Odd very very Odd

ICUNurse11 · Feb 25, 2004

I am in nursing school and we haven't had any of that yet.

In class today we are being shown a video teaching us how leeches and maggots are good for healing as well as bee venom. Has anyone else had stuff like this introduced into the ciriculum?(sp?) :uhoh21:

orrnlori, RN · Feb 25, 2004

Oh yeah - we had the leech lecture and I saw it done at UK hospital. Nasty nasty, but it works, supposedly. Glad I never had to work with the little buggars.

purplemania, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2004

funny you should ask. I saw on new yesterday a warning against piercing upper ear lobe due to infection risks and thought of a patient I had with that very problem. We used leeches to drain blood from area after surgery. In past 10 years have had 2 patients with leeches being used to prevent appendage loss, and TX worked both times. HOWEVER, I hated the therapy. You have to treat the leeches like patients: right temperature, feeding, safe place for aquarium, etc. Did you know it is easy to squash the little devils when you pick them up with hemostats, but if you don't hold tight enough they wiggle and can drop onto floor, or YOU, and are difficult to extract from most surfaces? The good news is you cover up the leech with a towel after it is attached. The patient cannot see or feel the leech's presence. YUK. Really a last resort TX as far as I am concerned.

Renee' Y-Y · Feb 25, 2004

I have actually had some experience with leech therapy in practice. It's really kinda cool. The leeches are actually raised in a lab somewhere so they are "clean". But they are used to increase collateral circulation in some surgical patients...actually works pretty good.

Also, took care of a patient found in a dumpster with an abdominal wound that had maggots in it...it was quite clean as maggots only feed on dead/dying tissue.

Bee venom I have no experience with.

Hooligan · Feb 25, 2004

They are actually doing research now on bee venom as a treatment for MS. I saw a special on the Discovery channel about how it greatly reduces the effects of exacerbations and keeps people in remission for extended periods of time. The treatment worked so well for one lady that her husband started a bee farm. They had several hives and people with MS actually started coming to them for "bee sting therapy." It's actually pretty cool! They pick the bee up with tweezers and sting the person with it. It's pretty rough on the bee though...I think the leeches have it much easier.

~Bean

maire, ASN, RN · Feb 25, 2004

I've never actually seen them used, but we were taught about them in class and I have read about their use in books and magazines. These are practices that have been done for hundreds of years. Why not, they frequently work!

RNSuzq1, RN · Feb 26, 2004

I have actually had some experience with leech therapy in practice. It's really kinda cool. The leeches are actually raised in a lab somewhere so they are "clean". But they are used to increase collateral circulation in some surgical patients...actually works pretty good.
Also, took care of a patient found in a dumpster with an abdominal wound that had maggots in it...it was quite clean as maggots only feed on dead/dying tissue.
Bee venom I have no experience with.

WOW, I had no idea these old remedies were still being used. Years ago I heard Doc's used leeches for various ailments - called it "blood letting". I guess it goes to show that some of the old ways can't be improved on.

Something very, very strange I recently heard about. I'm the Director of a Senior Center (while waiting to hear about Nursing School). Most of the Seniors are in their 80's & 90's, all were raised on farms down here in the South. They all said that in the Spring when they were kids their Mom's would give them a teaspoon of sugar and Kerosene (yes the fuel). They said it was supposed to kill any worms in their systems. I couldn't believe people would actually ingest Kerosene. I'm a Yankee and asked my Southern husband about this - he said it was a very small dose, they never gave you enough to kill you, - yikes. They think it's funny that I'm so shocked about some of their strange home-remedies, but that's something I've never heard of. Has anyone ever heard of this?

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Feb 26, 2004

We went over the leech therepy in class, but didnt have any experience with it until i started practicing. About 3 months out of my RN program we used them on a ortho reattachment. Not much to it, the leeches squirm more than most of the staff, ehhehhe :)

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · Feb 26, 2004

funny you should ask. I saw on new yesterday a warning against piercing upper ear lobe due to infection risks ...

Our A & P I professor spent a little time last year going over this. He was aware of several females who ended up getting a prosthetic as a result of piercings in the cartilege.

Really got the students' attention.

So far nothing about the leeches though.

KimRN03 · Feb 26, 2004

We used leeches once to debride a wound. Even had to walk down to the pharmacy to pick them up! Cool though!

RNIAM, BSN, RN · Feb 26, 2004

It was mention in our lectures but we did have a entire lecture on it. I found it very interesting and think that it has merrit even though it creeps me out a little.