Hirudotherapy, that is, treatment with leeches, can bring both benefit and harm to our body. How justified is this ancient method of improving well-being by scientific facts? This is a difficult question, since no serious institution has been engaged in studying the benefits of leeches. However, this does not cancel the fact that with the help of hirudotherapy you can cure some diseases.
What kind of leeches can be good?
Leeches refer to blood-sucking parasites, these are ringed worms of green-brown color with five pairs of eyes and three rows of chitinous teeth. Who first came up with the idea to use such an unattractive creation for medicinal purposes, it is difficult to say, but the treatment with leeches was common in ancient Egypt, and in the times of Antiquity, and in European countries of the Middle Ages. And no one doubted that this was good: the Greeks put leeches on the coccyx to cure osteochondrosis, the French kings fought with fainting and fevers with the help of bloodletting. For women's health, the benefits of leeches have always been highlighted by folk healers in a particular industry. Hirudotherapy was used to eliminate the following gynecological disorders:
- cervical erosion;
- mastopathy;
- spikes;
- infectious diseases;
- infertility ;
- menstrual cycle disorders.
Improvement of well-being occurs due to the fact that leeches, taking a certain amount of blood, reduce the pressure on the vessels, improve blood flow. Thus, it is possible to eliminate stagnant phenomena in the pelvic organs and not only. In addition, at the time of the bite, these animals secrete a special enzyme, hirudin, which is a natural anticoagulant, that is, it prevents blood coagulability, makes it more liquid. This is the main benefit of treatment with leeches.
Can leeches cause harm?
The main precept of the doctor says - do no harm. This is why hirudotherapy should be used with caution. In no case can be used to treat leeches found in water bodies. In nature there are about 400 species of this annelid worm, but only two of them can be used for medical purposes: a medicinal leech and a medicinal leech. In addition, wild leeches can be carriers of serious infectious diseases of cattle, which for humans usually end fatal. If you want to resort to hirudotherapy, buy a sterile, grown in a special laboratory, leeches. They are suitable for the treatment of such ailments:
- thrombosis and thrombophlebitis;
- sciatica ;
- atherosclerosis;
- hemorrhoids and concomitant diseases.
As a rule, at the same time the patient is put from 3 to 7 leeches, which, after eating, disengage about 40-50 minutes after the procedure begins. It is strictly forbidden to put leeches on acupuncture centers, this can lead to damage to nerve cells. There is absolutely no proven to date benefit of leeches for the spine, so treating osteochondrosis, hernia, arthritis and arthrosis with hirudotherapy is pointless.
Since the saliva of the animal is rich in active substances, the treatment with leeches should be carried out with caution to pregnant women, children and people of advanced age. You can not apply hirudotherapy with:
- viral infections;
- elevated temperature;
- colds;
- blood diseases;
- low pressure.
Rarely, but still there is an allergy to hirudin, it manifests itself:
- redness of the skin;
- itching;
- burning;
- a rash;
- headache and nausea.
When one or more of these symptoms appear, the use of leeches should be stopped immediately and an antiallergic agent taken.