Bloodletting
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Unani is one of the few forms of alternative medicine in which bloodletting is used according to humoristic principles. Because of this, bloodletting and leeching are used quite often, owing to the fact that there are supposedly many diseases resulting from excess blood. In Unani, bloodletting is considered a good way of [[detox]]ifying the blood.<ref>[http://www.greekmedicine.net/therapies/Hygienic_Purification_Therapies.html Greek Medicine: HYGIENIC PURIFICATION THERAPIES]</ref> Unani is probably the closest thing to the backwards, old-fashioned medicine people usually think of when they hear the word "bloodletting". Some of the diseases treated by bloodletting include headaches, migraines, eczema, conjunctivitis, cataracts, asthma, angina, pneumonia, ulcers, tonsillitis and glaucoma.<ref name=articles>[http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/fasd-venesection-introduction-uses-5230927.html Fasd (venesection): introduction], articlesbase.com.</ref> | Unani is one of the few forms of alternative medicine in which bloodletting is used according to humoristic principles. Because of this, bloodletting and leeching are used quite often, owing to the fact that there are supposedly many diseases resulting from excess blood. In Unani, bloodletting is considered a good way of [[detox]]ifying the blood.<ref>[http://www.greekmedicine.net/therapies/Hygienic_Purification_Therapies.html Greek Medicine: HYGIENIC PURIFICATION THERAPIES]</ref> Unani is probably the closest thing to the backwards, old-fashioned medicine people usually think of when they hear the word "bloodletting". Some of the diseases treated by bloodletting include headaches, migraines, eczema, conjunctivitis, cataracts, asthma, angina, pneumonia, ulcers, tonsillitis and glaucoma.<ref name=articles>[http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/fasd-venesection-introduction-uses-5230927.html Fasd (venesection): introduction], articlesbase.com.</ref> | ||
| − | In Ayurveda, bloodletting is also claimed to be a good "detoxifier". ''Raktamokshana'' is an Ayurvedic form of bloodletting used for skin problems such as urticaria, rash, eczema, acne, scabies, leucoderma, chronic itching and hives, | + | In Ayurveda, bloodletting is also claimed to be a good "detoxifier". ''Raktamokshana'' is an Ayurvedic form of bloodletting used for skin problems such as excessive drowsiness, baldness, urticaria, rash, eczema, acne, scabies, leucoderma, chronic itching and hives, enlarged liver, spleen, gout, tumors, and genital infections.<ref>[http://www.bioline.org.br/request?jp11068 Bloodletting - An Ayurvedic perspective]</ref><ref>[http://www.ayurvedaireland.ie/treatments/raktamokshana.html Raktamokshana(Siraveda & Jalokacharana)], Ayurveda Health Clinic.</ref><ref>[http://www.allayurveda.com/panch_bletting.asp Bloodletting therapy helps to remove toxins], Allayurveda.com.</ref> Bloodletting is also used in ''Panchakarma'', which is an Ayurvedic therapy that involves bloodletting, vomiting, purging, and inhaling herbal steam in order to clear the body of toxins and balance its [[Subtle energy|energy]]. |
| − | Traditional Chinese use of bloodletting is the least drastic; it is used in the context of [[acupuncture]] and only involves draining a few drops of blood. This is supposed to be good for, among other things, | + | Traditional Chinese use of bloodletting is the least drastic; it is used in the context of [[acupuncture]] and only involves draining a few drops of blood. This is supposed to be good for, among other things, sore throat, epistaxis, pain of fingers, mental disorders, numbness of fingers, '''loss of consciousness,''' cardiac pain, irritability, aphasia with tongue stiffness, heat stroke, infantile convulsions, feverish sensation of the palm and sole, headache, redness of eyes, stiffness of the tongue, febrile disease, irritability, pain in chest, corneal disease, abdominal distention, uterine bleeding, prolapse of uterus, hernia, enuresis, facial swelling, toothache, distending sensation of chest and abdomen, cold in leg and foot, dream disturbed sleep, mental confusion, pain in vertex of the head, dizziness, blurring of vision, aphonia, dysuria, dyschesia, deafness, pain in the hypochondriac region, nasal obstruction, epistaxis, ophthalmalgia, and shingles.<ref name=shingles/><ref name=acupuncture/> Chinese bloodletting is banned in [[California]].<ref>[http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/california-reins-in-bloodletting/ ''California Forbids Chinese Bloodletting''], Ben Kavoussi, Science-Based Medicine, December 16, 2010.</ref> |
