Pain : The Anti-Venom

What is the first thing doctors do when they encounter a Snake Bite (Or a Spider Bite/Insect Bite/Scorpion Sting/Jellyfish Sting etc) victim? The first thing they do is identify the snake which bit the victim and infer if the snake was a poisonous one or not. If the victim is unlucky enough to get bitten by a poisonous one, the docs bring in the stuff that fights the venom of the snake. Better known as Anti-Venom. And you’d be surprised to know what is the stuff which is used as Anti-Venom, its the venom itself. The venom is then diluted and injected into a horse, sheep, goat or cat. The subject animal will undergo an immune response to the venom, producing antibodies against the venom's active molecule which can then be harvested from the animal's blood and used to treat envenomation. It is quite possible to immunize a person directly with small and graded doses of venom rather than an animal. According to Greek history, King Mithridates did this in order to protect himself against attempts of poisoning, therefore this procedure is often called  mithridatization.

All this information about Anti-Venom because I came across an article somewhere that says can inducing more pain helps you get rid of the existing pain. Just like in case of Anti-Venom where a poison is injected to fight an already existing poison, can some new pain fight an already existing pain? Can it make a person immune to pain? The new pain may not be of the same type or  something which would aggravate the existing pain, I mean I’m not saying punching on a already bruised area will make you feel any better :-) thats never gonna happen. Also the new pain may not exactly cure your existing pain, all it can do is maybe divert your mind from it, which may be quite useful because a major portion of the pain is psychological. If induced in a controlled manner, I feel this tactic may prove to be effective against severe pain i.e Pain to Fight Pain. Hope they do some more research on this.

Genghis Khan And His Falcon

I was reading some short stories and came across this story of Mongol warrior Genghis Khan and really liked it. So would like to share it with all of you.
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One morning, the Mongol warrior, Genghis Khan, and his court went out hunting.  His companions carried bows and arrows, but Genghis Khan carried on his arm his favourite falcon, which was better and surer than any arrow, because it could fly into the skies and see everything that a human beiong could not.
However, despite the group’s enthusiastic efforts, they found nothing. Disappointed, Genghis Khan returned to the encampment and in order not to take out his frustration on his companions, he left the rest of the party and rode on alone. They had stayed in the forest for longer than expected, and Khan was desperately tired and thirsty. In the summer heat, all the streams had dried up, and he could find nothing to drink. Then, to his amazement, he saw a thread of water flowing from a rock just in front of him.
He removed the falcon from his arm, and took out the silver cup which he always carried with him. It was very slow to fill and, just as he was about to raise it to his lips, the falcon flew up, plucked the cup from his hands, and dashed it to the ground.
Genghis Khan was furious, but then the falcon was his favourite, and perhaps it, too, was thirsty. He picked up the cup, cleaned off the dirt, and filled it again. When the cup was only half-empty this time, the falcon again attacked it, spilling the water.
Genghis Khan adored his bird, but he knew that he could not, under any circumstances, allow such disrespect; someone might be watching this scene from afar and, later on, would tell his warriors that the great conqueror was incapable of taming a mere bird.
This time, he drew his sword, picked up the cup and refilled it, keeping one eye on the stream and the other on the falcon. As soon as he had enough water in the cup and was ready to drink, the falcon again took flight and flew towards him. Khan, with one thrust, pierced the bird’s breast.
The thread of water, however, had dried up; but Khan determined how to find something to drink, climbed the rock in search of the spring. To his surprise, there really was a pool of water and, in the middle of it, dead, lay one of the most poisonous snakes in the region. If he had drunk the water, he, too, would have died.
Khan returned to camp with the dead falcon in his arms. He ordered a gold figurine of the bird to be made and on one of the wings, he had engraved:

“Even when a friend does something you do not like, he continues to be your friend.”

And on the other wing, he had these words engraved:

“Any action committed in anger is an action doomed to failure.”

How was it? Do leave comments your......