"Who knew hijaamah was such a great way to detox?" - By Farah Anwarullah

"Who knew hijaamah was such a great way to detox?" -
A hijama experience from Alexandria, Egypt by Farah Anwarullah

This is a guest-post in the form of a written interview with Farah Anwarullah, a hijama patient from Michigan, USA who had hijama done in Alexandria, Egypt.

- What condition did you suffer from?
Neck pain, severe lower back pain, upper back pain, and very prone to headaches.

- Where do you live and where did you go for the hijama therapy?
I live in Michigan, USA but currently am in Alexandria, Egypt studying abroad.

- What did the treatment involve?
I was cupped in about 10 different spots which included: temples, middle of forehead, neck, scapula (shoulder blades) area, mid and lower back and lower abdomen

- What was the result?
The hijama experience itself was not painful, the therapist was very gentle with her incisions and took her time. The suctioning felt a bit uncomfortable on my lower back as she had done dry cupping in that area. Immediately after I felt pretty positive and energetic. More details on the after effects below...

- What was your overall impression of the therapist and her practice?
Mashallah she was amazing. She took all the time she needed, did not rush at all. Very clean, and sterile. The incisions were done very well, and healed within a week. And most importantly she asked every so often how I was feeling. She made things very comfortable.

- How did the therapist get to learn hijama therapy (was it a course she attended or was it something handed down from generation to generation in her family)?
She did a hijama course here in Alexandria, Egypt. It is not an uncommon practice.

- How long has the therapist been practicing this therapy, and is it a service she provides to all who need it or is it only for family and friends?
I know she has been practicing for some time, not exactly sure of how long. Her gentleness during the procedure and precision shows that she has been doing it for some time. She provides the service for any females in need of hijama.

- How long did the treatment last and how much did it cost?
It took about 2.5 hours. She told me that she would take whatever I thought was appropriate. My friend had asked around before the procedure and 80 L.E (Egyptian Pounds) was a pretty normal price for the amount of areas she cupped.

- Overall impression of the therapy?
It was an amazing experience, I had total trust in the treatment since its benefits are recorded through the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

-In depth description of hijama treatment.

The therapist started the procedure on my back, placing several cups in different areas. She first suctioned them to my back and let them sit for three to four minutes. Then she removed them and made small incisions in the area where the skin was suctioned. Pretty much the suctioning of the skin is supposed to bring bad/toxic blood, if there is any, to the surface. Bad blood remains stagnant in your system and effects your overall well-being. Removal of this bad blood improves circulation of your blood.

Next, she placed the cups back to the spots they were originally at and she re-suctioned them to my back. After that I waited patiently to see if any bad blood would come out. To my surprise the suctioning of the cup and the incisions didn’t really hurt. After about five to six minutes she removed the cups one by one. I kept asking her whether or not there was any bad blood, for the first few cups there was none, then she showed me what bad blood looked like…let’s just say gross! When the good blood came out it came out fairly quickly and was bright red in color. But you knew when bad blood was bad when it would come out in big, slow droplets. When she wiped the bad blood off of me and show it to me it was a jelly consistency and was dark maroon, yuck!

She did about 10 cups in total. Many were done on my back and a few on my neck and shoulders. When I looked at the places she cupped me I noticed I had bright red circles everywhere, which is totally normal. I felt instant relief of tension in some areas of my back. After the procedure she rubbed some ointment on me and gave my friend and I after procedure instructions.

The after procedure instructions were as follows: rest for three days (she was quite serious about this), she had instructed us to really take it easy for three days, not doing much housework and heavy lifting. The she told us to keep warm and told us we may feel really cold soon after the hijaamah. And she also told us to stay away from dairy products. It was late at night by the time we were done with the hijaamah. I felt very excited that I was able to experience this sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), alhumdulilah. That night I wasn’t feeling too bad, just very tired and a bit cold.

The morning after on the other hand was a whole different story! I had woken up in the middle of the night with a extremely bad headache. It was so throbbing of a headache that I couldn’t move or even get up to pray Fajr salah. I tried to be patient with it, hoping it would go away…it didn’t. Few hours after Fajr I felt so sick inside, I went to the bathroom and ending up throwing up very bitter, very green, very nasty stuff! I threw up about five times. Still had a pounding headache and was extremely tired. My husband then told me that my breath smelled radioactive! That evening I pretty much closed the door to my room and slept it out. We found out that all these symptoms I was having was my body excreting the toxins it had been holding on to for god knows how long! She said it was totally normal and should pass in a few days. After the three day rest period I felt better than ever. I felt less tense, had less craving for sweets and snacks and was in a great mood.

Subhanallah who knew hijaamah was such a great way to detox!


Farah Anwarullah
www.themuslimhousewife.com
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Our thanks to Farah Anwarullah, a hijama patient from Alexandria, Egypt for sharing the above post. If you have a question for Farah or if you have also had experience of hijama therapy in Egypt, then please share it via a comment* below.

If you are a hijama therapist or patient and are happy to share your knowledge or experience via a guest blog-post like the one above, please send me an email to: hijama.mail@gmail.com.

