Blood Letting

When is Blood letting done?

Unlike other Panchkarma therapies which are done with the idea of balancing the vitiated doshas, blood letting is done with the purpose of purifying the blood when one or more symptoms of the presence of impure blood are seen. The symptoms are:

• Vata-vitiated blood: Darkish Red, non-slimy, foamy, thin, shrinking of blood vessels
• Pitta-vitiated blood: Yellow or blackish color of the blood, takes longer to coagulate, lot of bleeding even with small cuts
• Kapha-vitiated blood: Slightly pale colored, slimy, thick, clots even within the blood vessels

Blood letting must be preceded by oleation and sudation therapies.

Along with this, if person is going through any other Panchkarma procedures, those must be completed first and then the need of blood letting must be evaluated. If required, then only this procedure should be done. It is quite likely that other procedures when done would result in eliminating the need of doing this procedure all together.

Types of Blood letting:

• Prachanam - involves prickling with a needle or a blade
• Jalaukavacharanam - involves use of leeches (most commonly practiced)
• Shringam - involves use of vaccum bottles, was traditionally done using animal horns
• Sira Vedham - involves cutting of veins - is done for purification of blood all over the body

Uses:

Blood letting is done to cure the following diseases:

• Skin diseases like itching, eczema, psoriasis, discoloration etc
• Auto immune diseases
• Diabetic wounds
• Arthritis
• Conjunctivitis
• Piles
• Headache and migraine
• Broken blood vessels
• Varicose Veins, Spider Veins
• Blood clots
• Poisonous bites (emergency use)
• Very high blood pressure (emergency use)

Benefits of Blood letting:

• Reduces discoloration of the skin
• Quality of the blood and skin improves
• Inflammation reduces
• Clots reduce
• Helps in quicker healing of wounds especially in blood letting
• Increases the digestive powers of the body
• Cures diseases such as chronic wounds, diabetic ulcers, varicose veins and various skin diseases

Should not be done in the following cases:

• Children, old age, debility
• Pregnancy, post-delivery
• Hemophobic people
• Ones who already have low blood supply in the body
• Heat in the body is too high
• Alcohol has been consumed
• After excessive consumption of acidic or sour foods
• On blood thinners
• Any type of bleeding conditions (including menstruation)
• Swelling all over the body
• Anaemics

Should Blood Letting be done by fully healthy person?

• No 

References:

Primary Source: School of Ayurveda and Panchkarma - Lectures and Notes