Leeching – ‘A painless art of releasing impure blood from the body’
Ailments are part of every human existence. Despite being extremely conscious about your health, it is common to develop diseases and disorders with the age, environment, and lifestyle you adopt. Attending to these disorders with the right line of medicine is a must to regain your health quickly. Ayurveda is one such line of therapy offering various treatments for various diseases and disorders. This ancient science helps people connect back to their roots, as all the medicines prescribed are natural. This line of therapy focuses on eliminating the disease from the grass root level. Thus, the solution is permanent. This write-up is about an athlete who underwent Ayurvedic treatment for his abscess.
Condition:
The patient approached the doctors at Global Ayurveda with a painful abscess and a rise in body temperature levels. The athlete was in severe pain as it was past a week since the development of the abscess on the back, along with the fever. The abscess had turned red and hot due to inflammation, pus accumulation, and impure blood. Upon probing, the doctors at Global Ayurveda noticed that these pimples got aggravated due to the change in diet and lifestyle.
Diagnosis
After a thorough examination, the doctors at Global Ayurveda concluded to perform leech therapy, (Jalauka Avacharana). Abscess is a blood-related disorder manifested due to toxin accumulation in the blood. It can be managed well by the administration of leech therapy. Leeching, a popular bloodletting therapy practiced by Ayurveda line of medicine since its inception to cure the ailments related to blood.
Leech therapy involves leeches grown in a protected environment. These organisms would be applied to the affected areas to release impure blood. There are 14 leech species however; seven variations are used for these therapies. The application of these living organisms to suck the contaminated blood out has been widely practiced in Ayurveda as it is painless and the safest option. Ulcers, pimples, acne, abscess are a few disorders that can be treated effectively with Leech therapy. Apart from these, leeching is also quite extensively used in the treatment of non-healing wounds in diabetes and varicose veins. In this case, leeching was an appropriate treatment as it helped in the immediate reduction of pain and fever.
Treatment / Procedure:
The athlete was made to sleep in the prone position as the wounds were on the back, and a couple of leeches were applied to the abscess to suck the impure blood out. It was almost an hour affair before the leeches were removed. Later, an Ayurvedic paste made of several herbs with medicinal values was applied to the wounded areas, followed by a thorough bandage. The inflammation, pain, and pus drastically reduced immediately after the first leeching session. The patient was then recommended to take a couple more sessions to release all the impurities. The patient was also advised to consume easily digestible food along with an ample amount of rest. Apart from external healing, it also becomes essential to purify the blood within; hence, the doctors at Global Ayurveda found it appropriate to recommend Rakta Shodaka (blood purifier) medicine to the athlete. This medicine is most commonly used for the internal blood purification process. The patient showed signs of recovery within two sessions. Hence, the treatment was a huge success.
Conclusion:
Ayurveda isn’t a line of treatment but a way of life. As mentioned earlier, the practitioners here focus on the root cause of the issue; thus, the ailment is rooted out completely from the system. Living healthy is a choice; make wise decisions when you can!