Maggot Therapy? Seems It Works

Not for the faint of heart, but it seems that this type of therapy is working so well that it might be covered by insurance.

This therapy is in fact already approved as treatment for people with nasty bed sores, chronic post-surgical wounds and diabetic foot ulcers, according to a recent article on MSNBC.

Here's how it works. Specially-prepared maggots are use to feed on sick tissue so that healthy tissue can move in thus avoiding an infection. I guess we had heard about this treatment being used years ago, back in the 30's, but once antibiotics came along, out went the maggots. Well they're back.

With infections now resistant to some antibiotics, maggots looks to be useful again. So much so that the recently the American Medical Assoc. and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services addressed the issue of reimbursement for medicinal maggots.

The article points out that in the U.S. there are now more than 1,000 therapists using maggot therapy.

Lights Help Fight Dementia

A study done by Eus Van Someren at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, showed that elderly patients with dementia who were exposed to bright lights in long-term care facilities scored 5% better on cognitive tests and had 19% fewer depressive symptoms than similar patients residing in less well-lit facilities.

The article posted on on June 10th in Time magazine, explained that the brightness of the overhead lights ( 1,000-lux) is equivalent to the brightness of TV studio lights.

The reason the lights work, according to the authors, is that they are able to effect the
body's circadian clock, which is regulated by a cluster of cells in the brain's hypothalamus. Those cells release agents that, along with the hormone melatonin, help to regulate the body's sleep-wake cycle and are responsible for alerting the brain when the cycle is broken.

Disregulation of the circadian rhythm can causes changes in hormonal status and metabolites in the blood explained Dr. Marilyn Albert, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, as reported in the article. "

As we age the cells in the hypothalamus become less active. And for the elderly who spend less time outdoors their melatonin production is further decreased which causes sleep and mood disturbances.

How nice to learn about a somewhat natural ( as opposed to natural sunlight) that helps such a devastating condition.

Cognitive Behavorial Therapy -- Low Tech Care for Mental Health

In a recent article from Money Magazine, posted on CNN, writer Patricia B. Gray, reports on a study which found that 50% of psychiatrists now use cognitive behavorial therapy (CT) in their practice.

Turns out it is effective in treating a number of conditions including including depression, anxiety, phobias, obsessions, compulsions and addictions.

The article says that patients can get better in 16 sessions with a cost of about $50-$185 per hour with much covered by insurance. The author calculates that a rate of 80% for each $100 session the patient would pay about $320 to get better! That compares very favorable to those people using drug therapies which could reach $ 40-$50 per month for years.

And a study from the The American Journal of Psychiatry showed that people with mild to moderate depression improved with CT. The author cites another study that found CT to be much more effective than a drug commonly used to treat insomnia in older adults.

Including in CT are relaxation and breathing exercises.