HIRUDOTHERAPY: BENEFITS AND HARMS

What is hirudotherapy?

Treatment with leeches was practiced by known healers of the ancient world, including Avicenna and Hippocrates. Hirudotherapy was a universal mean of treatment of many diseases.

It was thought that leeches sucked off bad blood. Today, science has proven that the therapeutic effect is due to a number of factors and the presence of a large number of biologically active substances.

Mechanism of therapeutic action of leeches

When a leech bites, it has a triple impact on the body:

— mechanical (eases local blood flow, promotes renewal of the lymphatic system due to the outflow of blood with lymph from a wound);

— biological (saliva injected into the bloodstream contains over 150 biologically active substances),

— reflectory (leeches stick to the body at acupuncture points, which enhances the action of biologically active substances).

Which leeches are heeling?

Of the four hundred species of leeches only 3 are healing. They are grown at biofactories and disposed after each procedure.

All biomaterial has certificates that a hirudotherapist demonstrates on a patient`s request.

What happens at a hirudotherapy session?

A hirudotherapist applies a leech on the clean, dry skin, devoid of extraneous odors (do not use perfume or scented soap).

The number of worms and their locations on the body depend on the diagnosis and patient’s condition. Leeches are left till they are fully or partially satiated.

In the second case leaches are taken off with the help of a peace of cotton with alcohol. The pungent smell repels the worm.

A hirudotherapist puts a sterile dressing with padding to absorb the blood on the wound. The blood can trickle for 24 hours. This is normal. You should not water the wound.

Hirudotherapy benefits

Any disease impairs microcirculation. Inflammation provokes swelling of tissues, which compress the blood vessels.

As a result, oxygen supply and cell nutrition stop, and decay products are not removed properly. Swelling increases.

The saliva of leeches contains hirudin, histamine-like substances, destabilase, hyaluronidase, eglines, bdelines and bradykinines.

They thin the blood, relieve inflammation, dilate blood vessels and destroy the areas of connective tissue, which encircle the inflammation site.

Apyrase clears cholesterol from the blood vessels, and orgelase provokes appearance of new capillaries. It leads to the restoration of microcirculation.

This effect of the saliva of leeches helps in hypertension, stroke and diseases of the upper respiratory tract, endocrine system and gynecological problems in women.

Hirudotherapy eases joint pain, cures skin, organs of vision and normalizes metabolism. It is effective in cosmetology, in treatment of diseases of the nervous system (neuritis, migraine, etc.), female breast diseases and children development disorders. The list is not complete.

Can hirudotherapy harm?

Harm can be done in two cases:

— when using poor-quality biomaterials;

— if leeches are put by a person without proper qualifications.

Only environmentally friendly biomaterial from biofactories is used in my hirudotherapeutic office. Each batch of leeches is certified.

Ten years of experience is a guaranty of safety and effectiveness of a hirudotherapy course. I consider a diagnosis, health status and presence of contraindications.

Hirudotherapy: benefits and harms. Reviews

During the years of practice I have witnessed hundreds of cases where leeches helped in obesity, headaches, arthritis, recovering from a stroke, veins varicose, hypertension, diabetes, mastopathy, treatment of infertility caused by women’s diseases, etc.

Occasionally patients have side effects such as redness and swelling at the site of the bite, itching, fever. It means that the body began the process of self-healing. The treatment lasts a week.

Leech therapy cost

The cost of treatment depends on the diagnosis and the number of leeches. The course price becomes known at an appointment after I assess a state of health of a patient based on the test results and interview.