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"Wishing Away" Warts

Discussion in 'General Issues and Discussion Forum' started by NewsBot, Aug 16, 2011.

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  1. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1

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    From Science Based Medicine:
    Wishing Away Warts
    Full article
     
  2. Bug

    Bug Well-Known Member

    I'll bet Harriet, the author, doesn't believe in Santa Claus too.

    Where is the fun in hard cold science ;)
     
  3. Suzannethefoot

    Suzannethefoot Active Member

    I'm afraid I can't agree with you. I had a wart when I was seven. My mum told me it would go if I asked it really nicely to do so. It was gone within days. I was young enough to believe her, so mind over matter worked in my case.
     
  4. blinda

    blinda MVP


    Right. Nothing to do with the fact that your immune system was on the look out for pathogens as you were pre-thymic involutional?
     
  5. Suzannethefoot

    Suzannethefoot Active Member

    I don't believe so, no.
     
  6. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Last edited: Aug 17, 2011
  7. I've procured loads of warts from children, stopped doing it when I started catching them.
    These days I have a vagrant count them, write the exact number inside his hat and make him leave town, taking the children's warts with him. We have a good working relationship.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1293460/pdf/jrsocmed00115-0053.pdf
     
  8. Suzannethefoot

    Suzannethefoot Active Member

    You can scoff all you want. The power of positive thinking can do wonders. Cancer patients who have a positive attitude are more likely to survive than those who don't.
     
  9. Hi folks

    The last alternative views re cancer treatment wasn't what I would call a success or well received, cancer is perhaps best left out of this discussion imo.

    Carry on.
     
  10. blinda

    blinda MVP


    Did you understand my question in post 4?

    Whilst immunological factors are sometimes compromised in chronic stress and depression, that is a far cry from `wishing` a viral infection to resolve.
     
  11. Craig Payne

    Craig Payne Moderator

    Articles:
    8
    How do you know it worked in your case? How do you know that it was not just a coincidence with the natural hostory of the VP?
    That is the opposite of what the evidence says. (see: Positive Psychology in Cancer Care: A Story Line Resistant to Evidence and Positive psychology in cancer care: bad science, exaggerated claims, and unproven medicine and Attitudes to Cancer.
    Given what happened in the last alternative cancer thread, for now this should be the last word on this topic....lets keep it on warts.
     
  12. Tkemp

    Tkemp Active Member

    Immune system has - obviously - a great part to play in this.
    When I was 6 i had a wart/VP which after a week's duration, fell out one night.
    Forward 20 years and I picked up a new wart/VP on holiday and that took 4 years to remove. Finally ruthless debridement (took half my foot off at one point I think) and alternative cryotherapy and sal acid did the job...... and believe me I was wishing that "delightful guest" away!!
     
  13. I believe there may be some psychological effect on warts, especially considering the complexities of human neurological-endocrine-immune systems. One of our professors in podiatry school taught that if you burned a "wart contract" in front of a child, this may rid the child of the wart. Never tried it myself but stranger things than this have been reported in the annals of medicine.

     
  14. Here is a good review article for those who are interested in the concept of psychological factors affecting the immune system of the human organism.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361287/

     
  15. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Agreed. I was merely questioning what appeared to be Suzannethefoot`s assertion that her immune system had no influence on the resolution of the virus.

    I do have a copy of the above article, which I stumbled across during my current research into immunology.



    (Shame about the `abbv.` for the reference though ;);

    Psychol Bull. 2004 July; 130(4): 601–630.
    doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.601 PMCID: PMC1361287
    NIHMSID: NIHMS4008)



    Cheers,
    Bel
     
  16. Mscott

    Mscott Welcome New Poster

    My Daughter ( now 17 ) has had said warts for over 6 years, i've tried, silver nitrate, sal acid, duct tape, laser therapy, making it bleed etc...... ( Though she will not allow me to do the needling technique as she watched it on you tube!) It started as one small verrucca and has now spread all over her met area of one foot.
    Currently she is using lemon tea tree, ive been waiting a long time for her immune response to kick in and kick its butt, so.........im off to bury some meat in the back garden, burn the contract, find that guy in yellow pages and surround her shoes in positive thoughts....happy to try anything once! Let you know how I get on. :wacko:
     
  17. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Good luck with the meat thing. Apparently it only works if you are naked and you bury it at midnight.