*Comments are moderated to prevent spamming so may take some time to appear

Dr Rizwhan Suleman visits Leicester to offer Hijama Therapy

Dr Rizwhan Suleman visits Leicester to offer Hijama Therapy to 34 patients.

Over 3 weekends in July, Dr Rizwhan Suleman (see previous post dated 3 May, 2009: A comparison of Hijama (Cupping Therapy) with Chiropractic) kindly travelled from Cardiff, Wales to offer Hijama Therapy to selected people in Leicester.

After the sessions we interviewed Dr Suleman about his services and his impression of the people he treated in Leicester.

What type of hijama treatments do you offer?

I have two different types of treatment available, one for basic hijama designed for people wanting to fulfil the Sunna alone and another designed for people who would like to address specific health problems that they are suffering with, as well as fulfilling the Sunna.

For those wishing to have the treatment for Sunna purposes alone I first determine if the person is suitable for hijama treatment or not. I then start by explaining the procedure and all the possible side effects. If the patent is happy, we then continue with the hijama treatment with only one cup applied on the back of the neck in between the shoulder blades. This point is well reported as a site the prophet Muhammad (sws) used and is seen in the traditional sense to be a point for promoting general health.

For those wishing to address a particular problem I first find out what the root of their problem is and whether or not hijama could be of benefit to them. I discuss this with the patient and then explain the procedure in detail, explaining all the possible side effects. If in my view the patient is suitable for the treatment and is happy with everything we discuss we begin the treatment by applying a combination of wet and/or dry cups, as and where needed for their particular condition.

How do you determine if a patent is suitable for hijama or not and how do you find out what their problem is?

For all patients I begin by taking a case history to gain an insight into their current health status. This involves questions about diet, lifestyle, past and present medication, supplements, family and what we medically call a “systems review”. This is a detailed series of questions enquiring about any past or present problems in each of the different body systems. This usually takes approximately 25 minutes in a straight forward case however as most cases are not straight forward on average this takes approximately 40 minutes.


I then continue by doing some basic physical examinations called vital signs. This is to make sure blood pressure, temperature; heart rate and breathing rate are all within normal limits. Once I have gathered all of this information I have enough to determine whether or not it is safe to continue with hijama treatment. If I feel that the patient is not suitable for treatment other options are suggested, if there are symptoms that concern me and require further investigation I refer the patient back to their GP or health care provider for this.

For those patients that wish to address a particular condition, I take a further and more detailed case history into the problem/s that they are experiencing before starting any examinations. This can take an extra half hour and involves questions specific to their complaint. I then continue with their medical examination by taking their vital signs and by examining the area and related areas that they are experiencing problems with. Depending on the complaint I use a combination of orthopaedic, neurological and manual palpation examination techniques to try and uncover the cause of the problem. Once I have complete all the examinations I explain to the patient what I have found and what the apparent problem is. After discussing the treatment options with the patient we continue with hijama if appropriate. Again if there are any symptoms that concern me I refer the patient back to their GP or health care provider.

What type of cups and cupping techniques do you use/offer?


For wet cupping I only use the mechanical plastic cups for the sake of hygiene and ease of use. These cups are single use cups however I allow the patients to take these cups away with them. They have the option of sterilising the cups themselves at home and reusing them on the next visit or they can purchase new cups each time.


For dry cupping I use the fire cupping method with traditional class cups. In this method I use ethanol soaked cotton wool to create a flame in the cup to produce the vacuum. These cups are washed and sterilised for each visit.

I also use these cups for the moving cupping technique. I find these more effective than the other options due to their smooth edges.


How did you find Leicester and what was your impression of the general health status of the people you saw?

Alhumdulilah Leicester is a very nice place with a vibrant Muslim community. As for health status I must say generally there is lots of room for improvement in areas such as diet, exercise and general lifestyle with regards to obtaining healthier living. Many people had not visited their G.P in over 2 years and some had never had their blood pressure checked before. It is understandable that the health systems are under a lot of pressure but this is no reason to give up on your own health care. If there is something that is concerning you, make sure you are seen by your G.P. If you are not happy with what he has said or advised than tell him, and ask to be referred. Health is the greatest wealth and it is something that should not be wasted.

With regards to hijama the response was huge and I apologise that we were not able to accommodate all the people who wished to receive care. Inshallah due to the high demand we will be looking to arrange another session in the near future. I hope and pray that all who were treated were happy with the service they received and pray that Allah grant you all Shiffa from your complaints and good health in the future. Ameen.

Jazakallah Br Shuaib for all the hard work and effort in arranging this for the people of Leicester.

FEATURED HIJAMA THERAPIST:
Dr Rizwhan Suleman

LOCATION
Cardiff
Wales

CONTACT DETAILS:
Email: rizwhan_s@hotmail.com
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Our thanks to Dr Rizwhan Suleman from Cardiff, Wales for sharing the above post. If you were treated by Dr Suleman during his visit, then kindly leave him some feedback on your treatment by leaving a comment* below.



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*Comments are moderated to prevent spamming so may take some time to appear