#analgesia
FDA approves first topical opioid for postoperative pain cats
This is really great news! Cats have very few options for pain relief and this one will be a game changer. Four days of analgesia that doesn’t involve pills or the owner doing anything at all.
How The Venom of The King Baboon Spider Could Help Us Better Understand Chronic Pain
Really interesting study on the venom of P. muticus. The image is not P. muticus but looks like a P. murinus. Both are colloquially called baboon spiders. This is why scientific names are so important. This could help with better treating chronic pain in people and animals. This is also a good example of why we need to protect entire habitats and not just the cute animals we want to hug. I do like that the actual paper says the tarantula has an “appealing coloration”.
Alien: You’re telling me that in times of great distress humans have been known to suddenly gain the strength necessary to lift objects more than a dozen times their own weight?!
Human: Yeah, it’s called “hysterical strength” and it usually happens in life-or-death situations, like when someone gets stuck under a car or something and someone lifts the car to get them out. We can’t really test it though, ‘cause it only happens spontaneously.
Alien: Humans have the ability to tap into untold strength and power and you don’t even know how you do it?
Human: Pretty much, yeah. We think it has something to do with temporary analgesia, so we just don’t feel the pain we should when we pick up a 3000-pound car.
Alien: YOUR PAIN RESPONSE JUST SHUTS OFF?
Human: Yeah, it’s like an adrenaline thing? Do you not have that?
Alien: Fuck you and your entire species of tiny juggernauts.
