How This Flower Became Medicine (Foxglove & Digitalis) | Patrick Kelly

Digitalis was a common medication in the mid to late 20th century used to treat heart failure. But it has a history as an herbal, or folk remedy.
☠️NONE OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS VIDEO SHOULD BE USED AS MEDICAL ADVICE OR OPINION. IT IS FOR GENERAL EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT☠️
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[@PatKellyTeaches]

I've covered atropine, and now digoxin. What drug should I cover next? Acetaminophen? Aspirin?

[@vatsall]

Penicillin would be great!

[@adit0728]

Asprin sounds interesting, i heard that i created from a bark of a tree so somewhere somewhen someone though it a good idea to eat bark of a tree.

[@fanuelterefe744]

How about scopolamine(hyocine)

[@apocalypse487]

Cocaine. We still use it for nasal surgeries. And parties.

[@nihaoma7744]

Penicillin

[@PikeProductions23]

On an unrelated note, Foxgloves are beautiful flowers. Plus, the bumblebees love them. I recommend growing them in any garden that has a suitable climate.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I saw the thing about bumblebees! So many of my searches resulted in foxglove flowers with bees around them

[@claratenzs]

Unless you have pets/animals, if they eat it it can kill them.

[@angelabrown8458]

One thing I love about the foxglove is that the rings around the spots leading up into the flower glow in UV light. Bees can see UV so they’re like a little runway for them. ❤🐝

[@jennhoff03]

I didn't know that! Now I have to grow them!

[@JulianOShea]

Historic medicine is wild.

[@brunoaraujo2368]

Very good and informative video! Small correction though: heart failure is caused by many, MANY different mechanisms and etiologies, some of which are myocardial infarctions AND valve function abnormalities. Hence, it is more properly described as a syndrome than a single disease, since there is a wide variety of health conditions that can cause it. The primary mechanism that leads to it though is cardiac remodeling, which, again, can be caused by so many factors and is so complex that we are still performing research to understand it nowadays. Lastly: edema - i.e. the swelling associated with heart failure - is better explained by congestion of the vessels (blood not able to return to the heart due to weak pumping forces) than by vasoconstriction. Also, edema can be caused by a variety of non-heart related factors, such as pulmonary, hepatic, vascular and thyroid-related diseases, just to name a few.

[@nikevisor54]

Bumping quality content for the algorithmic overlords

[@PatKellyTeaches]

All hail the algorithm overlords

[@apocalypse487]

We still dispense this medication, but not often. Losartan, Amlodipine, and lisinopril are big movers.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Mhmm, I remember learning about digoxin in grad school, but my professor was admittedly old school

[@melissajohnson2935]

Apparently, in my area, the doctors still like to prescribe it because I see at least 1 person taking it every day I work in the ER. And 20 years ago, we would have to go to the nursing homes to help them draw bloods on all their digoxin patients. Which was a lot since just about every elderly person has swelling and some form of heart failure.

[@ΆγιοςΧίλαριος]

Im frustrated that such quality channel has few subscribers even though its audience should be laypeople as well as health care professionals.

[@StrongMed]

Loved the video! Regarding the perceived historical success of foxglove as a medicinal agent, here's a personal theory: It would have been impossible to quantify the amount given to patients at the time. Some people end up receiving an equivalent dose far higher than what's considered to be the upper bounds of the therapeutic range in modern times - which is determined by its toxicity rather than the point at which benefit stops. The primary life-threatening toxicity of digoxin is fatal arrhythmias, which could be very abrupt. So patients who took foxglove either got a supratherapeutic dose (with additional heart failure benefit) and by chance alone avoided fatal arrhythmias, or they died from sudden cardiac death - but since the connection between foxglove, "dropsy", and the heart was unknown, when these patients suddenly died, no one connected it to the foxglove. What was observed at the time was patients with dropsy who were given foxglove either got better from dropsy, or they died abruptly from something that seemed unrelated. To receive significant heart failure benefit, one needs to accept an increased risk from arrhythmias, and due to the pharmacologic actions of the drug, those benefits and risks coincidentally balance to provide no net impact on mortality.

