St. John's Wort

[seminolewind]

Is this the right stuff. I have tried the St. John Wort Capsules that looks like ground herbs with distilled water and it doesn't appear to be helping.
Two on my best Roo's has paralysis on the left side. The entire flock has been wormed and treated with Corid after losing 4 of my best pullets with similar symptoms. So now my best Cream Legbar and Araucana Roo's (hatched in April) can hardly stand but still has a good appetite. What I have read on this thread is giving a little hope.

I would think that Hypericum may help with some disorders, but Marek's is a cancer, and neuro symptoms are caused by tumors in the nerves. I don't think that there are medications that cure cancer or tumors and they continue to grow and spread. You have lost 4 chickens to paralysis, now 2 more show it. I myself would be searching for something that will help, it seems like vaccination is the only thing right now.

 

[chooks4life]

I would think that Hypericum may help with some disorders, but Marek's is a cancer, and neuro symptoms are caused by tumors in the nerves. I don't think that there are medications that cure cancer or tumors and they continue to grow and spread. You have lost 4 chickens to paralysis, now 2 more show it. I myself would be searching for something that will help, it seems like vaccination is the only thing right now.

lol, they are searching for something to help their paralyzed chickens, that's why they're here. The vaccination obviously won't save already symptomatic stock.

There's actually many things that cure cancers, both natural and artificial, though a whole spectrum of different actions.

...edit, I was wrong, it has been clinically tested*...

...if it gets some results, why not try. After all they're using it against symptomatic birds, not trying to use it to protect a flock against Marek's.

Vaccination does seem the only preventative in the short term but in the long run it's not showing much promise of being anything more than something that enables susceptible individuals to breed on and compels the virus to mutate into stronger forms. Still, vaccination is the only viable preventative solution right now that I'm aware of, asides from complete biosecurity, for those with birds that show no resistance or which are too valuable to expose to the potential risk.

Best wishes.

*EDIT: I stand corrected. The clinical research on St John's Wort shows it is effective against both cancers/tumors of some kinds, and some types of viruses.
Quote: Quote:

11.6.3. Anticancer Properties

Hyperforin and hypericin have also been examined for their anticancer properties. According to Schempp et al. (2002), hyperforin inhibits tumor cell growth in vitro. The mechanism involves induction of apoptosis (programmed cell death) through the activation of caspases, which are cysteine proteases that trigger a cascade of proteolytic cleavage occurrences in mammalian cells. Hyperforin also causes the release of cytochrome c from isolated mitochondria. Mitochondrial activation is an early event in hyperforin-mediated apoptosis, and hyperforin inhibits tumor growth in vivo (Schempp et al. 2002).

Schempp and his colleagues agreed that since hyperforin has significant antitumor activity, is readily available in high quantities (since it is naturally occurring in abundance), and has low toxicity in vivo, hyperforin holds promise of being an interesting novel antineoplastic agent. Other in vitro studies demonstrated that hyperforin in conjunction with polyphenolic procyanidin B2 effectively inhibited the growth of leukemia K562 and U937 cells, brain glioblastoma cells LN229, and normal human astrocytes (Hostanska et al. 2003).

Hypericin has also been investigated as an anticancer agent, reportedly inhibiting the growth of cells derived from a variety of neoplastic tissues, including glioma, neuroblastoma, adenoma, mesothelioma, melanoma, carcinoma, sarcoma, and leukemia (Fox et al. 1998).

The activity of hypericin is attributed to its photodynamic properties (Agostinis et al. 2002). In the presence of light and oxygen, hypericin acts as a powerful natural photosensitizer, generating superoxide radicals that form peroxide or hydroxyl radicals, or singlet oxygen molecules that kill tumor cells.

In this way, hypericin can be used as a component of photodynamic therapy (PDT; Agostinis et al. 2002). At first, PDT was used only for skin lesions, but it is becoming increasingly accepted as a treatment for many types of tumors.
Best wishes.

 

[WalleyWaller]

@chooks4life Thank you very much for the information. I am not certain that it is Mareks but the symptoms seem likely. I am not sure if I should cull these 2 yet, but I will send them for a necropsy when the time comes. That is the only way to be sure of exactly what I am dealing with. But, that being said, I am going to try the Hypericum and hope for the best. I will post the progress. Thank you!

 

[tridentk9]

I'm currently fighting an invasive weed with pretty flowers. Sigh. In it's native land, a fungus helps keep this plant under control. That fungus doesn't grow here so there is no biological control. Wildlife and livestock don't eat it so it has free reign, overcoming the native plants.

In my case this particular plant isn't noxious but is very invasive. My state considers SJW to be both noxious and invasive as it can harm livestock and it spreads. My understanding is that it's considered noxious to livestock in Australia also as well as invasive.

There are numerous citations of the good SJW can do at minute, controlled levels. There are also numerous citations of the harm that can occur with uncontrolled consumption in the field or in hay. My concern was not with the use of SJW but that it would be difficult to find an area that would allow enough growth of it to make it a profitable, industrial product.

