Sukie said: "there is no real study on this herbal use that I have heard
of in the past (no time to look today)" and someone else said they didn't
know the scientific name.  Therefore:
 
Common name: devil's club, devilsclub.
Family:    Araliaceae
Species:   Oplopanax horridus Miq.,
Bot. syn.: Echinopanax horridus; Fatsia horrida; Riconophyllum horridum
 
A good scholarly page from the American Botanical Council:
http://www.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2697
 
They say this regarding the use of Devil's Club to regulate blood sugar:
(my editing) "... a pancreatic tonic that is purported to help lower
blood sugar levels by increasing the efficiency of insulin production
in the pancreas .... exhibited a hypoglycemic effect in lab hares....
Subsequently, in experiments involving two human subjects... presented
some additional evidence to support the hypoglycemic activity of devil's
club's root and stem bark.  However, additional ... data that do not
substantiate the hypoglycemic activity reported previously.  ...
additional research and more rigorous clinical trials are required to
validate and characterize or to disprove hypoglycemic properties in
devil's club."
 
The bibliography on this page is extensive.
 
Another page with somewhat less scholoarly info is the Plants for a
Future database:
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Oplopanax+horridus
 
There are conflicting reports as to whether devil's club is helpful.
Here are some factors that would affect the pharmacological effect of
the herb in a given case:
 
(1) wrong part of plant: the native American source is typically the
inner bark from the plant itself; the herb-store source is typically the
root.  These may contain different chemicals or different concentrations
of the relevant chemicals (there also may be differences in chemical
concentrations due to growing conditions).
 
(2) wrong or different species: There are two other species of the same
genus (from Russia and Japan) that are sometimes lumped with the North
American plant, which have different chemical constituents (or at least
proportions).  Herb stores may not distinguish them.
 
(3) herb addresses the wrong problem: the mechanism in affecting blood
sugar seems to be some regulation of the effect of insulin.  This is a
complex interaction, and whether the drug has the appropriate effect (or
any effect at all) in a given case may well depend on exactly what the
problem is.
 
For instance, blood sugar can be high because no insulin is being
produced, or it can be high because the insulin, while present, is being
blocked and isn't working to lower blood sugar.  If the problem is that
the insulin is not working, then making more insulin won't help.
 
I'm also not sure if the purported effect on insulin production is
direct or whether it is possibly related to the herb's "significant
antibacterial, antimycobacterial (active against bacteria in the genus
Mycobacterium), antifungal, and antiviral properties".  That possibility
introduces another layer of complexity.
 
I'm a great advocate of herbal medicine, but it's important to realize
that herbs are just drugs in raw form.  They are not necessarily safer
or easier to use than modern medicines; on the contrary.  They usually
present drugs in combinations that have not been rigorously tested.  It
may be a 'natural' combination, but that's not the same as being safe.
 
Nor is traditional use the same as scientific testing, which is needed to
determine if a particular drug (or herb!) should be used for a particular
case of a disease.  In the cultural tradition, the use of the herb for
spiritual cleansing or to combat witchcraft is as important (or more so)
as any medical effect, and while there is traditional evidence that the
herb works as medicine, there is also traditional evidence that the herb
works against witchcraft.  The support for one is as good as for the
other.  So anecdotal (traditional) evidence should perhaps be taken with
a grain of salt, and if this is the treatment route you wish to pursue,
it's important that your vet be aware of the relevant studies and
possible effects.
 
Better yet, get your vet to document the particulars of the disease and
how it responded to whatever treatment is given.  Perhaps we can gather
the data needed to unravel the particulars of how the herb works, or
doesn't.  and under what conditions.
 
Hope this helps.
--Claire
[Posted in FML issue 5063]