Hirudotherapy or treatment with medicinal leeches is known since ancient times. Ancient healers were sure that any illness can be cured with the help of bites of leeches because the leading cause of almost all diseases of mankind was stagnation of blood, which the leeches with great success opposed. At the present time, among alternative therapies - hirudotherapy refers to non-traditional methods of treating diseases, but the technique is so popular that many doctors prefer to treat diseases precisely with the help of small annelid worms. Are leeches useful, and what is the use and harm of what kind of character is contained in these little worms?
Medicinal Leeches: Introduction
We all know leeches, they live in swamps and lakes and prefer to feed on human or animal blood. Not many people know what the benefits of leeches are. Since ancient times, healers have been convinced that small worms can heal a person from many diseases. What has changed in these days?
Leech is a parasite that feeds on blood. Leeches live in freshwater lakes and ponds and belong to the subspecies of annelid worms. The size of the leech is not so great, the body length reaches only a few centimeters. On the body of the leech, there are suction cups that help the worm to be fixed on the body of its victim. In the sucker, which is located in the head part, there is a mouth with three rows of teeth-plates, which, when attached to the victim, break the skin and penetrate the surface of the skin with penetrating movements. After a confident attachment to the skin, the leech proceeds to suck blood.
The leech is able to take food for an hour, for this length of time, it increases in size by several times. The victim during this very time loses up to 150 ml of blood. The uniqueness of the leech is that the worm, after eating once,
For a person, the bite of a leech is also of great value, the whole point is that when injected with a bite of a leech, a person gets about 100 varieties of useful substances immediately into the blood.
In nature, there are several subspecies of leeches, but not all of them have medicinal qualities. Healing abilities are possessed only by 3 species of annelids:
- Therapeutic;
- Eastern;
- Pharmacy.
All other varieties of leeches are not able to save a person from various diseases, moreover, the use of leeches is inadmissible, since a person with self-medication with this kind of worms can infect himself with a number of unpleasant diseases. Leeches, which are used in this alternative healing therapy, are grown only in laboratory conditions with the obligatory observance of all requirements of sterility and safety.
Effect of leech
As you know, when a person loses a certain amount of blood, the circulatory system immediately begins to actively work and fill the lack of lost fluid. The effect of the leech is that when it bites, a person also loses a small amount of blood, launching the blood and immune system into an active mode of operation.
Benefits and harms of leeches are in the individual characteristics of the human body. To prick the patient after a Medicinal leech therapy session should not itch which appears on the site of the bite. This reaction of the body is adequate and natural for such irritation.
Medicinal Leech/ Hirudotherapy Properties
The main secret of a useful treatment for many diseases is the leech saliva, which contains a valuable secret, with the following substances unique to health:
- Hirudin is a substance that is actively directed to the positive work of the circulatory system. Hirudin confronts the formation of blood clots. It is important to clarify that the saliva of not all subspecies of the leech contains the substance hirudin.
- Trypsin - an indispensable enzyme for normal gastrointestinal function. Trypsin is involved in the formation of the correct metabolism and balance of carbohydrates and proteins.
- Cathepsin is another useful enzyme that actively resists the formation of cancerous tumors.
- Bacteria - have protective functions and protect the human body from attacks of infections, viruses, and microbes.
- Hyaluronidase - an enzyme that positively affects the sexual function of men.
The benefit of hirudotherapy for a person is as follows:
- Saliva leech helps normalize blood clotting inside blood vessels and positively affects the blood flow.
- Applying medicinal leeches to the reflex zones actively forms the work of the immune system, and also cares about the normalization of the work of all internal systems of the body.
- After a bite, the blood flow increases, which helps to remove swelling and oxygen supply to tissues.
- Hirudotherapy normalizes blood pressure, removes fever and inflammatory process in the body.
- Experts argue that this therapy is indispensable in cases of frequent nervous disorders, as it helps to eliminate pain and psychological disorders.
- The benefits of hirudotherapy are embodied in the individual characteristics of the body, the useful qualities of the procedure help the body to grow stronger after serious illnesses, and also get rid of the adverse effects of pathogens.
Hirudotherapy Uses:
- Diseases of the circulatory system associated with poor blood coagulability and the formation of blood clots in blood vessels. (varicose veins).
- Diseases of the spine (osteochondrosis). Hirudotherapy with osteochondrosis helps to remove the pain effect and contribute to an increase in the motor activity of cartilage and muscle tissue.
- Deterioration of general well-being - headaches, depressed mood, loss of strength, frequent nervous breakdowns.
- Inflammatory internal process in severe and moderate form.
- Pathologies and inflammatory diseases of the kidneys, liver, gallbladder.
- Purulent course of skin diseases of the upper and lower extremities.
- Skin diseases - psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis.
- Diseases of the respiratory tract - asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis.
- Gynecological problems - infertility, mastopathy, myoma, complicated menopause. The special effect has been achieved in these days using hirudotherapy for infertility in men.
- Cosmetic directions (early aging of the skin, the appearance of premature wrinkles, lethargy and flabbiness of the skin, cellulitis, inflammatory process on the skin).
It is important to remember that this alternative therapy can bring certain benefits to a person only if all the requirements and conditions of the treatment procedure are met. It is important to know certain places on the body for applying leeches, the time of exposure to bites of curative worms, and the possible consequences after such therapy. Therapeutic properties are only those leeches that are grown in specially created for them sterile conditions in a hospital or laboratory. So, when there is a question, how to put leeches in the home, then the answer can be one: the correct and high-quality procedure for treatment therapy can only be done in special medical offices under the supervision of experienced medical specialists in hirudotherapy. The independent use of leeches for medicinal purposes can lead to negative consequences for a person. The patient may have problems with pressure, digestive or circulatory system.
Contraindications and harm hirudotherapy
Deciding on the procedure of treatment with leeches, it is important to know the harm of hirudotherapy.
For medical purposes, only hungry leeches are applied to the human body, which have not been fed for the last 6 months. To fully saturate the medicinal leech it is enough from 40 minutes to an hour and a half. Many experts consider the procedure for treatment leeches innocuous and useful, but it is important to know what contraindications hirudotherapy has.
- For one procedure, a leech can suck up to 150 ml of blood in a person. People suffering from disorders in the process of blood coagulability, this procedure is strictly prohibited.
The harm of leeches is obvious if a person suffers from physical illnesses, which led to a general exhaustion of the body. In addition, people with reduced weight norms hirudotherapy is strictly prohibited. - At a reduced pressure, treatment with leeches is unacceptable.
- If a person suffers from a tendency to allergic reactions, then hirudotherapy is prohibited.
- Autoimmune and oncological diseases are a contraindication to hirudotherapy.
- Contraindications to leeches are noted during pregnancy or breastfeeding in young mothers.
- In the period of severe poisoning, treatment with leeches is unacceptable.
- Contraindication to hirudotherapy is an acute phase of infectious or inflammatory diseases.
