Leech therapy is famous for healing varicose and spider veins, because it creates new microcirculation and excels at lowering blood pressure.
by Pavel Gershkovich —
Leeches — ugh, gross. With that out of the way, let us look at what may be one of the best detoxification methods you will ever run across.
Medicinal leeches, Hirudo Medicinalis, have had a place in the doctor’s medical kit for centuries because they have proved themselves to be a most effective treatment. Leeches were especially useful in treating wounds and saving lives on the European battlefield in the 18th and 19th centuries. Leech therapy is also referenced in the Talmud and in Islamic and Ayurvedic texts.
Today, leeches are FDA-approved as a medical device. Every year, specialty bio-farms supply tens of thousands of medicinal leeches to hospitals in dozens of countries for reconstructive surgeries and skin grafts. Leech saliva is known to contain at least 15 enzymes with proven palliative properties. The enzyme hirudin, for example, has a therapeutic effect on dangerous blood clots.
Actress Demi Moore is a fan of leeches for blood detoxification, saying sessions leave her feeling revitalized. When leeches excrete their saliva, it works like a holistic antibiotic in the bloodstream. Pharmaceutical companies even use hirudin to make antibiotics. These little creatures are able to draw out poisons more readily than any other treatment.
Leech saliva also contains healing bioactive substances and is known for anti-edematous, bacteriostatic, analgesic actions. It eliminates microcirculation disorders, restores damaged vascular permeability of tissues and organs, eliminates hypoxia (oxygen starvation), increases immune system activity and detoxifies.
Leech therapy is famous for healing varicose and spider veins, because it creates new microcirculation and excels at lowering blood pressure.
Leeches also have a protective effect on the heart. David Meyers, a cardiologist at Kansas University Medical Center, researched the relationship between blood loss and heart disease. He noted that pre-menopausal women who still menstruate monthly, have 50 percent fewer heart attacks than men their age; whereas, they equal men in heart attack rates after menopause.
Noting that men with high iron content in their blood have double the heart attack rate of those with normal iron levels, he asked some of his male subjects who used leech therapy to donate blood. Myers discovered that the blood donors lowered their heart attack risk by 30 percent.
Other practitioners have found leeches particularly helpful with Parkinson’s disease, Lyme disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, asthma and emphysema. A treatment session can last five minutes or up to an hour and a half. An expert practitioner will know what type of leeches to use and where to place them for the desired effect.
Pavel Gershkovich, C.H.P., C.R.P., is the director of the Salt Chalet Arizona at 5011 N. Granite Reef Rd., Scottsdale, in the office of Dr. Abram Ber, M.D.(H). 480-621-6041, www.arizonaleechtherapy.com or www.SaltChaletArizona.com.
Reprinted from AZNetNews, Volume 30, Number 6, Dec/Jan 2012.
February 23, 2012
Detox, Health, Health Concerns