Hirudotherapy is an ancient naturopathic method of healing, which is successfully used along with modern methods of treating many diseases. The use of hirudotherapy is undeniable, but only if the methodology is correctly applied and the real medical leeches are used.
Treatment principles
Bloodletting was used until the beginning of the 20th century as the main way to treat many serious ailments. From ancient times, healers understood that many pathological processes in the human body are associated with stagnation of blood. That is why bloodletting for centuries has cured all diseases: from colds to depression.
It is not necessary to bleed a knife. A more useful way was the use of leeches - blood-sucking worms that suck off "bad blood", relieving the patient’s condition. The worm sticks to the skin and with the help of "teeth", whose role is played by chitinous plates, cuts through the upper layer of the skin.
The leech drinks so much blood that after an hour of "meal" does not feel the need for food for two years. The size of the animal increases no less than ten times. One leech per session can suck up to 15 ml of blood.
However, the benefit of hirudotherapy is not only that the worm sucks a certain amount of blood, stimulating its renewal and increased production. The essence of leech treatment is as follows:
• saliva of the healing annelid worm contains the unique substance hirudin, and with it more than a hundred substances useful to the human body, which have a powerful healing effect;
• By reducing the amount of blood in the vessels, leeches stimulate the ability of the blood forming organs to produce more blood - pure and healthy. Due to this, immunity increases, and a person begins not only to feel good, but also gradually becomes more healthy;
• a large number of active biological substances entering the bloodstream after a bite of a leech stimulates the lymphatic flow, which means that it helps to remove toxic substances from the body and global cleansing.
After a bite of a leech, the skin in the injured area itches. This is a normal reaction that should not be scary. A certain amount of “foreign” protein entered the blood along with saliva, and this could not but cause a skin reaction. The wound can bleed for quite a long time, up to several hours. This is within the norm if the procedure was carried out by a specialist, and leeches are guaranteed to be sterile.
Types of therapeutic leeches
An important point is the use of "real" medical leeches. The fact is that unscrupulous suppliers can give out for bloodsuckers useful some other kind of annelid worms, which, by the way, in nature, there are about six hundred.
However, for medical purposes, only three types of leeches are suitable:
1. pharmacy (or pharmacy) is Hirudo medicinalis officinalis, the owner of an olive-green belly and orange stripes on the back;
2. medical - this is Hirudo medicinalis medicinalis, which has characteristic narrow stripes with dark spots on the back of both sides;
3. Eastern - this is Hirudo medicinalis orientalis, which has a light back and almost black abdomen with olive spots.
A pharmaceutical leech is found in the Stavropol Territory, in the Krasnodar Territory, and the Rostov Region. Medical lives in central Russia and Ukraine. The homeland of the eastern leech is Transcaucasia, Azerbaijan. If, instead of healing worms, a leech from a neighboring pond is launched onto a person’s skin, in the best case there will be no effect. At worst, the harm from hirudotherapy can be serious, as infection with infectious diseases is possible.
"Real" leeches used in hirudotherapy are useful due to the unique composition of the secretion secreted from their saliva. In addition, they are grown specifically for medicinal purposes in completely sterile laboratory conditions and are used only once.
The benefits of hirudotherapy
It can not be said that hirudotherapy is a panacea for some serious illnesses. The use of leeches can bring significant relief in the patient's condition, but it makes sense as part of a comprehensive treatment regimen. Hirudotherapy has the greatest effect in the following cases:
• thrombosis, congestion in the blood;
• diseased blood vessels, poor blood formation;
• diseases of joints and connective tissue;
• neurological ailments;
• gynecological diseases;
• disorders in the urinary tract and urogenital system.
Hirudotherapy works well in the complex treatment of hypertension. This disease is considered incurable, but medical leeches can, if not restore normal pressure, then prevent severe complications of the disease. Moreover, leech saliva, unlike chemical preparations, are not addictive and do not give side effects. A few leeches, delivered on time to the right part of the body, will quickly and safely reduce blood pressure.
Leech is indispensable in the treatment of varicose veins:
• a bite stimulates the production of blood, strengthens the vascular walls;
• along with saliva, the same hirudin enters the bloodstream, which improves metabolic processes in the body and prevents thrombosis.
If you start treatment on time, then you can completely forget about varicose expansion and completely recover.
Exhausting pains with osteochondrosis or arthrosis caused by circulatory disorders, metabolic processes, injuries, heavy loads, can be treated with hirudotherapy. The patient's condition instantly improves: due to the analgesic enzyme, which is part of the salivary secretion, the pain becomes less, and the motor activity of the joints increases.
An interesting fact: in the old days leeches were used by army doctors to save a wounded man from pain shock.
However, it is even more surprising that a leech is able to treat such severe gynecological diseases as endometriosis, mastopathy, hormonal disorders, and chronic inflammation of the appendages. The useful blood-sucking worm also helps men, curing impotence, infertility and prostatitis.
Scientists believe that leech saliva contains enzymes that have a beneficial effect on the human nervous system and can even cope with Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, they help the nerve endings recover and cause enhanced growth of nerve cells. This helps the nerves regenerate faster, which is especially important for stroke patients, hearing loss or eyesight, suffering from multiple sclerosis.
The harm of hirudotherapy
Use the bloodletting method very carefully. There is no need to try to master science on your own, since the harm of hirudotherapy consists primarily in ignorance of the treatment regimen or inability to apply worms to the necessary areas of the body.
In addition, there are diseases in which you can not use the popular method:
• in hypotensive patients, that is, people with low blood pressure, bloodletting can cause an even greater decrease in pressure and fainting;
• if the patient has anemia, then the loss of even a small amount of blood will further reduce hemoglobin and harm the human condition;
• Manipulation of blood-sucking worms is strictly prohibited if hemophilia is diagnosed. Tissue damage can cause significant blood loss and result in the death of the patient;
• any tumors - a direct contraindication for hirudotherapy. The harm of the method is that you can cause open bleeding.
For obvious reasons, it is worth abandoning treatment with leeches during menstruation, pregnancy and lactation. In other cases, you can trust experienced hirudotherapists. Leeches in their hands are an effective therapeutic and prophylactic means of combating many ailments.
