(NaturalNews) Jerome, a 53-year-old high school teacher, was in the hospital
awaiting amputation of his left leg. He'd been receiving IV antibiotics to treat
a diabetic ulcer, a wide, oozing open wound on his ankle, but this didn't halt
the steady advance of gangrene, and he was told they had no choice but to take
his leg.
About five hours before he was scheduled for surgery, Jerome talked to the
teacher who was substituting for him to tell him he'd probably be out for the
rest of the year. The substitute had heard about the Whitaker Wellness Institute
and the work we do here, so he suggested that Jerome check us out. Jerome
immediately phoned his wife, who called the clinic and asked if there was
anything we could do to save his leg. I said we would certainly try. Figuring he
had nothing to lose, Jerome left the hospital-against strongly worded medical
advice-and came to my clinic that same day.
"I Wouldn't Be Walking Today"
We immediately started Jerome on two therapies. First, he began a course of EDTA
chelation, an IV treatment that improves circulation. Second, we dressed his
ulcer with sugar. That's right, white table sugar. We simply poured sugar into
the wound, wrapped it up, and changed the dressing regularly. Within days he
noticed a difference.
"I could see the sores were starting to get better and the swelling had gone
down. At first the leg was almost all black. Then it started to get pinkish. It
was just amazing how it continued to feel so much better." Within three weeks,
Jerome's ulcer was healed, and he was able to resume teaching and coaching the
girl's softball team.
"I didn't know anything about alternative medicine when I went to see you. I
guess I was skeptical because I had no idea what to expect. I just felt that it
was my last hope. I wouldn't be walking today if it weren't for you. I've often
thought about sending a card to the doctor who wanted to amputate, with a
picture of my leg, and say, 'I still have it.'"
5,000 Years of Success
Chelation is an amazing treatment, however, in this article I want to focus on
sugar because it is an incredibly powerful therapy that was instrumental in
saving Jerome's leg. I've been using sugar to dress open wounds for 20-plus
years, but this therapy has been around for much longer-at least 5,000 years.
Honey (which works just like sugar) is mentioned in the world's earliest known
medical document, discovered in Luxor, Egypt, in 1862. Known as the Edwin Smith
Papyrus, it was written around 1600 BC and is believed to be based on materials
from as early as 3000 BC. This ancient manuscript is essentially a textbook on
traumatic surgery, and it describes anatomy, examination, diagnosis, treatment,
and prognosis of a variety of injuries in great detail. In particular, it tells
how honey, along with animal fat, herbs, roots, bark, spices, and cat dung, can
be used to treat open wounds and burns.
Pedanius Dioscorides, a Greek physician who lived in Rome in the first century
AD, also extolled the therapeutic powers of honey. In his five-volume De Materia
Medica, which was the primary pharmacopeia in Europe and the Middle East for 16
centuries, he described honey as "good for all rotten and hollow ulcers." In
fact, honey-and later, sugar-continued to be widely used to treat wounds well
into the twentieth century. Then antibiotics came along.
Better Than Antibiotics
Today, antibiotic ointments are the treatment of choice for ulcers, cuts,
scrapes, and burns. Yet honey and sugar are far superior to any antibiotic
ointment ever used.
Antibiotics aren't as effective as they once were, because bacteria rapidly
becomes resistant to them. While an antibiotic kills most of the bacteria, the
stronger ones-those with some genetic variation that allows them to withstand
the effects of the drug-survive and reproduce. Over time, that strain of
bacteria becomes completely resistant to the effects of the antibiotic. Another
antibiotic comes on the market that kills most of these "superbugs," and the
process starts over again.
Today, antibiotic resistance has reached a critical mass: Many infections do not
respond to any antibiotics at all. This is what happened to Jerome and the
82,000 other Americans who lose a leg or foot to non-healing diabetic ulcers
annually. It's also what affects the two million patients who acquire an
infection while they're in the hospital and the 90,000 who die from these
infections every year.
Wounds are particularly prone to infection because the gauze used to dress them
absorbs fluid from the wound and becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and
fungus. Drug companies are working around the clock to come up with antibiotics
that stay one step ahead of microbes. Yet, the solution is as near as your sugar
bowl. The reason? Bacteria cannot become resistant to the killing effects of
sugar or honey.
Sweet, Powerful Medicine
When sugar or honey is packed on top of and inside of an open wound, it
dissolves in the fluid exuding from the wound, creating a hyperosmotic, or
highly concentrated, medium. Bacteria cannot live in a hyperosmotic environment
any more than a goldfish could survive in the Great Salt Lake. Scientists have
tested the viability of many types of bacteria, including Klebsiella, Shigella,
Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes, and none of them have been
able to survive in a honey or sugar solution.
