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I have just witnessed the wet cupping procedure being performed and have questions regarding the blood that is seen in the cups. I understand there are no studies that show cupping is an effective treatment for many diseases as some claim it to be but my question is regarding the blood that is released.

The procedure aims to eliminate the 'bad blood' which leaves clean blood to circulate the body, the practitioner pointed out the difference between the clean and bad blood and there was a substantial difference in how it looked and flowed. The blood was very clumped up and thick and didn't flow well at all whereas some of the blood was a lot more fluid and was able to flow easily. I was told this runny blood is clean blood and is what we want in our bodies. My questions are what is the thick clumpy blood and why is it like that? Is it actually bad blood?

Thank you in advance!

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    $\begingroup$ This is very good question indeed as I spoke to someone who said that he had it done and he could literally feel the difference in stress levels and blood pressure. I couldnt find correlation between the two so this is interesting topic to explore. $\endgroup$
    – gfdsal
    Sep 9, 2020 at 19:47
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    $\begingroup$ I believe the reduction in blood pressure maybe due to the removal of blood so with less blood circulating the pressure would drop but I may be wrong. I have also spoken with many people who have had the procedure done and they claim it massively helped with reducing pain such as back pain. I was really shocked at how thick the blood was, it was like a solid and many videos show this same thing and I was curious as to why the blood is that thick and how it doesn't cause the blood vessels to block. $\endgroup$
    – James
    Sep 9, 2020 at 20:04
  • $\begingroup$ Are you familiar with clotting? $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause
    Sep 9, 2020 at 20:40
  • $\begingroup$ Clotting occurs at the site of damage and this causes the blood to thicken right? If that is correct, then I do understand clotting but my question occurred because some of the cups had little to no thick clotted blood whereas others had the blood completely clotted and some cups had a mixture. Why does this occur if it is only due to blood clotting, shouldn't all cups have a similar amount of blood and shouldn't the blood all have the same viscosity also? $\endgroup$
    – James
    Sep 9, 2020 at 20:48
  • $\begingroup$ @James That would happen if all the cups were placed at the same time (since clotting takes some time). Did you observe any pattern—e.g. cups placed earlier had thicker blood? $\endgroup$
    – Adhish
    Sep 13, 2020 at 6:04

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We had a demonstration of blood coagulation/clotting in a biology lesson with the school nurse. She just took half a test-tube of blood sample from a class pupil and we waited a moment, and the blood became a solid lump inside the test-tube.

The process is there to protect you from leaking blood if you cut yourself, the process uses fibers and platelets and complex proteins.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blood+clotting

wiki: Coagulation

Blood letting is a very ancient practice that used all sorts of methods like annelids/leeches, which has not been proven to have any benefits. The blood in your body does not seperate into good blood and bad blood by sitting in a jar.

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    $\begingroup$ let's all downvote everything on the site :) that would be positive :) $\endgroup$ Sep 10, 2020 at 19:01
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    $\begingroup$ Exactly, someone is fooling around by downvoting most of the questions. $\endgroup$
    – gfdsal
    Sep 10, 2020 at 20:06
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    $\begingroup$ What an awesome answer! Thank you! I too don't understand all of the downvotes, I showed research in my question and I believe it to be a good biological question and one which may help someone who had a similar question. 3 downvotes seems a bit excessive maybe if the downvoters explained what was wrong with the question it would help me and others avoid such mistakes in the future, helping the site the improve. $\endgroup$
    – James
    Sep 10, 2020 at 23:14

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