7/22/2003: Palestinian bloodletting quackery
 

http://cellar.org/2003/palbloodletting.jpg

I'm sure there's a long history of bloodletting and how it's been a substitute for real medicine, but here we see that this history is not yet over. This is from last week's MSNBC Week in Pics and apparently shows a man getting treatment for headaches from a Palestinian doctor in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The caption says this same treament is used for "rheumatism, cancer, infertility, high blood pressure, eczema and a variety of other ailments."

"miraculously" being the key word there.

How does it work?
 

How do the glass balls draw the blood out? It appears as though they are suctioned onto his back, so I guess if there's a vacuum in there it would help draw the blood out? How do they create the vacuum?

I wonder ir it's something nasty like they press the globe to his back with a small tube inside, then suck some air out, and then slip the tube out?

It looks like they're burning a piece of paper inside it to create suction. This works rather well - get a beaker, light a piece of paper on fire, put it inside, stick the beaker on your forehead and wait a few minutes. :)

It looks like what the practitioner (I can't bring myself to use the word doctor) is doing here is a variation of cupping. I hadn't seen cupping associated with bloodletting, though. (I'm reminded of Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live doing the Medieval Barber Surgeon sketch ... "We'll have to bleed him!")

The glass jars are affixed to the skin by means of a vacuum formed by heating the tops of the jars. The things people will pay for ...

That being said, however, our friend the leech is getting a second try in the medical world ... they are being used to assist in restoring circulation following limb reattachment surgeries.

Other seemingly icky treatments include using maggots to debride infected wounds (they work cheaper than even medical residents).

Oh Yeah
 

I have given blood periodically since I was 17. I swear it makes you feel better, or maybe it's just psychological impact of knowing that a portion of your blood is "fresh" from the marrow in the weeks following. Sort of like the psychological effect of being skinny and then getting muscular, when your new muscles are fresh. Nevermind me man I'm a bit futzed at the moment.

Anyways I tried to give blood on Friday night and they TURNED ME DOWN in the screening process. Apparently they don't want the blood of people who have partied a little too hard in the past year.

Re: 7/22/2003: Palestinian bloodletting quackery
 

I'm stickin' to 2 aspirin.

I sold plasma a few times when I was a really poor student. Finally the desperate vibe of the "center" freaked me out. That and getting my vein "infiltrated" by a gum popping phlebotomist wannabe with press-on nails. I can still see her running her gigantic nails down my dangling tube wondering aloud why I've stopped filling my bag. Ow. I almost passed out. I got really pale and cold. I remember that "Terms of Endearment" was on the TV- Debra Winger spiraling down. They gave me cookies and Tang.

When I suggested that I would gladly just call it a day, she said if I'd wait, they could separate what theyve got, poke me on the other side, and give me "my juice (whole blood) back". No. Thank you. Bye forever. Big nasty bruise on my sore forearm.

I still give blood on occasion, but cant watch the needle. I can't say that I've ever felt any related burst of refreshment.:)

Well letting the leeches suck the blood out of you is better than letting the alternative bloodsuckers do the job...lawyers.

unless that rule went into effect less than 2 months ago, thats not true. my sister was an organ / tissue donor, and we lived in england from 1988 - 1990.

~james

hmm, i guess im of two minds on that then. if she did 'slip through', on one hand im glad she did, because she saved several lives and that has served to be a great comfort to me.

on the other hand, while im quite sure she did not have the disease in question, i find it somewhat disconcerting. the donor program folks asked specifically if she lived in europe and when we replied in the affirmative, they asked for details. so i have to wonder where the breakdown was.

after searching myself, the only thing i could really find was here. while that page discusses blood donation, i imagine the rules for organ / tissue donation would be much the same.

~james

There is no way on this earth that I would ever let a leech or a maggot anywhere near my body to suck blood. Makes me want to vomit just thinking about it. :vomit:

Really?
 

Leah,
One time when I was a young lad, I was wading in a lake. When I got out, I had a whole family of leeches on my leg. A big black momma leech and about ten little white baby leeches. It took forever to pull them off...

[wanders away, whistling nonchalantly...]

smartass question
 

So what do UK blood banks do for blood????

My wife is not supposed to give blood because she had mono & it caused her to have a false positive for hepatitis.

Blood letting definately works.
If for instance, all the people with high blood pressure slashed their wrists, there would be a lot less people with high blood pressure.:p

Happy Monkey how horrible that must have been.
I can remember about 15 yrs ago I was visiting friends who lived up near Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, ( they were neighbours of mine here in Sydney, city folk) they moved their family up there so I went and visited. We found a leech and we were playing with it when all of a sudden at attached itself to the palm of my hand, well you have never heard a girl scream so loud like I did, my scream echoed through the mountains/valley and everyone around me where in a fit of laughter whilst I was running around screaming for help. Now I look back at it it was rather funny, but very scary. I always remember that move that River Phoenix was in where a huge leech attached itself the one of the boys penis. What was that movie called again? :eek:

Re: smartass question
 

I've got a relative in the blood business. They used to move a lot of product overseas including Germany and Japan but I don't know about the UK.

That's right, thanks for that.:D

Howzabout a leech on your eye!?
 

My buddy was vacationing in Australia when he got leech attached to his eyeball! There was a lump under his eyelid for the whole two hour drive back to civilization. The doctors left him under a hot lamp for fifteen minutes and the leech fell out from under his eye.

Donating blood
 

Yeah - it's the same for me - I lived in England my whole life until 1999 when I moved to Brussels - I started giving blood in about 2001, but after a couple of times (they take it anyway, then throw it away if you fail screening) I received a letter asking me to stop donating...

It's a shame - I'd always been a bit nervous about giving blood, and once I got over it and started, I was told that I had to stop. Bah!

-- Pete.

Low tech solution
 

I was at a gathering of my extended family, and my various uncles just pulled them off. I was pretty young, so my memory isn't 100% clear, but I do remember that they really can stretch.

As a lawyer for Medicare, I had a case where a lady had a pressure sore on her leg and when they unwrapped the dressings, 150 maggots fell out. So they cleaned her up, dressed the wound again, and about a week later, 30 or so more maggots. Then, she ended up at the hospital about a week or so later...you guessed it, more maggots. The nursing home presented several arguments in its defense: that the maggots could have hatched within 12 hours after a fly landed on her; that she must have gotten them when she went outside; that maggots only eat dead tissue so they were beneficial, etc. I jumped all over the last argument: the screw-fly maggot eats both live and dead tissue, so it's not beneficial...and, of course, where is the informed consent of the patient? Maggot therapy does exist, but they use (sexually) sterile and very clean maggots.

Sorry. Had to rant. Back to work now.

Harry

Wow.. you're a lawyer??

Re: Howzabout a leech on your eye!?
 

Thanks. When i wake up scereaming in the night clawing at my eyes, ill know who to thank.

ANd if you like that, look up eyeworms!!
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/loa.html
PAybacks a bitch.

And an expert on maggots and leaches.
Sorry, Hairdog, that was uncalled for and tactless......but I couldn't help myself.:D

That's okay, Bruce. I did become somewhat of an expert on maggots...was able to destroy the testimony of the other side's expert. And, as far as leeches are concerned...remember, I'm a government attorney. The real bloodsuckers are in the private bar...like my wife. :^)

:eek: Boy, are you gonna get it. Come to think of it, no you're not.:D