In addition to curbing infection, this therapy facilitates healing in other
ways. It draws fluid out of the wound, which reduces edema (swelling). It
provides a covering or filling and therefore prevents scabbing. It encourages
the removal of dead tissue to make way for new growth. It promotes granulation,
the formation of connective tissue and blood vessels on the surfaces of a wound.
Finally, it supports the growth of new skin covering the wound. The net result
is rapid healing with minimal scarring.
This Doctor Has Treated 7,000 Wounds
The country's, if not the world's, leading expert on the use of sugar as a wound
dressing is Richard A. Knutson, MD, now retired but for many years an orthopedic
surgeon at the Delta Medical Center in Greenville, Mississippi. Dr. Knutson
first learned about the healing power of sugar from an elderly nurse who worked
in the hospital where he was making rounds to check on his patients. When he
expressed concern about a patient's bedsore that was so deep it was down to the
bone, she told him, "In the old days, we used to put sugar on them wounds."
Although he was dubious, he gave it a try. To his surprise, it worked like a
charm. Within a couple of days the wound was free of pus, and with continued use
of sugar dressings, healing was complete. Dr. Knutson, a meticulous record
keeper, went on to treat and document nearly 7,000 wounds of all sizes and
degrees of severity: ulcers, abrasions, lacerations, amputations, abscesses,
gunshot wounds, frostbite, punctures, post-operative incisions, cat scratches,
burns, and bites (dog, human, snake, spider, and, believe it or not, one lion
bite).
He told me about a patient who had accidentally shot himself in the foot at
close range with a shotgun. I saw pictures of this, and it was incredible: a
perfectly round, inch-and-a-half diameter hole right through his foot. After the
bleeding was stopped and the wound cleaned, Dr. Knutson packed it with sugar and
wrapped it up. Seven weeks later it had healed completely, and today the patient
is fully functional.
Burns: No Skin Grafts, No Scarring
Sugar dressings are also great for burns. Most burn centers insist on using
silver sulfadiazine, an antibiotic ointment, to treat burns, but it doesn't work
nearly as well as sugar or honey.
In a study published in the Annals of Burns and Fire Disasters, 900 patients who
presented with second-degree burns were treated with either honey or an
antibiotic ointment. All burns were then covered with gauze and bandaged, and
the dressing was changed every other day. The 450 patients treated with honey
fared much better than those receiving the usual treatment. They healed faster,
in an average of nine days compared to 13.5 days in the antibiotic group. They
had fewer infections, 5.5 percent versus 12 percent. And minor scarring occurred
in only 6.2 percent of the honey-treated patients, while a whopping 20 percent
of those receiving conventional treatment ended up with scars.
Dr. Knutson's experience mirrors the results of this study. He has treated 1,622
burns with sugar dressings, and virtually all of them were infection-free and
required no antibiotics or skin grafts. He told me about one patient with
extensive burns who received antibiotic treatment on some areas of his body and
sugar on others. The sugar-treated burns healed faster and scarred less.
If It's So Good, Why Isn't It Used?
Trying to figure out why inexpensive, effective therapies like sugar and honey
dressings aren't being used is an exercise in futility. That's because there is
no rational explanation. Some physicians claim it would cause elevations in
blood sugar, which is nonsense because sugar or honey used on an open wound does
not enter the bloodstream. Others think it's unscientific or just plain weird.
I suspect it's because, like so many other overlooked therapies, it doesn't fit
into the model of conventional medicine. It isn't a drug. It costs pennies. It
can be administered by the patient as easily as by a nurse or doctor, so it
doesn't require many return office visits. Whatever the reason, do not expect
your doctor to offer this therapy or even be open to it. But next time you get a
cut, scrape, or burn, give it a try, and let me know how it works.
Protocol for Treating Wounds With Sugar
Sugar or honey dressing may be used to treat any kind of open wound or burn. (We
use sugar at the clinic because it's less messy.) It will not work on abscesses
or pustules that are covered with skin. Do not use on a bleeding wound as sugar
promotes bleeding.
1)Unravel a 4" x 4" piece of gauze into a long strip and coat it with Vaseline.
Place it around the outside edges of the wound, like a donut.
2)Cover the wound with 1/4-inch of sugar. (The Vaseline "donut" will keep it in
place.)
3)Place a 4" x 4" sponge on top of the wound. Bandage it firmly but not too
snugly with a cling dressing.
4)Change the dressing every one or two days. Remove, irrigate with water,
saline, or hydrogen peroxide, pat dry, and repeat steps 1-3.
Reference
Subrahmanyam M. Honey dressing for burns-an appraisal. Annals of Burns and Fire
Disasters. 1996;IX:33-35.
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