Autohemotherapy is part of the field of naturopathy. It describes a stimulation therapy in which the body’s own blood is supplied. This endogenous blood acts as a foreign body stimulus, activates the immune system and stimulates it to initiate the healing process.
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Method of autohemotherapy
A naturopath will take 0.1 to 1 milliliter of blood from your arm vein or fingertip (capillary blood). Now there are different variants in which the blood is either injected directly back into the body or is treated beforehand. Therefore, autologous blood treatment should not be confused with an autologous blood donation . If the alternative medicine practitioner takes the blood from the fingertip, it is then prepared according to homeopathic guidelines and taken orally.
Different variants of autohemotherapy
- The blood taken is not treated — The blood taken from the arm vein is untreated either reinjected into your forearm (subcutaneous form) or mostly into the buttock muscle. A hematoma forms there, which is absorbed by the body and the wound healing begins.
- The blood taken is processed before it is injected into the body — here the autologous blood is usually enriched with UV light or ozone and oxygen. Treatment with ozone and oxygen is mainly used for allergy sufferers. Ozone makes it easier for oxygen to combine with the body’s own blood. This means more oxygen gets into the bloodstream, which the body cells use to produce energy in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). In addition, ozone has virus-inhibiting properties. The prepared blood is then injected back into you. As in homeopathy, like is fought with like, i.e. allergy with the allergy trigger.
In both variants, up to one milliliter of blood is taken during the first autohemotherapy . This amount increases with each additional treatment. Depending on the symptoms, the entire therapy lasts eight to twelve weeks, with autologous blood being injected once or twice a week.
- Potentiated autologous blood (autologous blood nosode) – In this variant, the naturopath takes a drop of blood from your fingertip and potentiates it. A D-potency describes a 1:10 dilution, a C-potency a 1:100 dilution of the blood. The naturopath decides which form of dilution suits your symptoms. The resulting preparation is taken orally at specified time intervals. Autohaemotherapy is usually used for people who are highly allergic, children and people who are afraid of needles.
Mode of action of autohemotherapy
The injected autologous blood gives the body small stimuli, which means that the immune system perceives the body’s own blood as an intruder and foreign body and wants to destroy it. As a result, the number of leukocytes in the body increases and antibodies are formed. As with a normal infection, this can initially lead to fever and fatigue, which is followed by rapid improvement. By activating the immune system, the healing process is initiated at the same time.
Areas of application of autohemotherapy
Autologous blood treatments are mostly used for allergies such as hay fever to train the immune system not to overreact. It is important to start treatment in the allergy-free period. In addition, autologous blood therapies are among the healing methods for asthma, neurodermatitis, psoriasis, rheumatism, chronic diseases and a weakened immune system – i.e. when there is a high susceptibility to infections. Wound healing can also be improved by treating the patient’s own blood . In the case of allergic events after a colon cleansing at home, autohemotherapy can sometimes also help. People with tuberculosis, inflammation of the veins or coagulation disorders are not suitable for this therapy.
Risks and costs of autohemotherapy
Risks of autohemotherapy
Autologous blood treatments are usually well tolerated and carry a low risk of infection. One of the few exceptions is a violent immune reaction that can lead to anaphylactic shock . This can occur even with the smallest amounts of autologous blood in allergy sufferers. If the immune system is stimulated in an uncontrolled manner, it can also happen that tumor cells or bacteria are stimulated to divide and multiply in an uncontrolled manner. Minor side effects such as bruising are more common.
Cost of autohemotherapy
For the classic autologous blood treatment, in which the blood is not treated before the injection, you should calculate 15 to 25 euros per session . However, if your blood is processed with homeopathic remedies, the whole thing costs 50 to 100 euros. Since the treatment is carried out once or twice a week for two to three months, you can quickly add up to several hundred euros.
Does health insurance pay for that?
Here you will find a detailed overview of the health insurance companies that fully or partially cover autohemotherapy!
Which health insurance companies pay for autohemotherapy?
In principle, health insurance companies do not have to pay for the costs that arise from autologous blood treatment, since there is no medical evidence that this actually has any effect. Some health insurance companies still cover the costs or at least part of them. The BERGISCHE health insurance company, SECURVITA health insurance company and Techniker Krankenkasse cover the costs for a “max. 100.00% for all service providers in the entire supply area” (as of June 17, 2016). The IKK Südwest and the IKK Brandenburg and Berlin cover 80% of the costs, but a maximum of 150 euros. “Max. 100.00% and a maximum of EUR 41.94 for all services provided in the entire supply area” is taken over by the HEK (Hanseatische Krankenkasse) (as of June 17th, 2016).