Hildegard medicine is an obscure humoristic system of medicine invented by St. Hildegard von Bilgen. It is only used by a few hundred practitioners, mostly in [[Germany]].<ref name=chicago>[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-03-01/features/0003010127_1_hildegard-bingen-nun ''Medical Miracle Worker''], Chicago Tribune, March 01, 2000, Janet Kinosian.</ref> In this system, bloodletting is used to detoxify the blood and remove "bad" black bile. Hildegard medicine supposedly came to St. Hildegard in visions from [[God]], so apparently this means God approves both of detoxing and bloodletting. Go figure. | Hildegard medicine is an obscure humoristic system of medicine invented by St. Hildegard von Bilgen. It is only used by a few hundred practitioners, mostly in [[Germany]].<ref name=chicago>[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-03-01/features/0003010127_1_hildegard-bingen-nun ''Medical Miracle Worker''], Chicago Tribune, March 01, 2000, Janet Kinosian.</ref> In this system, bloodletting is used to detoxify the blood and remove "bad" black bile. Hildegard medicine supposedly came to St. Hildegard in visions from [[God]], so apparently this means God approves both of detoxing and bloodletting. Go figure. | ||
Revision as of 03:10, 27 August 2013
| Against allopathy |
| Alternative articles |
“”"We all need someone we can bleed on
And if you want it, why don't you bleed on me?" |
| —Rolling Stones' Let it Bleed |
Bloodletting is a formerly widespread medical treatment. It is famous as one of the most common treatments of prescientific humoristic medicine, which postulated that disease was caused by imbalance of the body's humors: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. If a person had a disease which indicated too much blood, bloodletting was used to correct the problem. Bloodletting was even thought to be a cure for anaemia.[1]
Bloodletting has a long, venerable history of use in traditional and pre-scientific medicine as a panacea of sorts, and patients liked it so much, they had to be convinced not to be bled.[2] As such, it should come as no surprise that general-purpose bloodletting is still used in alternative medicine as part of Unani, Ayurveda, and traditional Chinese medicine. The naturopathic Textbook of Natural Medicine lists all of these as being acceptable bases for naturopathic practice [3][4]
In modern medicine, bloodletting is known as phlebotomy and is used in a few, very specific circumstances, such as polycythemia vera (in which the bone marrow produces excess red/white blood cells) and iron overload, to reduce the number of red blood cells. Bloodletting is not to be confused with lancing, a proper medical technique in which pus is drained from an abcess, boil, etc.
Contents |
History
Bloodletting is known to have been used for about 3000 years.[5] Initially, disease was thought to be caused by malevolent supernatural entities, and bloodletting and trepanation were used to expel these spirits from the patient's body.[5] As time went on, however, physicians became more sympathetic to naturalistic explanations for disease, and this resulted in the Greek Theory of The Four Humors, in which imbalance of the four humors (black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm) was considered the root cause of all diseases. (Bloodletting use also developed independently in India, with the bloodletting technique Sravana being described in approximately the 6th or 7th century B.C. in the Ayurvedic surgery treatise Sushruta Samhita.)[6] Greek humorism spread, gradually became Europe's chief medical practice, and also spread to Asia, where it was adopted by Islamic cultures and adapted in the form of Unani in about the 10th century A.D. Avicenna was a proponent of Unani.
