Mode of action

When blood is taken out of the circulation, its quality changes abruptly: it turns from a means of transport into a remedy. This is because, after reinjection, the blood is no longer recognised as the body’s own substance but as foreign to the body, and, in a similar way to a vaccination, exerts an antigen-antibody stimulus. The manifold components of the blood, such as proteins, antibodies, immunocompetent cells and various toxins, as a colourful palette of existing and past illnesses, make the reinjected blood the ideal immunomodulator, tailored most precisely to the individual.

History

Autologous blood therapies are among the oldest therapeutic procedures known to us. As early as the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC they were used quite successfully in traditional Chinese medicine for regulatory stimulation in chronic illnesses: on the one hand in the form of needling to produce subpetechial bleeding (mini-haematomas), on the other in the form of a painful pinching massage, likewise accompanied by bruising (haematoma formation).

Autologous blood therapy only found its way into Western medicine at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Swedish physicians Grafstrøm and Elfstrøm successfully used autologous blood diluted with saline in pneumonia and tuberculosis. Then, in 1905, the renowned surgeon August Bier observed the markedly improved healing tendency of fractures following the injection of autologous blood between the fracture sites.

Thanks to good results, the indication was extended in the following years to dermatoses, chronic infectious diseases and poorly healing wounds. In that period of very limited diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, autologous blood therapy represented an enormous therapeutic advance. Only the advent of the sulphonamides in the 1930s and of penicillin at the end of the Second World War displaced this long-established form of therapy. With the misplaced hopes in the new “antibiotic wave”, the other immunotherapeutic agents and regulatory stimulation agents, which strengthen the patient’s defences, also disappeared from everyday practice.

The renaissance of autologous blood therapy

Over the course of time, the following developed from the main stem of classical autologous blood therapy

HOT (haematogenous oxidation therapy)
Preparation of an autonosode by serial dilution of the patient’s own blood, the use of which opens up a broad spectrum of indications (e.g. in allergies and autoaggressive diseases).
Admixture of various substances to the autologous blood
Addition of ozone.

Effect

Autologous blood therapy leads to an inflammatory reaction with a rise in an improved immune response. According to the Arndt-Schulz rule, small and very small stimuli lead to a stimulation of the immune system, whereas large and excessively large stimuli, that is, large quantities of reinjected autologous blood, lead to exactly the opposite effect, namely a reversible collapse of the immune system. As a “jolt to the autonomic nervous system”, autologous blood therapy is also frequently able to improve or even release energy blockages that make the treatment of chronic illnesses more difficult or prevent it.

Successful autologous blood therapy requires an immune system that can be stimulated. Severe wasting diseases, advanced tumour diseases and acute lung diseases should, as a matter of principle, not be treated with autologous blood therapy. The frequently occurring initial aggravations in particular can catapult a subacute process into a highly florid, critical state of illness. In principle, so-called initial aggravations are entirely desired. In chronic illnesses in particular, a return to an acute stage means a therapeutic success.

Improvement in general well-being
Psychological stabilisation, antidepressant effect
Improvement of menopausal complaints
Improvement of sleep and concentration disorders
Stimulation of appetite and metabolism
Promotion of convalescence after illnesses
Analgesic effect in chronic pain conditions
Anti-inflammatory effect (recurrent infections)
Irritation zone activation of silent zones (e.g. teeth).

Main indications

Influenza-like infection (viral flu with and without fever)
Tonsillitis (subacute, chronic recurrent)
Chronic ENT infections (especially chronic sinusitis)
Pollinosis
Acute and chronic bronchitis
Bronchial asthma
Weakened immune defences
Hypotension
Psychovegetative lability
Allergic skin diseases
Acne-furunculosis
Chronic recurrent cystitis
Soft-tissue rheumatism, e.g. epicondylitis
Degenerative joint diseases
Herpes simplex, herpes zoster
Functional bowel disorders, e.g. irritable colon
Chronic gastritis, Crohn’s disease

Technique of autologous blood therapy

The technique of classical autologous blood therapy is simple and inexpensive. A course of treatment comprises 6 to 12 sessions, twice a week. One begins with 0.5 to 1 ml and increases step by step to 5 ml of autologous blood. This quantity can be maintained over several sessions. Larger quantities of autologous blood are used in acute illnesses.

Basic rule

Chronic illnesses: small and very small quantities of autologous blood, long treatment-free intervals
Acute illnesses: larger quantities of autologous blood, short treatment intervals

Overall, autologous blood therapy can be described as an extremely important basic naturopathic procedure that broadens and complements the spectrum of other therapeutic procedures.