From the blue dye used in blue M&M’s to the antidepressant Lexapro, researchers are constantly discovering new methods that may someday be used to treat spinal cord injuries; an unjust condition that can‘t be cured because the spinal cord is unable to repair itself (WTF God?!). Sorry. I’m a bit bitter. You’re talking to a quadriplegic here.
And lobster shells, or more specifically Chitosan, a natural compound (a sugar actually) found in the shells of most crustaceans, has been proven in a Purdue University lab to travel to the injury site (after being injected into the bloodstream) and “plugs” the holes in the coating of the damaged nerve cells, essentially repairing the damaged site. The experiment was conducted on a Guinea Pig, who was able to once again move his hind leg after being administered the compound.
As a person with a spinal cord injury, it’s hard to take all of the latest possible treatments seriously though, only to maintain my sanity and to not get caught up in walking again. Why? Because it can drive a person mad. I was obsessed with walking again the first 3 years of my injury and would fantasize about waking up one morning and being able to magically walk again. In my fantasy I’d put on my confirmation dress from Deb and walk upstairs to surprise my Mom. Well, that never happened. It’s now been 17 years since my injury, and instead I now have fantasies about Sawyer from Lost ravishing me in the middle of the night.
The real exciting news about this Chitosan experiment is that a Guinea Pig’s spinal cord is almost identical to a human’s, only smaller. What if this compound in Lobsters really is the holy grail researchers have been looking for? Would they be exhilarated or annoyed that is was “there all along” and they had no idea?
While we’re at it, here’s one of my favorite Lobster recipes. NOM.
- No
joke, blue M&M’s proven to fix acute spinal injuries
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Ski Team Member Walks & Talks Stem Cells
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Palin is NOT good for SCI
Filed under: quadriplegic, spinal cord injury, quadriplegia, spinal cord injury research, paraplegic, lobsters, blue M&M's, purdue university, youngnam cho, richard borgens, chitosan