Fast-forward a few centuries. In 1793, there was a yellow fever pandemic in Philadelphia, and Benjamin Rush, a physician and signatory of the Declaration of Independence, believed he could effectively fight the disease by relieving patients of up to 75% of their blood, because he treated himself this way and got better.[7] His book A Defence of Blood-letting, as a Remedy for Certain Diseases contains anecdotes like the following:
| I have elsewhere mentioned the advantages of bleeding pregnant women, in the yellow fever. I did not learn the advantages of the practice in that disease. I bled Mrs. Philler 11 times in seven days, in a pleurisy during her pregnancy, in the month of March, 1783; and Mrs. Kirby 16 times in the same condition, by my orders, in the winter of 1786, in a similar disease. All these women recovered, and the children they carried during their illness, are at this time alive, and in good health. |
"The bloodletting improved the body's natural defensive terrain by removing viruses, built-up toxins in the body, and stagnant blood (causing it to be replaced with new, fresh blood), thus allowing the immune system to fight the disease more effectively."
| [Bloodletting] removes coma. Mr. Henry Clymer was suddenly relieved of this alarming symptom, in the fever of 1794, by the loss of twelve ounces of blood. |
A guy who had been in a coma for an unspecified amount of time came out of the coma an unspecified amount of time after he was bled. Therefore, bloodletting works. And just how many coma patients did Rush treat, anyway? The larger the number, the higher the chance of a coincidence.
| Dr. Morton describes what he calls a putrid fever, which was epidemic and fatal, in the year 1678. Dr. Sydenham, who practiced in London at the same time, takes no notice of this fever. The reason of his silence is obvious. By copious bleeding, he prevented the fever of that year from running on to the gangrenous state, while Dr. Morton, by neglecting to bleed, created the supposed putrid fevers which he has described. |
"Obviously. How can I be so sure of myself, you ask? Well, because... because... Stop asking questions, you close-minded individual."
| I bled my eldest daughter when she was but six weeks old, for convulsions brought on by an excessive dose of laudanum given to her by her nurse; and I bled one of my sons twice, before he was two months old, for an acute fever which fell upon his lungs and bowels. In both cases, life appeared to be saved by this remedy. I could mention many more instances in which it has snatched from the grave, children under three and four months old, by being used from three to five times in the ordinary course of their acute disease. |
"And absolutely none of the kids I treated died. Ever. At all. Just trust me."
| A boy of Mr. John Carrol owes his recovery from the small-pox to the loss of fifty ounces of blood, by five bleedings, at a time when nearly every pock on his arms and legs had a purple appearance. Louis XIV was bled five times in the small-pox, when he was but thirteen years of age, and thereby probably saved from the grave, to the great honour and emolument of the single physician who urged it against the advice of all other physicians of the court. Dr. Cleghorn mentions a single case of the success of bleeding in the petechial small-pox. His want of equal success afterwards, in similar cases, was probably occasioned by his bleeding too sparingly, that is, but three or four times. |
"It is absolutely impossible that these people were part of the majority of smallpox patients who survive. If they were, that would mean bloodletting doesn't work, and as we all know, it does. Stop saying it doesn't, damn it!"
| In the month of June of 1795, I visited Dr. Say in a malignant fever, attended with pleuritic symptoms, in consultation with Dr. Physick. An acute pain in his head followed six successive bleedings. After a seventh bleeding, he had no pain. His fever soon afterwards left him. In thus persevering in the use of a remedy, which, for several days, appeared to do harm, we were guided wholly by the state of his pulse, which uniformly indicated, by its force, the necessity of more bleeding. |
Just like the temporary worsening of homeopathy! What a coincidence.
| I bled Mrs. Fullarton twice in a pleurisy in January, 1804, in the 84th year of her age, and thereby cured her disease. I drew six and thirty ounces of blood, in the year 1806, at three bleedings, from Mr. Israel Jacobs in the 91st year of his age, in a bilious fever, in the course of a few days. He was cured by this remedy, and at this time, July 29, 1809, enjoys good health. |
"Really, he was. Cured, that is."
| It belongs to this remedy to prevent the chronic diseases of cough, consumption, jaundice, abscess in the liver, and all the different states of dropsy which so often follow autumnal fevers. |
The basis for this claim is probably patient testimonials along the lines of "I've used bloodletting for a long time, and I haven't had a cold in years!" Of course, these anecdotes don't clarify if people who didn't get bled were less likely to be cold-free.
