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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Castor Oil / CGRP 
        
(Message started by: floridian on Sep 15^th, 2004, 9:58am)

Title: Castor Oil / CGRP
Post by floridian on Sep 15^th, 2004, 9:58am

A while back, some one posted about using "Palma Christi" (castor oil) for headaches. Couldn't find that post in the archives, but I did just run across this abstract suggesting that castor oil can work along the lines of capsaicin, with some interesting differences.

A main ingredient in castor oil (RA - ricinoleic acid) is similar to capsaicin, except it doesn't cause the intense pain that capsaicin does. In the short run, both capsaicin and RA can cause redness and swelling, but with repeated application, it blocks those symptoms and inhibits the release of CGRP.

I know civamide didn't pan out as a great treatment - partially because it was so painful in the first place. RA might be different enough to be more effective?? Not sure I would apply it intranasally, but it has a history of use on the skin.

A spoon full of castor oil was a traditional therapy/punishment - it makes the intestines dance and cleans out the system. But castor oil application to the skin doesn't cause the same problems. Maybe applying it to the affected side for a week would cut down on the swelling and flow of fluid? Don't know if enough would pass into the blood and trigeminal nerve. There are several creams, soaps and shampoos that include castor oil as an ingredient.

Quote:

Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2001 Aug;364(2):87-95.

Pro- and anti-inflammatory actions of ricinoleic acid: similarities and differences with capsaicin.

Vieira C, Fetzer S, Sauer SK, Evangelista S, Averbeck B, Kress M, Reeh PW, Cirillo R, Lippi A, Maggi CA, Manzini S.

We have investigated the pro- and anti-inflammatory effects of ricinoleic acid (RA), the main active principle of castor oil, in an experimental model of blepharitis induced by intradermal injection of carrageenan in the guinea-pig eyelid and its possible capsaicin-like mode of action on acutely dissociated rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons in vitro. Topical treatment with RA (10-100 mg/guinea-pig) or capsaicin (1-10 mg/guinea-pig) caused eyelid reddening and oedema. At lower doses (0.3-3 mg/guinea-pig and 0.009-0.09 mg/guinea-pig for RA and capsaicin, respectively) both drugs significantly potentiated the eyelid oedema induced by carrageenan. The tachykinin NK1 receptor antagonist FK 888 (0.59 mg/kg s.c.) abolished the potentiation of carrageenan-induced eyelid oedema induced by either RA or capsaicin. The neutral endopeptidase inhibitor, thiorphan (1.3 mg/kg i.v.) significantly enhanced the potentiation of carrageenan-induced eyelid oedema produced by RA. This potentiating effect was abolished by FK 888. Repeated (8 days) topical application of RA (0.9 mg/guinea-pig) or capsaicin (0.09 mg/guinea-pig) inhibited the carrageenan-induced eyelid oedema. This anti-inflammatory effect was accompanied by a reduction (75%-80% of SP and 46%-51% of NKA) in tachykinin content of the eyelids, as determined by radioimmunoassay. In dissociated rat DRG neurons, RA (0.1 mM for 5 min) significantly inhibited the inward currents induced by application of capsaicin (1 microM) and/or low pH (5.8), without inducing any currents by itself or changing voltage-dependent currents. Moreover, after 24-h incubation, RA (0.1 mM) significantly decreased the capsaicin (1 microM)-induced calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) release from rat DRG neurons, whereas acute drug superfusion did not evoke CGRP release by itself. Summarizing, RA possesses capsaicin-like dual pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory properties which are observed upon acute and repeated application, respectively. However, unlike capsaicin, RA does not induce inward current in DRG neurons and it is devoid of algesic properties in vivo.

Material Safety Data Sheet for castor oil:
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/c1500.htm

Title: Re: Castor Oil / CGRP
Post by maria9 on Sep 15^th, 2004, 4:01pm

Floridian, interesting that you should bring up the topic of using castor oil for treatment of headaches. I had friend who was follower of Edgar Cayce (the psychic healer) and she gave me a bottle of Edgar Cayce's headache oil which was basically castor oil. The oil was to be poured onto a compress and applied to the head. Now this was 20-some years ago and I can't recall if I ever tried it or not for the clusters.

Here is a link for Edgar Cayce's treatment for Migraines. Now I am in no way advocating his treatment, but I just found it interesting that he did recommend the castor oil compresses to the head (although in this link, that is not specifically recommended).

http://www.edgarcayce.org/health/database/chdata/data/prmigr3a.html

Marsha

Title: Re: Castor Oil / CGRP
Post by floridian on Sep 15^th, 2004, 4:24pm

I had heard of using castor oil compresses before - soak a piece of flannel in the oil, hold it in place. That part is a common folk treatment I had heard of before. Some people insist that the flannel should be red. ;;D I don't have any experience with this, and am not reccomending it, I am just on a CGRP research binge - maybe there is something to some of the old ways.

I have a Cayce relaxation tape thats about the same as most of the other relaxation tapes that I have - works until the script becomes familiar, then it seems to lose some of its value. Was always a bit leary of the psychically inspired treatments, though.