Ridecamp: Re: [RC] DMSO and abcess - NO!

> DMSO is not a vet controlled substance.  DMSO is an over
> the counter topical and Dot made a point of bringing up the
> issue of treating an inflamation that happened to be an
> abcess with topical DMSO.  Big difference between something
> you can buy out of a catalog for $5 as a rollon and, say,
> an antibiotic you would have to have gotten from your vet
> or by perscription only.
>
> I have not personally seen IV DMSO for sale to the general
> horse owner.  Huge difference in the use you brought up
> about treating strangles abcesses.  And yes, infection
> can be spread through out the body... a systemic infection
> is a very serious thing.  "Blood poisoning", or infection
> that has reached the blood stream, travels throughout
> the body.  This can show up on people as a red streak
> up, say, your arm.

Indeed, DMSO can be purchased over the counter exactly as it is used IV. 
It is available from many sources as 99.9% pure liquid by the pint or the
gallon, and that's exactly what veterinarians (and often laymen as well)
inject or give orally.  Likewise, penicillin can be purchased at virtually
any feed store over the counter.  So I think the comparison of lay use and
availability of the two drugs is apt.
As to spreading infection throughout the body, certainly the infection can
spread--the point is that DMSO would not be apt to spread it.  DMSO
"drives" chemicals across cell walls, whereas the spread of infection
systemically via an abcess is due to the bloodstream picking up bacteria
from the abcess and carrying those bacteria elsewhere in the body. 
Different mode of action.
> I did infact bring up fly spray and other surface born
> contaminates in my first post and pointed out that those
> will travel into the body with the DMSO.

Yes--and your point was quite valid.  Which was why I reiterated that this
was indeed a concern.
> Heidi, if you would like to argue that using topical DMSO
> is a legitimate use, go right ahead.  I would never ever
> recommend using topical DMSO on an abcess to the general
> horse owning public.

I'm not trying to argue with anyone--simply trying to present information.
 As to the above statement--I presume you meant to say "using topical DMSO
on an abcess" in your first sentence as well.  Topical use of DMSO is
quite legitimate in many circumstances, however using it topically on
abcesses is not anything I recommended, either.  That said, the original
posts on this topic were also denigrating the use of DMSO in infections in
general, and that was the point I chose to clarify.  That said, I'd
suspect that the concentration of DMSO at an abcess site is far higher
when we use it IV than if it were put on topically.  Just trying to
educate folks about the drug, so that other ridecampers aren't put off if
their veterinarians opt to use DMSO in cases involving infections.
You are right not to recommend the use of ANY drug to the horse-owning
public without medical knowledge of each individual case.  My point in
bringing up the penicillin is that MANY drugs (including DMSO) are
available over the counter, and are easily misused and misunderstood.
BTW, it occurred to me after I posted about using DMSO in strangles cases
and pneumonia cases that many bovine practitioners also recommend use IV
DMSO in cases of calf diarrhea--my understanding is that the relief of
edema of the GI tract in these cases is also profound and significant,
just as it is in the lungs of pneumonia cases.  I wouldn't be surprised
but what it is used in many other infective situations to good effect as
well--those just happen to be the situations in which I've used it and
have known colleagues to use it.
My main point here is that I've never seen or heard of any evidence that
DMSO itself spreads infections to other parts of the body, even though it
has had extensive use in a variety of infective circumstances.
Heidi



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