 

[chooks4life]

Good luck, and good to hear you'll get a necropsy, too. Nothing harder than fighting something you don't even know, lol!

Best wishes.

 

[chooks4life]

I'm currently fighting an invasive weed with pretty flowers. Sigh. In it's native land, a fungus helps keep this plant under control. That fungus doesn't grow here so there is no biological control. Wildlife and livestock don't eat it so it has free reign, overcoming the native plants.

In my case this particular plant isn't noxious but is very invasive. My state considers SJW to be both noxious and invasive as it can harm livestock and it spreads. My understanding is that it's considered noxious to livestock in Australia also as well as invasive.

There are numerous citations of the good SJW can do at minute, controlled levels. There are also numerous citations of the harm that can occur with uncontrolled consumption in the field or in hay. My concern was not with the use of SJW but that it would be difficult to find an area that would allow enough growth of it to make it a profitable, industrial product.

I don't really understand what you're meaning there. It is a 'profitable' product, for the medicinal industry, but I'm not sure how 'industrial' you could term that, it's not like rapeseed or palm oil, or anything like that.
Anyway, best wishes.

 

[tridentk9]

@chooks4life
Thank you very much for the information. I am not certain that it is Mareks but the symptoms seem likely. I am not sure if I should cull these 2 yet, but I will send them for a necropsy when the time comes. That is the only way to be sure of exactly what I am dealing with. But, that being said, I am going to try the Hypericum and hope for the best. I will post the progress. Thank you!

As long as they aren't in distress physically or mentally and you are able to meet their changing needs, there is no reason to cull yet.

Your other birds have been exposed so culling won't change that. You're the only one that can tell if/when it's overwhelming you. You may have to alter some things, for example by bringing into a less chilly area or a separate area within the coop at night, feeding by themselves, supplementation, examining every day. Basically treating them like chicks.

 

[WalleyWaller]

As long as they aren't in distress physically or mentally and you are able to meet their changing needs, there is no reason to cull yet.

Your other birds have been exposed so culling won't change that. You're the only one that can tell if/when it's overwhelming you. You may have to alter some things, for example by bringing into a less chilly area or a separate area within the coop at night, feeding by themselves, supplementation, examining every day. Basically treating them like chicks.

Thank you so much for the information. Yes, I have 4 separate coops and will be rearranging this this weekend. I will turn one coop into an infirmary to better manage the sick. Hopefully no more will become ill. They are all over 7 months old now. I have a total of 42 in the flock. All the coops are nice and warm with heat lamp if needed. Thank you again!

 

[seminolewind]

Is this the right stuff. I have tried the St. John Wort Capsules that looks like ground herbs with distilled water and it doesn't appear to be helping.
Two on my best Roo's has paralysis on the left side. The entire flock has been wormed and treated with Corid after losing 4 of my best pullets with similar symptoms. So now my best Cream Legbar and Araucana Roo's (hatched in April) can hardly stand but still has a good appetite. What I have read on this thread is giving a little hope.

Interesting article. But I can't find what status these people are, I can't find anything that says Doctor, or Head of some Scientific department.

I am constantly on the look for anything that can make a Marek's paralyzed chicken walk again. My interest in this thread is that many times I read that people take the blame on themselves for SJW not working. Such as the wrong concentration , etc. Even Walleywaller seems to doubt her choice of sjw hypericum brand.

I read the whole article and found that there was very little mention of large groups of people involved as the test-ees. It appears that sjw can slightly improve antibiotic treatment of skin wounds. But the % increase from SJW is not mentioned.

I have to question any article that states one herb can improve Alzheimer's, tumors, depression, bacterial infections, amnesia, startle response in people with Huntington's desease and schizophrenia, help addicts because it's equivalent to Clonidine for opium withdrawal, and assist in battling certain types of virus in AIDS and the flu.

...exposing tumor cells to Hypericum and irradiation light can disable a few tumor cells, like fight cancer with positive results, but the results are probably too small to list, or "further research is needed". -How can I expose tumors to Hypericum and Irradiation light outside a petrie dish?

I know of ways to fight cancer, but radiation and chemo are far too expensive for my chickens and their health insurance won't cover it.

There are world renowned Researchers that have extensively studied Marek's, one is Karel, another is Schat.

I just don't like anything that tends to make well meaning people guilty when the hypericum doesn't work.

 

[chicknmania]

People always feel guilty when something doesn't work and the bird dies. If someone wants to try Hypericum, or anything else for that matter,, they really don't have anything to lose. Not sure why everything has to be so controversial. There is nothing guaranteed to work on this forum...for anything. All the cures, remedies, treatments, preventative treatments, supplements...are basically based on people's personal experience. Or articles that they have read. What I'm inclined to say is...stop trolling. If people want to try something, leave them alone. It is not going to hurt anything. If they are not going to try one thing, they're going to try something else.
Sometimes things DO work...and there's no scientific explanation at all.