from allergies and asthma to autism and psychiatric disorders.

All of the studies seem to agree, that the more sterile we become, the more likely we are to have our bodies attack themselves.  We have an immune system, let's put it to work in a positive way!

Pass the dirt please!

Spiderman, Spiderman. Does Whatever a Spider Can

In honor of Halloween coming up, I figured that this week I will spotlight "creepy crawly" critters and their ability to help us heal.  Enjoy!

Arachnophobia is a very common fear.  Even I get a few goosebumps after seeing this picture:

But would your feelings change if you learned that spiders could help you become bulletproof?  Now, I'm not talking about getting bit by a radioactive spider and suddenly developing "spidey senses" like Spiderman.

There is real medical research that involves spiders and helping people heal.  The best part is, you don't have to get bit by a spider.  In fact, you don't need to interact with the spider at all, instead, it's the spider's web that is the real healer.

The web from spiders have been used in the past as natural adhesive bandages. Again, I got this information from Diana Gabaldon's character, Claire, in Outlander.  (It's amazing what you learn when you read!)  Claire was cleaning out the medical supplies and among a lot of useless things (horse dung, mouse ears, and mummy dust) she came upon some spider webs.

I had considered a large packet of cobwebs for some time, hesitating between the piles.  Both Beaton's Guide and my own dim memories of folk medicine held that spider's web was efficacious in dressing wounds.  While my own inclination was to consider such usage unhygienic in the extreme, my experience with linen bandages by the roadside had shown me the desirability of having something with adhesive as well as absorbent properties for dressings.  At last, I set the cobwebs back in the cupboard, resolving to see whether there might be a way of sterilizing them.  Not boiling, I thought.  Maybe steam would cleanse them without destroying the stickiness? 

(Diana Gabaldon, Outlander 1991.)

But with the advances in research and modern medicine, they've found that spider webs can do more than just protect an open wound.  They can actually be used to grow new skin cells on, both dermal and epidermal layers.  And since spider's silk is known for it's strength, one study tested the skin/silk hybrid and determined that skin merged with the spider's silk can stop bullets fired at a reduced speed.

He might not stop bullets, but he probably stops traffic.

Side note: you don't want to just any spider's webbing.  We've got a couple of dangerous spiders here in the US including the black widow and brown recluse.  This is a video of a brown widow my husband found in the backyard.  (We thought it was a black widow.)  

(That is my dog panting, not my husband)

Lovely, Little, Flesh Eaters

In honor of Halloween coming up, I figured that this week I will spotlight "creepy crawly" critters and their ability to help us heal. Enjoy!

Yesterday I talked about how to close a wound using ants, but sometimes it's better for a wound not to be closed.  Even the ones that you do close, you usually want to clean them out first. 

That's where maggots come in handy.

Again, I was introduced to these creatures' healing power through Diana Gabaldon, an amazing author who writes books that take place in the 18th century (as well as other time periods).  This time the reference is in the book Drums of Autumn.  Here's the quote from that book:

"It works," I said, frowning slightly as I opened another incision and deposited three of the wiggling white larvae. "Much better than the usual means of debridement; for that, I'd have to open up your foot much more extensively, and physically scrape out as much dead tissue as I could reach-which would not only hurt like the dickens, it would likely cripple you permanently.  Our little friends here eat dead tissue, though; they can get into tiny places where I couldn't reach, and do a nice, thorough job."

"Our friends the maggots," Brianna muttered.  "God, Mama!"

"What, exactly, is going to stop them eating my entire leg?" Roger asked with a thoroughly spurious attempt at detachment.  "They ... um ... they spread, don't they?"

"Oh, no," I assured him cheerfully.  "Maggots are larval forms; they don't breed.  They also don't eat live tissue- only the nasty dead stuff.  If there's enough to get them through their pupal cycle, they'll develop into tiny flies and fly off- if not, when the food's exhausted, they'll simply crawl out, searching for more."

(Diana Gabaldon, Drums of Autum 1997.)

Not all maggots are equal though.

Blowfly larva = good guys
These guys are actually baby "house flies"
that we shoo away from our food and drinks.

Screwworm fly larva = bad guys
These guys are biters when they grow up as well.

Some maggots will eat live flesh so you can't just walk outside and just collect random maggots to use.  In fact, you will need to get a prescription from a doctor and get the prescription filled, but you are able to apply the maggots yourself.  

The doctor might take some convincing that maggots are the way to go but you can show your doctor the research.  One study found maggots more cost effective, L82 for complete maggot treatment versus L503 for traditional debridement.  Plus, they helped the wound heal much quicker!  You could also lead your doctor to this cool site that addresses common misconceptions about maggot therapy.

Lastly, your pets don't need to miss out on maggot therapy!  Horses can have maggots clean out their hoof wounds.

Maybe we should start looking at maggots lovingly, like this: