Medicine isn't pretty, but sometimes it's even less pretty than normal. Here are seven such procedures and treatments that aren't for the squeamish, but hey, they seem to actually work.

For those of you suffering from an infection caused by the bacteria Clostridium difficile ("C. diff"), there's a last-ditch procedure that has had a success rate of 85 to 95%: infusing someone else's feces into your body. C. diff infection arises from stays in hospitals and other health care facilities, where the use of antibiotics may destroy good bacteria in a patient's colon, allowing the C. diff to flourish. The infection typically causes severe stomach problems like diarrhea and colitis (swelling of the colon), plus blood poisoning and even death. A fecal transplant restores normal bowel function by repopulating the colon with healthy bacteria. The donated feces -- typically provided by a close family member -- are blended, filtered, and fed through a tube into the patient’s nose down to the stomach. Several teaspoons are all that's needed for complete recovery within a few weeks.



In 2004, maggots became the first live animals approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a "medical device," having proven effective in treating wounds that are having difficulty healing. Since ancient times, maggots have been used to treat wounds around the world, from the Mayans of Central America to the Aborigines of Australia and the hill people of Burma. In the US, they were used widely in medicine until the 1940s, when penicillin became the antibiotic of choice. However, since the 1990s, with the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, maggots have become a more viable option. Fly larvae are effective because they liquefy and consume dead tissue, kill harmful bacteria and stimulate healing. During therapy, maggots are placed in the wound and covered in a cage or pouch to keep them contained within the infected area for two days. Several two-day sessions may be needed for the wound to heal completely.

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Shortly after maggots were approved by the FDA, leeches likewise were recognized as a medical device. (Both are even covered by some insurance agencies.) Like maggots, leeches have long been used in medicine, having been documented in ancient Greek texts as a means of bloodletting. Today, medical leeches are used differently -- not to extract significant amounts of blood, but rather to prevent blood from coagulating during surgery (leech saliva contains a blood thinner called hirudin) and to promote circulation of blood during operations to reattach body parts. Additionally, leeches suck out excess blood, deliver a local anesthetic to the wound and produce an antibiotic that kills dangerous bacteria. Leeches are typically used one at a time and replaced as they become full and drop off (every 20 minutes or so) for 24 to 48 hours, and then less frequently for another few days if needed.

Natural orifice surgery involves operating on or removing an abdominal organ through an existing body orifice -- typically the mouth or the vagina. The technique avoids unsightly external scarring, requires shorter post-op healing time and may cause less pain in the long run. In 2007, the first operation removing a gall bladder through a patient's mouth was performed, followed by a gall bladder removal through a vagina and a kidney removal through a vagina. Despite the natural orifice concept, a small incision might need to be made at the patient's navel in order to insert an endoscopic camera used to guide surgeons as they remove the organ through the orifice. Unlike traditional surgery, which requires a five- or six-inch abdominal incision and two to three days of hospitalization, natural orifice patients can be at home within 24 hours.

Premarin is a hormone replacement drug that has been on the market since 1942 and has been used by millions of post-menopausal women to treat hot flashes, burning, itching and vaginal dryness, as well as to reduce the risk of osteoporosis. However, most people don't realize that the name Premarin is, like the pill itself, derived from "pregnant mare urine." The urine is gathered on hundreds of "PMU farms" that house pregnant horses (and are the target of protests from animal rights activists), and the extracted estrogen is used in the manufacture of Premarin pills, creams, injections, patches and vaginal rings. Ironically, post-menopausal women in turn are the source of urine used in the production of the fertility drug ingredient Menotropin, used in medicines like Pergonal, Menopur, Menogon, Repronex and HMG Massone.

Intestinal worm therapy (AKA helminthic therapy) involves the introduction of parasitic worms -- either hookworms or whipworms -- into the body to treat a range of diseases, from inflammatory bowel disease to asthma  to multiple sclerosis, lupus, arthritis, hay fever and various allergies. The theory behind the treatment is that because of increased focus on hygiene in modern society, a lack of exposure to such parasites increases susceptibility to diseases by preventing the growth of the body's immune system. By introducing the worms, doctors jump-start patients' immune systems, enabling them to more readily fight illness. The worms are either taken orally (whipworms) or applied using a bandage (hookworms) that allows them to crawl into the patient's body through the skin. Whipworms live on average from 18 to 30 months in the body, while hookworms live three to seven years. While worm therapy has yet to gain widespread acceptance in the US, various studies and trial results have shown it to be helpful in battling various illnesses. Although there is some risk involved with the introduction of intestinal worms into the body, they are generally deemed safe in the small numbers used in helminthic therapy.
A surgical procedure pioneered in England to bring sight to the blind involves implanting a tooth in the patient's eye socket. During the procedure, a section of the patient's tooth is removed and chiseled to hold a man-made lens and anchor it in place. It's covered with a section of skin grafted from the inside of the patient's cheek and used in conjunction with a grafted cornea. A living tooth is needed because of the chance that the eye could reject a plastic implant.