In the 19th century, with the advent of statistically based medicine, new evidence (such as Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis's work) showing that bloodletting was not beneficial was resisted on the basis that "results obtained by analyses of large groups of patients were not universally applicable to the single individual presenting in their examining room", and:[8][9]
Practicing physicians were unwilling to 'hold their decisions in abeyance till their therapies received numerical approbation.' Further, they were not prepared to discard therapies 'validated by both tradition and their own experience on account of somebody else's numbers.'
Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis
Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis (1787 – 1872) was a French physician considered "the father of medical statistics",[10] known for developing the "numerical method", a statistical method of evaluating medical treatments and a precursor to modern clinical trials.[5] He believed that medicine must be based on statistics, saying: "without the aid of statistics nothing like real medicine is possible."[8]
While working at a French hospital, Louis started observing clinical cases and collecting information. He statistically analyzed the effects of bloodletting on pneumonia, using the cases he had seen, and concluded that it was ineffective.[11][8][12]
Modern use
In alternative medicine bloodletting is an important part of Unani, Ayurveda, traditional Chinese Medicine, and Hildegard medicine.[13][14][15][16][17][18] In all four of these systems, bloodletting can also involve cupping.
Unani is one of the few forms of alternative medicine in which bloodletting is used according to humoristic principles. Because of this, bloodletting and leeching are used quite often, owing to the fact that there are supposedly many diseases resulting from excess blood. In Unani, bloodletting is considered a good way of detoxifying the blood.[19] Unani is probably the closest thing to the backwards, old-fashioned medicine people usually think of when they hear the word "bloodletting". Some of the diseases treated by bloodletting include headaches, migraines, eczema, conjunctivitis, cataracts, asthma, angina, pneumonia, ulcers, tonsillitis and glaucoma.[20]
In Ayurveda, bloodletting is also claimed to be a good "detoxifier". Raktamokshana is an Ayurvedic form of bloodletting used for skin problems such as excessive drowsiness, baldness, urticaria, rash, eczema, acne, scabies, leucoderma, chronic itching and hives, enlarged liver, spleen, gout, tumors, and genital infections.[21][22][23] Bloodletting is also used in Panchakarma, which is an Ayurvedic therapy that involves bloodletting, vomiting, purging, and inhaling herbal steam in order to clear the body of toxins and balance its energy.
Traditional Chinese use of bloodletting is the least drastic; it is used in the context of acupuncture and only involves draining a few drops of blood. This is supposed to be good for, among other things, sore throat, epistaxis, pain of fingers, mental disorders, numbness of fingers, loss of consciousness, cardiac pain, irritability, aphasia with tongue stiffness, heat stroke, infantile convulsions, feverish sensation of the palm and sole, headache, redness of eyes, stiffness of the tongue, febrile disease, irritability, pain in chest, corneal disease, abdominal distention, uterine bleeding, prolapse of uterus, hernia, enuresis, facial swelling, toothache, distending sensation of chest and abdomen, cold in leg and foot, dream disturbed sleep, mental confusion, pain in vertex of the head, dizziness, blurring of vision, aphonia, dysuria, dyschesia, deafness, pain in the hypochondriac region, nasal obstruction, epistaxis, ophthalmalgia, and shingles.[14][13] Chinese bloodletting is banned in California.[24]
Hildegard medicine is an obscure humoristic system of medicine invented by St. Hildegard von Bilgen. It is only used by a few hundred practitioners, mostly in Germany.[25] In this system, bloodletting is used to detoxify the blood and remove "bad" black bile. Hildegard medicine supposedly came to St. Hildegard in visions from God, so apparently this means God approves both of detoxing and bloodletting. Go figure.
On the Internet, there are testimonials praising bloodletting's "curative" powers.[26][27]
Leeching
Leeching (also known as hirudotherapy) is a form of bloodletting that uses leeches to remove blood from a person instead of a knife and cup. Leeching has, surprisingly, been found to be effective for a number of conditions,[28] and is a part of modern medicine. (As with all such treatments, it should be done under proper medical supervision, as there can be issues with hygiene. Also use of leeches on certain parts of the body is not advisable. A leech's mouth contains anti-coagulants.)