    Any chance of posting the facetube link of the needling demo?

    Cheers,
    Bel
     
  18. stevewells

    stevewells Active Member

    Craig - can you tell us more about the natural history of the VP? I have never seen anything that suggests they have a life cycle but have had patients tell me that GPs have referred to it - I'm not taking the piss - I am genuinely interested - cant find anything myself.
     
  19. Craig Payne

    Craig Payne Moderator

    Articles:
    8
    The natural history of VP's is that they resolve themselves.

    Which is the point of the first post. How did you know the treatment worked vs the VP went away spontaneously due to its natural history.
     
  20. Craig:

    Isn't the point of medical treatment of many pathologies to make painful conditions or disabling conditions go away so that people can be more healthy, active and lead more happy, productive lives? I've seen people with VPs that have been there for 10 years....I don't think these people want to hear that "they resolve themselves" after having walked in pain for 10 years. I don't understand your point.
     
  21. Craig Payne

    Craig Payne Moderator

    Articles:
    8
    I never said they should be not treated. You treat them because:

    1. You do not know when that natural resolution is going to happen
    2. They are painful
    3. They causing a cosmetic problem
    4. To lessen risk of spreading

    Its just that the success of any treatment *could* by chance coincide with a natural spontaneous resolution
     
  22. blinda

    blinda MVP

    True, however in some `middle aged` adults, VPs can take up to 15 years to resolve. That`s quite a long time to put up with an all too often painful and stigma associated lesion, when we may be in a position to trigger regression of the VP by inducing a cell-mediated immune response to control the HPV infection.

    Cheers,
    Bel

    EDIT: Sorry, Kevin pipped me to the post....
     
  23. stevewells

    stevewells Active Member

    with respect - you still haven't answered my question - how do they resolve themselves and how do you know they do? how do you know that it isn't the immune system dealing with them?
     
  24. stevewells

    stevewells Active Member

    by treating them don't you increase the risk of spreading as your treatments invariably involve breaking the skin and making the virus more available?
    If a patients only reason for treating is to prevent spreading I nearly always advise them not to treat them.
     
  25. Craig Payne

    Craig Payne Moderator

    Articles:
    8
    because that is what the evidence says
    Thats how they resolve spontaneously!!!!!!
     
  26. stevewells

    stevewells Active Member

    but your first comment inferred that the verruca has a life cycle - that is different to the immune system dealing with them. I believe in all cases the immune system is involved - as far as I have seen none of the evidence explains how the vp resolves other than via cell mediated immune responses - I am trying to find some evidence that actually explains how a VP resolves other than by immune involvement - has anyone shown or proved the existence of a life cycle for a vp.
    I don't know if I am making myself clear or not - Im not arguing just trying to establish whether anyone has proved that the virus lives and dies - being able to say they resolve spontaneously just by observation doesn't show how they resolve
    its late here and Im not sure if that sounds like a load of bollox or not - will read again in the morning
     
  27. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Steve,

    You may find these papers of interest;

    According to Favre the productive `life cycle` (which includes latent, subclinical and clinical infections/manifestation) of the HPV depends on the terminal differentiation of keratinocytes as they migrate towards the surface of the epidermis.

    Patient here, will post more later.

    Cheers,
    Bel
     

    Attached Files:

  28. blinda

    blinda MVP

    Having re-read your posts, I`m not really sure what you`re asking, Steve? Did the articles help?

    Must get together soon to discuss dermy stuff :drinks

    Cheers,
    Bel
     
  29. stevewells

    stevewells Active Member

    I was just asking if the virus goes througha natural life cycle ie if it lives and dies or whether our immune systems are solely responsible for eradicating the virus. The articles look as if they will be very helpful thank you but i wont get a chance to read them for a while - laters
     
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