Pain is your body's way of telling you that something is wrong, much like a fever. And just like with a fever, most people simply mask the pain instead of dealing with the underlying cause of the problem. But the underlying cause for millions of people who suffer from various aches and pains like arthritis, back pain, fibromyalgia is CHRONIC INTERNAL INFLAMMATION.
The New England Journal of Medicine: “THERE IS CONVINCING EVIDENCE THAT INFLAMMATION IS STRONGLY LINKED TO HEART ATTACKS AND STROKE.” And a recent Harvard study found that "HALF OF ALL HEART ATTACKS ARE CAUSED BY INFLAMMATION“
HOW EXACTLY DO LEECHES TREAT THESE MANY ILLNESSES AND DISEASES ?
Leeches secrete a complex mixture of different biologically and pharmacologically active substances:
- ANTI-COAGULATING EFFECTS The leech’s saliva contains enzymes and compounds that act as an anticoagulation agent. The most prominent of these anticoagulation agents is hirudin, which binds itself to thrombins, thus, effectively inhibiting coagulation of the blood. Another compound that prevents coagulation is calin and it is also an effective inhibitor of platelet aggregation caused by collagen.
- CLOT DISSOLVING EFFECTS The action of destabilase is to break up any fibrins that have formed. It also has a thrombolytic effect, which can also dissolve clots of blood that have formed.
- ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECTS Bdellins is a compound in the leech’s saliva that acts as an anti-inflammatory agent by inhibiting trypsin as well as plasmin. It also inhibits the action of the acrosin. Another anti-inflammatory agent is the eglins.
- VASODILATING EFFECTS There are three compounds in the leeches’ saliva that act as a vasodilator agent, and they are the histamine-like substances, the acetylcholine, and the carboxypeptidase A inhibitors. All these act to widen the vessels, thus, causing inflow of blood to the site.
- BACTERIOSTATIC AND ANAESTHETIC EFFECTS The saliva of leeches also contains anaesthetic substances which deaden pain on the site and also bacteria-inhibiting substances which inhibit the growth of bacteria.
