Animals provided with suckers surrounding the mouth, and living a semi-parasitic life, their food being mainly derived from the blood of other animals. They abstract blood by means of the sucker, which has several large, sharp teeth. Land leeches live in tropical forests and can attach themselves to a person’s ankles and lower legs. Aquatic leeches are found in warm water and may attach themselves to swimmers. Their bites are painless, their saliva reducing the clotting properties of blood with hirudin; the result is that the wound continues to bleed after the leech has detached itself or been gently removed (lighted match, alcohol, salt and vinegar are e?ective removal agents). The medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, was formerly employed for the abstraction of small quantities of blood in in?ammatory and other conditions. Nowadays it is occasionally used to drain haematomas and to manage healing in certain types of plastic surgery.
A type of bloodsucking worm with a flattened body and a sucker at each end. Leeches of various types inhabit tropical forests and waters. They bite painlessly, introducing their saliva into the wound before sucking blood. Leech saliva contains an anticlotting substance called hirudin, which may cause the wound to bleed for hours. Leeches are sometimes used in medicine to drain a haematoma from a wound.... leech
From the Greek ‘chele’ meaning to claw or grip. Deposits of cholesterol and by-products of free radical activity may cause arteries to become brittle and block circulation. Chelation offers an internal ‘house cleaning’ whereby such deposits and metals are freed into the circulation for elimination from the body.
Chelation is increasingly used as an alternative to by-pass surgery for coronary disease, significantly improving the coronary circulation. Reportedly of value for improved kidney function, decreased insulin requirement for diabetes, to reduce prostate obstruction, restore near-normal breathing pattern in emphysema and to bring relief in arthritis. Specific herbs act as bonding agents to metals in blood vessel plague prior to expulsion via the kidneys and bowel.
Conventional medical chelation therapy consists of an intravenous drip of a synthetic amino acid, EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid) which leeches from the tissues toxic metals (lead, mercury etc) prior to elimination. Cholesterol and fats are dissolved and metabolised by the liver, and metals are excreted by the kidneys.
Supportive aid to primary treatment. Combine tinctures: Hawthorn 2; Lily of the Valley 1; Capsicum quarter. Dose: 15-60 drops in water thrice daily.
Saponin-containing herbs, by their detergent action act as binding agents to leech metals, plague etc from blood vessels and the intestinal canal.
Diet. Guar gum preparations. Low salt. Fish oils or oily fish.
Supplements. Vitamins A, C, D (Cod Liver oil), B-complex, especially Vitamin B12, biotin, PABA, chromium, selenium, zinc, methionine, superoxide dismutase, magnesium.
Information. The Arterial Disease Clinic: tel: 0942 676617. ... chelation
n. an *anticoagulant present in the salivary glands of *leeches and in certain snake venoms that prevents *blood coagulation by inhibiting the action of the enzyme *thrombin. The anticoagulant bivalirudin is a genetically engineered form of hirudin from the medicinal leech. It is administered by intravenous injection and infusion, in combination with aspirin and clopidogrel, to treat patients with S–T elevation *myocardial infarction who are undergoing primary *percutaneous coronary intervention.... hirudin
n. any member of several groups of soft-bodied legless animals, including flatworms, nematode worms, earthworms, and leeches, that were formerly thought to be closely related and classified as a single group – Vermes.... worm
Citrus limonum. Refreshing and fragrant essential oil.
Constituents: flavonoids, coumarins, mucilage, Vitamin C, calcium oxalate.
Action: prevention and treatment of scurvy, anti-infective, anti-inflammatory, anti-fat, antihistamine.
Contains citric acid which is an anti-bacterial capable of destroying some viruses and bacteria.
Uses: Coughs, colds, influenza and onset of fevers generally. Traditionally a whole lemon was roasted or baked in a moderate oven for half an hour and as much juice drunk as tolerated. Sore throat (gargle). Diphtheria: impressive cures reported. Persist until false membrane is detached: Neat lemon juice gargle hourly, swallowing 1-2 teaspoons. If too strong, may be diluted. Often overlooked for hiccoughs. Dropsy: lemon fast. 3-4 days on lemon juice alone: no solid food, tea, stimulants, etc. Biliousness, sick headache: juice of a lemon morning and evening; sweeten with honey if necessary. Malaria: half a teacup juice in water every 2-3 hours. Rheumatism: juice of half lemon before meals and at bedtime; may be diluted. For rheumatism, anecdotal success has been reported by combining equal parts lemon juice and molasses: tablespoon thrice daily before meals. Cellulitis. A lemon mask helps to fade spots.
External: erysipelas, corns, lesions of scurvy. “For a felon (whitlow) cut off end of a lemon; insert finger and bind securely. In the morning remove exudation of matter.” (Chinese Barefoot doctor)
Preparations: Tincture Limonis P (1948) (dose, 2-4ml) is sometimes available but recorded successes have been chiefly due to use of the juice. Oil Lemon BP. Used also in Aromatherapy.
Note: When drinking lemon juice care should be taken to see juice does not come in direct contact with the teeth, the enamel of which it erodes. The juice may remove some calculi from the body, but after having cleared the bloodstream it leeches calcium from the teeth and bones. It is a known cause of arthritis, inducing dryness and subsequent erosion of cartilage of the joints. ... lemon
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