Topical herbal wash for Heat and Toxins

May 19, 2003

My 7 year old niece was involved in a bad sledding accident

this winter. She had a severe compound fracture at the distal growth

plate of her tibia. The bone is more or less healing, but two weeks ago

she developed a blister on her scar that grew large then ruptured, oozing green

liquid. Her MD took a culture and determined it was a staph infection. They

were concerned the bone was infected so they took an MRI. It turned out

to be a pocket of infection resting against the bone, so the bone appears safe.

After a week of antibiotics the lesion was no longer oozing. She is now

two weeks into a four week course of oral antibiotics (not sure what variety). Is

there an adjunct therapy that would be beneficial for her? I was thinking

perhaps some form of topical herbal wash. How effective would a topical

treatment be given that the lesion is now closed? Is there something to

be done to help clear the infection, promote healing, and possibly to limit

additional scarring? Of course it is understood that she will complete

the rest of her antibiotic course.

Thanks in advance for your wisdom,

Tim Sharpe

May 19, 2003

Dear Tim,

Yesterday I attended a seminar on herbal safety with Dr. John Chen, and he reported that the baicalin in Huang Qin has been shown to restore the effectiveness of certain antibiotics that have become ineffective against Staph. aurea. The Huang Qin was used together with ampicillin and amoxicillin and other similar drugs, and the combination was effective where neither the drug nor the herb were alone. (J Pharm Pharmacol 2000 March).

He also recommended Pu Ji Xiao Du Yin for the worst types of infections.

Julie Chambers

My 7 year old niece was involved in a bad sledding accident this winter. She had a severe compound fracture at the distal growth plate of her tibia. The bone is more or less healing, but two weeks ago she developed a blister on her scar that grew large then ruptured, oozing green liquid. Her MD took a culture and determined it was a staph infection. They were concerned the bone was infected so they took an MRI. It turned out to be a pocket of infection resting against the bone, so the bone appears safe. After a week of antibiotics the lesion was no longer oozing. She is now two weeks into a four week course of oral antibiotics (not sure what variety). Is there an adjunct therapy that would be beneficial for her? I was thinking perhaps some form of topical herbal wash. How effective would a topical treatment be given that the lesion is now closed? Is there something to be done to help clear the infection, promote healing, and possibly to limit additional scarring? Of course it is understood that she will complete the rest of her antibiotic course.

May 19, 2003

Tim,

There are lots of formulas and approaches to

treating this with herbs of various kinds.

I always think of two herbs for cases such

as this: san qi and golden seal root. I've

used them both effectively in such cases.

Powdered and made into poultices and/or

wines mixed with honey, these ingredients

can be used separately, together, or in

combination with other medicinals based on

the changing condition of the patient's

lesions and other pertinent signs and symptoms.

In one clinic where I trained and worked in

Chengdu years ago we regularly saw infections,

some of which were more than two weeks old

and had heavily invaded the bones, and the

Dr. there was able to effectively treat

the vast majority of such cases.

Where is the patient?

Good luck,

Ken

May 19, 2003

dragon90405 [yulong]

>Where is

the patient?

She is in Cincinnati, Ohio.

-Tim Sharpe

May 20, 2003

Anecdote:

Just thought i'd throw in a few cents recounting my experience last fall with osteomyelitis, something i hadn't really seen much of before. It developed at the end of my left thumb, with etiology uncertain(vague memory of slamming it in a drawer couple months prior, worked in garden over summer, in hot weather -- maybe dirty crud got under thumbnail and somehow traveled to the site of the bone bruise). After being away on a trip for 4 weeks, during which I treated it with Chin. herbal Rx's from ITM, with initial improvement, then relapse with worsening pain and swelling, on return home i ended up being hospitalized for 2 weeks with various antibiotics(augmentin for 1 wk prior to hosp., IV unisyn for 1st wk of hospital, during which it worsened; switched to IV cipro and vancomycin(ugh) for the 2nd week, then released with oral cipro and rifampin because they couldn't get a pic line in me after the vanco sclerosed the appropriate veins, so i stayed on those orals for a week). At the 1 wk follow-up appt., since it was only somewhat improved (less major pain, but still hyperesthesia) it was decided they should probably finally do a biopsy -- for which i had to be off antibiotics for 3 wks -- but then at that follow-up appt the appropriate equipment was not available so i was rescheduled for 2 wks after that. Then just prior to that appt. it just got better during Thanksgiving week.

Since the last week in hosp. i had been dosing with Salvia tablets (from ITM- Subhuti Dharmananda's company). Having read S.D.'s piece on salvia and microcirculation, it seemed like it was worth a try. So finally on Thanksgiving it seemed to "suddenly" normalize, and follow-up x-ray seemed to indicate it was stable(biopsy no longer deemed necessary). I have to say that placebo or no, when i was having pain and took the salvia tablet, it would seem to afford relief. [i also took a bit of ITM's Liquidamber 15, which was based on the modern patent Kang Gu Zengsheng Pian, (for spinal problems and "multiplicative spondylitis") for its blood-vitalizing, anti-inflammatory and analgesic herbs(additional herbs for somewhat extended application to infl. conditions of bones/joints).]

The long/short: tho the docs had prognosed a probable 6 wks of IV antibiotics(with emphasis on the IV), i was actually on antibiotics for only 4 wks, with only 2 of those being IV. I have to say it was all rather a strange time but i developed a bit of a fondness for salvia. Thumb's been pretty much normal since Nov. I do acupressure, but i still can't do push-ups on just my thumbs...but then i never could.

Oh yeah... all hail Vitamin E.

ann

My 7 year old niece was involved in a bad sledding accident this winter. She had a severe compound fracture at the distal growth plate of her tibia. The bone is more or less healing, but two weeks ago she developed a blister on her scar that grew large then ruptured, oozing green liquid. Her MD took a culture and determined it was a staph infection. They were concerned the bone was infected so they took an MRI. It turned out to be a pocket of infection resting against the bone, so the bone appears safe. After a week of antibiotics the lesion was no longer oozing. She is now two weeks into a four week course of oral antibiotics (not sure what variety). Is there an adjunct therapy that would be beneficial for her? I was thinking perhaps some form of topical herbal wash. How effective would a topical treatment be given that the lesion is now closed? Is there something to be done to help clear the infection, promote healing, and possibly to limit additional scarring? Of course it is understood that she will complete the rest of her antibiotic course.

Thanks in advance for your wisdom,

Tim Sharpe