Consumer Diary: Black Knot, Non-Opioid Painkiller
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These hard Black Knot pods, potential tree killers, are all over our Japanese Cherry tree, which must be pruned before spring. Photo credit: Harlan Levy
Consumer columnist and West Hartford resident Harlan Levy has more than 20 years of experience writing stories about everyday experiences that anyone could encounter.

Harlan Levy. Courtesy photo
By Harlan Levy
Warning to tree lovers: Last week, with the branches of our large Japanese Flowering Cherry tree totally bare, we noticed black hard growths on many limbs. Uh oh. We realized that it’s a recurrence of black knot disease, which can kill the tree. So, readers, if you also have this tree or other susceptible trees, check them out.
Here are the facts, according to various online sources, including the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station:
- Black knot, caused by the fungus Apiosporina morbosa, consists of hard, black, elongate swellings (“galls”) on twigs, branches, and trunks of trees, most outstanding on dormant trees. Newly formed knots are greenish and soft but become hard and black with age.
- Black knot is common on many flowering Prunus species – in the wild, as well as from greenhouses – wild plums, plums, cherries, and prune trees, among others.
- It affects only woody tissues and can develop on twigs, branches, and scaffold limbs, causing extensive dieback of girdled limbs and stunting of growth beyond the knots. Trees can be severely weakened, disfigured and, in extreme cases, even killed as a result of infection.
- Large areas of rough black swollen bark can also form on the main tree trunk and are often cracked and may ooze sticky liquid. Wood decay fungi may enter the trunk through cracks caused by black knot galls and cause wood rot.
- The fungus grows within the branch for several months with no outward symptoms of disease. As the fungus grows, it releases chemicals that make the tree grow extra plant cells that are unusually large, the galls.
- One year after infection, galls appear as a swollen area of the branch with a velvety olive green covering of fungal growth. Two years after infection, the gall has turned black and hard. These galls then release their destructive spores in spring when wet.
- Treatment: Pruning the knots and their removal from the vicinity of the trees followed by controlled fungicide sprays. Infected tissues should be pruned before budbreak and cuts made at least 6-8″ below any visible swellings or knots. Remove or prune any wild plum or cherry trees found in woodlots within 600 feet of the landscape tree in question. These wild trees are highly susceptible to black knot and can be important sources of its spores. It’s probably wise to consult with a licensed arborist.

Last week we noticed a recurrence of Black Knot disease infecting our Japanese Cherry tree, black hard pods affixed to the tree limbs, caused by a fungus and capable of killing trees. Photo credit: Harlan Levy
New non-opioid painkiller
A week ago the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Journavx (suzetrigine) 50-milligram oral tablets, a first-in-class non-opioid analgesic, to treat moderate to severe acute pain in adults, the first drug to be approved in this new class of pain management medicines in 20 years.

This is the non-opioid painkiller that the FDA just approved. Courtesy of Harlan Levy
“A new non-opioid analgesic therapeutic class for acute pain offers an opportunity to mitigate certain risks associated with using an opioid for pain and provides patients with another treatment option,” said Dr. Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, head of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Journavax was evaluated in two randomized trials of acute surgical pain, one with a placebo, the other with the drug. The results demonstrated a statistically significant superior reduction in pain with Journavx compared to the placebo.
The average time to meaningful pain relief ranged from two to four hours, compared to eight hours for the placebo group.
Journavx reduces pain by inhibiting pain signals in the peripheral nervous system before the pain signals reach the brain by targeting a pain-signaling pathway involving sodium channels in the nervous system. This channel is not expressed in the brain or anywhere else in the central nervous system, therefore the drug does not have addictive properties like opioids.
Journavx was found to be as effective as hydrocodone, an opioid pain medication, for reducing acute pain [which I took briefly after hip replacements] with the added benefit of being a non-opioid and non-addictive drug.
Journavx cannot be used with certain other drugs that strongly inhibit a certain enzyme in the liver. Also, grapefruit should be avoided while taking Journavx.
Now you know.
NOTE: If you have a consumer problem, contact me at [email protected] (“Consumer” in subject line), and, with the power of the press, maybe I can help.
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