Sound can set a mood. The soundtrack in aerobics class gets us moving, for example, while the one in yoga promotes quiet concentration. Sound also has a powerful effect on how we feel throughout the day. Our bodies and minds react differently to the unrelenting noise of a jackhammer than to a trickle of water in a creek.

In other words, some sounds simply make us feel better than others. Whether our conscious minds are paying attention or not, our bodies take their cues from these sounds and rhythms, knowing when to get energized and when to slow down.

Now, a growing body of research suggests that when used in a directed way, sound can also help us reduce stress, create a deep sense of well-being and even promote healing. From playing Bach in the nursery to yogic chanting in the oncologist’s office, sound therapy is gaining popularity as both a preventative medicine and as a complement to more-traditional treatments. Good for both the mind and the body, it has been shown to help lift depression, clear sinuses and help cancer patients recover more quickly from chemotherapy.

Good Vibrations
The idea that sound affects the health of the mind and body is not new. Chanting and mantra recitation have been part of Hindu spirituality and the healing power of yoga for thousands of years. Given the recent interest in mind-body medicine, it’s not surprising that this ancient tradition is experiencing a modern-day renaissance.

So what, exactly, is it?

Using the human voice and objects that resonate to stimulate healing (think tuning forks and singing bowls), sound therapy is one of a growing number of subtle-energy therapies that make up the field of vibrational medicine. According to the law of physics, everything vibrates: the chair you’re sitting in, the food you eat, the rocks and trees.

“Whether or not we hear it, everything has a sound, a vibration all its own,” writes Joshua Leeds in The Power of Sound (Healing Arts Press, 2001).

That sound is called resonance, the frequency at which an object naturally vibrates. Each part of our bodies has its own natural resonance, and vibrational medicine is based on the idea that disease is a result of those natural resonances getting out of tune whether due to stress, illness or environmental factors.

As opposed to the highly focused and fast vibrations used in ultrasound (a technology already employed in hospitals to break up kidney stones and check on the health of fetuses, for example), sound therapy works more gently but just as powerfully to return the body’s own vibrations to their natural states.

Getting In Tune
But does it work? Yes, say sound therapists, who have successfully treated everything from stress to Parkinson’s disease to hormonal problems. Jonathan Goldman, director of the Sound Healers Association in Boulder, Colo., has seen tuning forks alleviate many maladies, including headaches and misaligned vertebrae. Diane Mandle, a certified sound healer in Encinitas, Calif., uses Tibetan singing bowls to bring her clients’ bodies back in tune.

In her article “Sound Healing With Tibetan Bowls,” first published by the Holistic Health Network, Mandle writes that her clients have experienced “relief from pain and discomfort, clearing of sinuses, shifting out of depression, [improved] ability to sleep . . . , revitalization and clarity, feeling of well-being, great connectedness, and deep personal transformation.”

Sounds good, right? And perhaps a little strange?

“Using forks and bowls for anything other than dinner may seem to some people like New Age nonsense,” writes Stephanie Rosenbloom in a November 2005 article in The New York Times. “But healers, sometimes called sounders, argue that sound can have physiological effects because its vibrations are not merely heart but also felt. And vibrations, they say, can lower heart-rate variability, relax brain-wave patterns and reduce respiratory rates.”

Stress hormones decrease under these conditions, which is good news for everyone, but especially for people with a serious illness. That’s one reason Mitchell Gaynor, MD, an oncologist and assistant clinical professor at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College in New York, uses singing bowls with his cancer patients. Gaynor sees sound as part of a broader trend toward the humanization of medicine in which the whole person, not just the part that’s broken, is addressed.

“I believe that sound can play a role in virtually any medical disorder, since it redresses imbalances on every level of physiologic functioning,” he writes in his book The Healing Power of Sound: Recovery from Life-Threatening Illness Using Sound, Voice and Music (Shambhala, 1999).

The Future of Healing
Sound therapy, many experts say, is at the cutting edge of healing. And soon, they insist, like yoga and meditation, it will enter the mainstream.

The truth is, you’re probably already using sound therapy in your life. Several years ago, three out of four people who responded to a Prevention magazine health survey said that they listen to music to ease tension and stress. Of those, 82 percent reported that it brought them significant relief.

So even if you’re not interested in investing in a fancy tuning fork or a singing bowl, sound healing is still available to you. The next time you need a little pick-me-up or mellow-me-out, hum a little tune, or, better yet, go for a walk and enjoy nature’s own healing harmonies.