Despite the scientific advances in modern medicine, alternative therapies do not lose relevance and are becoming increasingly popular among patients.
Treatment with leeches is widely used for the treatment of various ailments, but has mixed reviews, both among patients and physicians.
Features of treatment with leeches (hirudotherapy)
Just a couple of hundred years ago, most of the diseases associated with blood stasis were treated with leeches, which was considered the only way to alleviate the condition of patients with vascular or neurological diseases.
Today, hirudotherapy, due to the simplicity and affordability of the procedure, is becoming quite popular among patients trying to find treatments that can speed up the healing process and eliminate the side effects of drug therapy.
For therapeutic procedures apply healing wormswhich grow on the specialized farms providing sterile conditions. It is strictly forbidden to use for treatment purposes the usual leeches that live in the neighboring lakes. Treatment with such leeches can harm a person. Because nonspecific worms are carriers of infectionwhich during the procedure can enter the patient’s blood.
Blood is needed to feed a medicinal leech. Getting on the skin of a person, a healing worm, having more than one row of small chitinous teeth, breaks through the skin and begins to be saturated with the patient's blood.
What gives the patient such an unusual method of treatment?
The secret of the beneficial properties of treatment with leeches lies in the content in their saliva of the main active ingredient - hirudin. Improving patient condition occurs due to the combination of enzymes saliva leech with blood, which is expressed:
• blood thinning;
• increased blood flow;
• removal of inflammatory reactions;
• exposure to clots and blood clots;
• obstruction of blood clotting.
Treatment with leeches: what is the benefit for the body?
Treatment with leeches is a rather controversial technique with ambiguous radically different reviews and opinions. Proponents of leech therapy argue for the beneficial properties of leech enzymes that, when ingested, have a healing effect. In the saliva of leeches there are indeed more than 150 types of various enzymes and nutrients.
Due to these beneficial properties, leeches are used in the treatment of:
• diabetes, gout, obesity, other pathologies associated with metabolic disorders;
• fractures, hematomas, postoperative adhesions;
• diseases of the musculoskeletal system: osteochondrosis, hernias, myositis, arthrosis;
• thyroid disease;
• vascular pathologies;
• kidney disease;
• gastritis, pancreatitis, cholecystitis;
• dermatological diseases: acne, psoriasis, furunculosis;
• eye diseases: keratitis, glaucoma;
• neurological pathologies: migraines, radiculitis, epilepsy, neurosis, insomnia;
• inflammation of the genital organs, prostatitis, ovarian dysfunction, menstrual disorders.
Treatment with leeches is usually carried out by courses., but after the first procedures there are positive changes, manifested:
• decrease in puffiness;
• reduction of pain;
• improving the appearance of the skin;
• stabilization of pressure;
• improvement of motor abilities;
• decrease in feeling of fatigue.
The clear benefit to the body of treatment with leeches is due to therapeutic effects in the form of:
• recovery of microcirculatory functions;
• enhance the body's immune capabilities;
• muscle relaxation;
• prevention of blood clots;
• accelerate the transmission of neuromuscular impulses;
• analgesic, anti-edematous, anti-inflammatory and healing effects;
• blood thinning;
• pressure recovery;
• increased blood flow.
To achieve a stable result and obvious benefits for the body, you should not stop treatment with leeches after the first improvements. Only The hirudotherapist can correctly determine the duration of each session. and the number of procedures required.
The benefits of leech therapy will only subject to the technique of planting worms. Because the animal is unable to choose the right place. Hirudotherapeutists plant sucking healers according to certain patterns, taking into account the location of the active points on the body, which allows for a beneficial effect on the body.
Treatment with leeches: what is the possible harm to health?
Opponents of treatment with leeches argue that this type of therapy is harmful to the body, since it smoothes out the symptoms without affecting the nature of the disease.
And the number of harmful effects, according to conservative doctors, significantly exceeds the benefits of treatment with leeches.
Patients in the hope of recovery from serious diseases expose themselves to undue risks. As a result of treatment with leeches can be observed:
• heavy or non-stop bleeding;
• various manifestations of dermatitis;
• allergic reactions in the form of a rash;
• ulceration and suppuration;
• pain, both during the procedure and after it;
• permanent spots at the leeches bite.
To avoid the negative and harmful effects of leech therapy, contraindicated to conduct sessions of hirudotherapy patients:
• have personal intolerance or allergic reactions to components of leech secretions;
• under reduced pressure;
• low hemoglobin
• for blood diseases;
• with thin sensitive skin;
• if any damage to the skin;
• having malignant tumors.
If the patient has personal dislike for leeches or disgust in relation to this method of exposure, the health benefits of such treatment leeches clearly will not bring.
A dangerous consequence is unstoppable bleeding that lasts more than a day. Faced with such a complication, it is necessary to immediately consult a doctor.
For pregnant and lactating mothers: treatment with leeches is useful or harmful?
Pregnancy is a contraindication for treatment with leeches. Since the effect of leeches on a woman’s body during pregnancy is practically not studied, resort to this method of treatment undesirable.
It is believed that under the influence of hemorrhage and increased blood flow, the placenta may be rejected, which leads to unwanted abortion. Therefore, to talk about any benefit to the body of a pregnant woman from treatment with leeches is impractical.
But there are no special restrictions for nursing moms. In addition to general healing and therapeutic procedures, hirudotherapy specialists offer for these women special methods of treatment with leeches that can even increase lactation.
If there are no special contraindications, women who are breastfed, treatment with leeches will not bring any harm.
Treatment with leeches (hirudotherapy) for children: useful or harmful?
The use of leeches is allowed for the treatment of babies, starting from infancy. The complexity of this type of therapy lies in the ambiguous reaction of children to the worms and pain themselves. However, by finding an experienced hirudotherapist who can conduct children's sessions, you can help the children's body deal with many problems.
If the doctor offers parents to independently persuade and reassure the baby, the benefits of such treatment will not be leeches. The kid should feel close emotional contact with both parents and the doctor, which will relieve tension and fear of unusual manipulations.
Usually, children calmly perceive subsequent sessions, unusual worms even cause interest. With obvious rejection of treatment with leeches baby you should not forcefully torture the child's psyche. Anyway, there will be no benefit from such treatment with leeches.
Most often, parents seek help from a hirudotherapist when they are found in newborns. children cerebral palsy, PEP. To reduce the intracranial pressure in problem babies is sometimes obtained only by applying leeches.
For older babies, leeches are used to treat pathologies of the upper respiratory tract, lungs, enuresis and nervous disorders.
In adolescence with the help of leeches, problems of a vegetovascular and digestive character are solved.
With properly conducted sessions with leech therapy, the benefits to the child’s body are undeniable.
Treatment with leeches for weight loss - useful?
Oddly enough, but medicinal leeches really contribute to weight loss. Of course, they are not able to break down and, moreover, destroy fat deposits. The benefits of treatment with leeches for weight loss is manifested by indirect effects.
With the help of hirudotherapy in patients with extra pounds, it is possible to achieve:
• normalization of metabolism;
• stabilization of hormonal background;
• elimination of depressive and nervous conditions.
In aggregate, such results of treatment with leeches bring tangible health benefits and contribute to weight loss.
To restore metabolic processes leeches put on the area of the sacrum. To stabilize the hormones, they are placed behind the ear. Procedures are repeated every other day. To get a lasting result, you need at least 10 procedures.
Remember that leech therapy is a controversial therapy. If you do not want to harm your body, try to find an experienced hirudotherapisthaving documentation confirming his qualifications.
