Tropical Periwinkle

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

04 Apr 2009 10:37 AM

Have you heard of tropical periwinkle? If you're looking for home remedies, look elsewhere. This plant is too strong for home or amateur use, but has great promise as a medicinal plant in professional hands.

Eli Lilly and Company came across tropical periwinkle in a survey of plants popular in folk remedies. Extracts from tropical periwinkle leaves were able to prolong the lives of lab mice with leukemia! The extracts were used to develop two cancer-fighting drugs: vinblastine sulfate (Velban) and vincristine sulfate (Oncovin). Vinblastine sulfate is used to treat certain types of skin and lymph cancer. Vincristine sulfate is used to treat childhood leukemia and breast cancer. The two together have been used to combat malignant lymphoma -- with good results in more than forty percent of patients.

This plant has many uses beyond cancer treatment.

• An ointment made from vinblastine sulfate has been used to treat psoriasis.
• Tropical periwinkle has been used with varying success in treating diabetes. Lab test show little effect on blood sugar levels in rabbits, but tests on cats and humans had positive results.
• The antiseptic and astringent tannins in tropical periwinkle have been used to relieve eye problems and hemorrhaging. The plant also contains vincamine, which can contract uterine muscles to relieve menstrual hemorrhaging.

Because this plant is so powerful, it is NOT recommended for use without a doctor's supervision. Overdoses of vincristine and vinblastine sulfate can damage the nervous system, decrease white blood cell counts, damage the liver, impair bone marrow function, and even cause death. The plant has caused poisoning in grazing animals. Please do not use tropical periwinkle at home for anything but decoration!

Side effects of using vincristine or vinblastine sulfate can include:

• Blurred vision
• Hair loss
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Rashes
• Loss of appetite
• Nosebleeds
• Diarrhea
• Numbness and/or loss of reflexes
• Headache

Many of these side effects are also seen in other cancer chemotherapy treatments.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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