leech

Practice Dr. Katmer

Statutory insured patients - private patients and self-payers

leech

THE LEECH
When you talk about leeches, you usually hear the same thing: slippery, black, bloodthirsty, just plain disgusting. That's the common reaction when you're confronted with leeches. But, as is often the case with prejudices, they're not true! Leeches are colorful, elegant swimmers, harmless and not at all disgusting.

And they help - so well that people and animals have been using their healing skills for thousands of years!

Animals instinctively know about the healing power of leeches. For example, cattle, water buffalo, sheep and horses with joint problems deliberately go into bodies of water where leeches live and wait patiently until the little helpers get their tiny meal and, in gratitude, leave helpful secretions in the patient's body.

In recent years, people have become more aware that leeches can be very effective in treating certain ailments and have almost no side effects. In humans, we know that side effects include mild itching and reddening of the skin at the bite site, but in animals, the leech bite does not even seem to itch - in the truest sense of the word. Overall, the leech is an extremely well-tolerated remedy with proven and long-lasting effects.
The word "leech" comes from the Greek word echis = small snake. Some even suspect that the snake on the staff of Aesculapius represents a leech, but that is certainly wrong. In any case, it has long been famous for its healing powers. Among the Germanic peoples, for example, the word "leech" was used almost synonymously with the word "healer". Dhanvantari, the Indian god of Ayurveda, carries a leech in one of his four hands, and in English, healers of the Middle Ages were called "leechers".
In the meantime, leech therapy has become the subject of modern research, which has long since proven that the healing effects of this therapy are not based on medieval superstition.
Reconstructive surgery rediscovered these sensitive bloodsuckers in the 1980s, when a little boy's torn ear could only be saved with their help. The leeches ensured that the blood flow was maintained with their secretions, so that the ear could grow back. Since then, leeches have experienced a renaissance in the healing arts. Modern biochemistry has identified a number of active substances and their mechanisms of action in leech saliva.
One of these leech active ingredients, hirudin, is a globally recognized medicine that is used to treat various blood clotting disorders, including heart attacks.
Horses, as well as other animals such as dogs, cats, etc., are not bothered by leeches, do not defend themselves against the bite or try to get rid of the little worm. They simply know instinctively about the healing power. And even if they don't help, they certainly do no harm.
Our company is located on the outskirts of Biebertal, near Gießen/Hessen. Here, medical leeches are kept and bred in around 40 natural ponds. If you are interested in how the animals live with us, contact us by email or call us and arrange an appointment. We would be happy to show you that these animals are interesting and elegant.
On the following pages you will certainly find interesting information about this unique animal and medicinal product, which has been classified by the legislature as a finished medicinal product for several years now, a clear indication of its effectiveness.
First, a few facts in bullet points:
The leeches’ salivary glands contain highly effective substances, but
no pathogens found
Their bite is often compared to the touch of a nettle
Wherever leeches occur, they are used by humans and animals for healing or
Relief used
Leeches can live up to two years on one meal

INDICATIONS AND MODE OF ACTION
The healing effect, which at first seems surprising, is a "smart" move by the leeches, because it promotes their valuable resource, the mammals - which is of course better than harming them. To put it bluntly in ecological terms: a great example of successful "sustainable use", of a balanced give and take. Science and the pharmaceutical industry have long recognized what a complex and wonderful cocktail of active ingredients evolution has produced with the leech saliva, which intervenes in the complicated blood coagulation cascade in an almost "ingenious" way, dissolves thrombi, promotes blood circulation and lymph flow, and has anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing effects. This results in a wide range of indications:
Indications

Leeches are used, among other things, for:
rheumatism
Herpes Zoster (shingles)
Varicosis (varicose veins)
tinnitus
Thrombosis
Boils and carbuncles
Sinusitis
Tonsil abscess
Adnexitis, parametritis
Mastitis
Gallbladder inflammation
Orchitis
phlebitis
hypertension
Osteoarthritis (e.g. knee or thumb)
arthritis
Leg Ulcer
Tendon/tendon sheath
inflammations
(tennis, golf arm)
apoplexy
Angina
Thrombophlebitisas well as circulatory disorders after tissue transplantation (plastic and reconstructive surgery).

What do leeches do to us?
First of all: the bite of a leech is not painful. This is understandable, because in the wild leeches have no interest in being unpleasantly noticed. Whether an anesthetic is contained in the saliva to relieve pain is controversial. The bites are described as "nettle stings", "mosquito bites", "a slight pulling sensation" or "pricks from injection needles" or even as completely painless. A slight itching that may occur afterwards - similar to a mosquito bite - is due to histamine-like substances. The bite is also not very painful due to the bite "technique": 3 saw blades arranged in a star shape, each with around 80 calcareous teeth, carefully cut through the skin to reach the desired target - the blood. Between the calcareous teeth are openings through which the SALIVA, the leech saliva, is released.
Active ingredients

The saliva contains the following substances identified so far:
Hirudin (the name is derived from Hirudo medicinalis = medicinal leech) is one of the active ingredients of the leech, which is used as an independent drug in medicine.
Hirudin inhibits blood clotting and is used, among other things, to treat heart attacks.
Calin also inhibits blood clotting and, following the "fast" hirudin, causes the wound to cleanse itself through bleeding, which takes about 12 hours. This results in the well-known, gentle bloodletting.

During the 60-minute suction process, it is of course necessary to keep the wound open and the blood flowing.
During the suction process, the "spreading factor", hyaluronidase, also comes into action: the path for the healing substances is prepared by loosening the tissue. This active ingredient is used in medicine as an absorption-promoting additive to infusion and injection preparations (eg "turbo-anaesthesia").
Egline and Bdelline have anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.
The unique natural active ingredient composition of the saliva is rounded off by other substances (e.g. factor X a inhibitors, LDTI)
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