[@roxannlegg750]

Thats actually a very good explanation - thats usually how trial and error went over the centuries. However whole plants sometimes do work better than isolated sub extracts manufactured artifically. At college our professor said herbal teas were usuallly too low in dose to be pharmacologically active. However in cases of herbs like belladonna or foxglove, a tea brewed with other herbs, in the absence of western medicine might actually work just enough to make the patient comfortable, and continual low doses might be good enough over a long enough period to be helpful. Not that im about to try it tho!

[@Amelia-vk4jt]

I'm currently writing my dissertation on plant-derived substances: from folklore to practice while listening to your videos in the background 😂 I didn't know about the wee quine with her foxglove tea interesting stuff

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Woah, that's super interesting, thanks for chiming in. If you ever want to share some of the stories you've found during your dissertation writing, email me and maybe we can work on something together (patkellyteaches at gmail)

[@nallydee2351]

Tasting History’s big brother

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Ayyy I love that channel! Whenever Max wants to make 18th century pharmaceuticals, I'm in

[@giwilreker]

​@@PatKellyTeachesOMG! It's the collab we need!

[@SombreroPharoah]

​@@PatKellyTeachesmaking old medicine. Esoterica channel recently reproduced an alchemical medicine for melancholy. Using original glassware and techniques. Which I think you would find fascinating.

[@rachelliz4786]

As a young person whos heart likes to misbehave im so fortunate to live in a time when propranolol is avaliable and medicine is being advanced and communicated to average people a lot

[@jljordan1]

I still do IV push of digoxin for cases of A.Fib with RVR, and occasionally see it in our patients home med record.

[@shadabkhan4811]

Great video. That's a lot of work u r putting in.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Thanks for the love. It sure is a lot of work, but I like doing it!

[@bak4320]

All I knew about foxglove was what I heard in a Decembrist’s song once

[@joelb8653]

Can't wait for the stethoscope episode!

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Same :) I've got to work on my French pronunciation first! Lots of French names in that one

[@vageeshrevadigar3631]

Respected sir thanks for the wonderful video.

[@TWOCOWS1]

Thanks for yet another very helpful and educational video.

[@sahhaf1234]

hoppe you also do a program on ace inhibitors etc, followers of digitalis...

[@anirudhkannan4564]

i went to see this video and suddenly a ad where poverty children are picking food from dirt comes and i am sad again XD

[@nightshadeamberbar1669]

I actually used to have a Foxglove

[@corvobranco6896]

nice

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Thank you

[@haileybalmer9722]

I have to say, I'm a little less satisfied with this video compared to a lot of your other videos. You left out the part where they understood that foxglove was a very dangerous plant before the founding for Rome. I had wondered why people started using it in poultices when they knew a small amount could kill a grown man. I promise you, they didn't discover digitalis' deadly effects in the 1900's. It was pretty obvious a few millennia before then.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Sorry to hear that. It's always tricky to decide when to start and stop a story to keep the videos a manageable length,

[@angelabrown8458]

@@PatKellyTeachesI’d be happier with longer videos! As a paramedic, I still think this is an excellent video. Keep going 😊

[@bioZone101]

cant wait for spicy stethoscope stories

[@RodAir]

I think that your channel is amazing! I think that I may run a course largely based on your smoking video at the high school where I work, trying to get students thinking statistically! You will know I have if you suddenly start getting heaps of views in one area of NZ around February 😎 but then again it is only evidence pointing to that conclusion 🤣

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Thank you! I'm a high school teacher as well, and while I don't teach the research methods course, that teacher might use it as supplementary material

[@habdihassan4960]

That's good

[@dlk1dlk1]

Is the smell or scent of the foxglove beneficial for heart problems?

[@DC-wt2vi]

I don't know, but I would advise anyone bringing a foxglove flower to their nose to be careful. Bees, especially bumblebees, love foxglove for the pollen they provide specifically to encourage the insects to visit and therefore pollinate the plant. Please check for the presence of bees before investigating a foxglove 😊 🐝

[@phoenixfritzinger9185]

I mean they’re part of nature and being around nature and relaxing is beneficial for heart problems Especially if you like watching bees, bees absolutely love foxgloves

[@souIsynapse]

and now I think I have heart failure