From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-10-01 09:12:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Devil's claw (actually Club) and pancreatic "cancer" in
ferrets
--
I got a private message from M. that addressed some aspects of this
issue. She noted some good numbers (though I was left with some
questions) that I think might be worthy of discussion, so in case
they are, or in case anyone has answers that are not anecdotal, I
copied my reply to her here. It's always good for me to learn so i
am hoping to hear more on-list. Here it is:
Well, actually, the general questions weren't mine; I was one of the
folks responding. Glad to hear that you had one it worked for.
*****Was that a combo of the standard meds PLUS the Devil's Club
Supreme? That isn't obvious from your answer*****. I have also
wondered at times how much of the effect is from sugars or alcohol in
the medication; it would be good if any real study were done in the
future if the effects from those were separated out, because sugars
or alcohol might affect the blood levels of sugar but do so WITHOUT
positive results long-term. What I mean is that short term it might
control the symptoms, but it may be that the life-span would be
longer with alternatives or the quality of life might be better
long-term with more standard approaches. Important to have a real
study done at some time if it appears to warrant it after preliminary
work. It also interests me that some ferrets have no response while
others have a response, so there may be differences among insulinomae
that aren't known, yet, or the stage of the illness might affect the
result. How LONG are ferrets doing well on this; that's a very
important question because surgery can sometimes be curative,
sometimes give a long result, and it may be that meds like Prednisone
or Proglycem might give a longer result or might not. Also, some
folks have reported ferrets with marked results on Proglycem (even a
few becoming diabetic) so standard med effects would need to be
separated out in some fashion.
I'm not saying that it doesn't work for some; just that it may be a
good approach for some but not for others, that we don't know
long-term results, that we don't know side-effects, that we don't
know how much of the effect is from additives such as sugars or
alcohol or whatever, that we do not know how it stacks up in strict
comparisons to other medications or surgeries in terms of longevity
or quality of life (Seem to recall Charles Weiss' site when it was up
having a comparison study of surgery vs, meds which was talking in
terms of a year or years for some of those approaches.), that we
don't know how to tell apart which individuals it may help and which
it won't, etc. If more is finally known that may help figure out
which approaches are best for which ferrets at which stage of
illness. (I also don't know the level of stability of the native
population of this herb and if it is in danger (as a number sadly are
right now from over-harvesting from the wild) so it might be
ultimately best if the active ingredients could be found and
synthesized or if it could be approached horticulturally by being
"farm" grown as some folks in upstate NY are trying to do with some
native ginseng species that are in serious trouble in the wild.)