jamotto Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 A friend of my dad's has a sickness that thickens his blood, and makes it very hard on his heart to pump it. They said that he had maybe 6 months to live, then he went and saw a doctor that would put leeches on him, the leeches of course would suck his blood. It has been 10 years, and once a month, he goes in, has the leeches attached, and gets bled. It is amazing, and he is also on some new medications, otherwise he would have to be bled by leeches every 2 weeks. Yep, some of those ancient, "barbarian" medicinal practices actually did some good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamotto Posted September 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 quote:Originally posted by Jaguar: A friend of my dad's has a sickness that thickens his blood, and makes it very hard on his heart to pump it. They said that he had maybe 6 months to live, then he went and saw a doctor that would put leeches on him, the leeches of course would suck his blood. It has been 10 years, and once a month, he goes in, has the leeches attached, and gets bled. It is amazing, and he is also on some new medications, otherwise he would have to be bled by leeches every 2 weeks. Yep, some of those ancient, "barbarian" medicinal practices actually did some good.Hey cool, people still use leeches to thin people's blood. The leeches secrete a chemical(blood thinner) that prevents the blood from coagulating. Thus allowing the leeches to suck more blood. I had thought they had turned to drugs that do the equivalent thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostInSpace Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 Yup, alot of those acient practices had alot of merrit to them. I knew about the blood letting some time ago after seeing a PBS show don't remember if it was NOVA or some other program. I think they brought it up because, if I'm not mistaken, was about the heart. The blood letting actually reduced the Iron in your system. High levels of Iron can cause heart problems. "High levels of iron can be toxic. Experts warn that supplements should not be used to treat anything but iron-deficiency anemia and avoided by anyone with heosiderosis, a precursor to hemochromatosis (some 1 million people in the US or even more may have this hereditary disorder in which the intestines absorb too much iron." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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