Alternative medicine, however, uses it for completely inappropriate conditions. In Ayurveda and Unani, leeching is claimed to be good for (among other things) baldness.[29][30]
"Leech" is also a Middle English word for a physician or surgeon.
Recreational bloodletting
Naturally some sick weirdos alternatively orientated folk like bloodletting for non-medical purposes. Here are three examples:
- Extreme sado-masochists - that's gotta hurt! Still, no pain, no gain, as they say.
- "Real" vampires - why be sucked off by someone when you can have someone sucking your blood? (Through a straw.)
- War mongering - bloodletting on an industrial scale and not much fun for most of the participants.
- Corporal mortification as a religious practice
Some forms of self-harm may involve bloodletting too.
| |
For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about Bloodletting. |
External links
Skeptical
- Bloodletting works, Steven Novella
- Cupping is a thing? Really? PZ Myers on bloodletting
General
- History of bloodletting by phlebotomy.
- Medical Antiques, includes photographs of some of the actual equipment used.
- The last Illness and Death of Lord Byron - His last Poem
- LA Times article on Bloodletting
Footnotes
- ↑ Antique Bloodletting and Leeching Instruments - MedicalAntiques
- ↑ Bloodletting: an early treatment used by barbers, surgeons, Cardiology Today.
- ↑ Textbook of Natural Medicine, Barnes & Noble.
- ↑ Naturopathy Embraces the Four Humors, Jann Bellamy, Science-Based Medicine.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Bloodletting Over the Centuries, Gilbert R. Seigworth, M.D.
- ↑ History of plastic surgery in India.
- ↑ Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis: Master of the spirit of mathematical clinical science, Qual Saf Health Care 2005;14:462-464 doi:10.1136/qshc.2005.016816.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Evidence-based medicine: old French wine with a new Canadian label?, P K Rangachari, J R Soc Med. 1997 May; 90(5): 280–284.
- ↑ Bloodletting and the management of localized prostate cancer, J. Curtis Nickel, Can Urol Assoc J. 2011 June; 5(3): 159–160. doi: 10.5489/cuaj.11076 PMCID: PMC3114022.
- ↑ Sicko Statistics: Michael Moore and L’École de Paris, Gerald Weissmann, doi: 10.1096/fj.09-0301ufm March 2009 The FASEB Journal vol. 23 no. 3 667-671.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis: Master of the spirit of mathematical clinical science, Qual Saf Health Care 2005;14:462-464 doi:10.1136/qshc.2005.016816.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Bleeding Peripheral Points: An Acupuncture Technique
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Treating Herpes Zoster (Shingles) with Bloodletting Therapy: Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine
- ↑ Chinese Blood Letting Therapy for Headaches
- ↑ Hildegard medicine, NATURAL HEALING GUIDE.
- ↑ Bloodletting, E-swastya.
- ↑ Unani System of Medicine Practice, Globinmed.com.
- ↑ Greek Medicine: HYGIENIC PURIFICATION THERAPIES
- ↑ Fasd (venesection): introduction, articlesbase.com.
- ↑ Bloodletting - An Ayurvedic perspective
- ↑ Raktamokshana(Siraveda & Jalokacharana), Ayurveda Health Clinic.
- ↑ Bloodletting therapy helps to remove toxins, Allayurveda.com.
- ↑ California Forbids Chinese Bloodletting, Ben Kavoussi, Science-Based Medicine, December 16, 2010.
- ↑ Medical Miracle Worker, Chicago Tribune, March 01, 2000, Janet Kinosian.
- ↑ I am confident in my treatment!
- ↑ City Secret - Blood Letting in Old Delhi, The Delhi Walla, Wednesday, January 28, 2009. NSFW
- ↑ Most commonly being the removal of blood from reconstructed body parts, as veins cannot be surgically reconstructed yet.
- ↑ Ayurveda for Alopecia, AltMD.
- ↑ Unani Therapy (Ilaj-bil-Tadbir) to Cure Diseases