Prrkitty
03-20-2009, 03:20 PM
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509876,00.html
Quote: Oddly, the Brazilian spider delivers more than a painful bite that sends most victims to the hospital. Researchers have found its venom also stimulates an hours-long erection in men.
Patients not only experience overall pain and an increase in blood pressure, they also get an uncomfortable erection.
In Brazil, emergency room staff can immediately spot the victims of a bite.
"The erection is a side effect that everybody who gets stung by this spider will experience along with the pain and discomfort," said study team member Romulo Leite of the Medical College of Georgia, presumably speaking only about male bite victims.
"We're hoping eventually this will end up in the development of real drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction."
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This is similar, in principle, to Byetta for diabetes. Originally it was an enzyme from the Gila Monster's saliva. Then someone developed a chemically similar drug to the actual enzyme and created Byetta. It is prescribed for type 2 diabetics in two type doses... 5mcg and 10mcg - usually taken twice a day.
At the higher dosage though there are increasing incidences of "pancreatic necrosis"... i.e. your pancreas just up and dies - no warning, no indications ahead of time - it just "goes poof"... and croaks.
Yes I'm on Byetta... yes I'm on the 10mcg - 2x a day. BUT... seems my body doesn't like the 2nd dosage - no matter if it's 5mcg or 10mcg. It gives me horrible horrible stomach issues during the night.
So ... is the "cure" ... worth the possible paths to get there?
Granted... I doubt it'll ever be a spider bite "fix" for erectile dysfunction... but... ya know... if those "curing" enzymes were meant to be in our body... they'd have been put there from the start at our birth.
Quote: Oddly, the Brazilian spider delivers more than a painful bite that sends most victims to the hospital. Researchers have found its venom also stimulates an hours-long erection in men.
Patients not only experience overall pain and an increase in blood pressure, they also get an uncomfortable erection.
In Brazil, emergency room staff can immediately spot the victims of a bite.
"The erection is a side effect that everybody who gets stung by this spider will experience along with the pain and discomfort," said study team member Romulo Leite of the Medical College of Georgia, presumably speaking only about male bite victims.
"We're hoping eventually this will end up in the development of real drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction."
--------------------------------
This is similar, in principle, to Byetta for diabetes. Originally it was an enzyme from the Gila Monster's saliva. Then someone developed a chemically similar drug to the actual enzyme and created Byetta. It is prescribed for type 2 diabetics in two type doses... 5mcg and 10mcg - usually taken twice a day.
At the higher dosage though there are increasing incidences of "pancreatic necrosis"... i.e. your pancreas just up and dies - no warning, no indications ahead of time - it just "goes poof"... and croaks.
Yes I'm on Byetta... yes I'm on the 10mcg - 2x a day. BUT... seems my body doesn't like the 2nd dosage - no matter if it's 5mcg or 10mcg. It gives me horrible horrible stomach issues during the night.
So ... is the "cure" ... worth the possible paths to get there?
Granted... I doubt it'll ever be a spider bite "fix" for erectile dysfunction... but... ya know... if those "curing" enzymes were meant to be in our body... they'd have been put there from the start at our birth.