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Therapy from tradition
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Alternative therapies are getting increasingly popular owing to relatively low costs and the absence of side effects.
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A believe-it-or-not case: Kamlesh at Rajgarh
SUMATHI'S TWO-year-old son once had a severe stomach infection. She was ready to do anything to stop the blood-mixed loose stools, his pain, and the vomit. The paediatrician put him on an antibiotic for five days. It arrested the motion in a day. When Sumathi casually glanced at the label of the medicine, she was informed that the preparation contained a compound that was "found to be carcinogenic in rats and mice" and that it was "not to be used unless under prescription".
It was in that instant that she was "cured of allopathy". "I have put my children on homoeopathic medicine for everything from colds to falls. It works beautifully on them. Antibiotics affect their appetite, make them cranky monsters or leave them with a hangover of dull weakness even after the symptoms disappear. Not so with the homoeopathic sugar pills that my children love. What is that system of medicine where one is told to give a carcinogenic preparation to their children?" she fumes.
Sumathi is a classic prototype of many educated mothers who take to alternative systems of medicine to protect their children from "the adverse effects of allopathic medicine". Adults too are turning to alternative therapies to tackle ailments ranging from fever and cancer. Sidda vaidya, pranic healing, homoeopathy, naturopathy, ayurveda, nadi vaidya (pulse-reading), yoga, massage therapy... . the list is exhaustive. And this does not include the host of spiritual therapies that try to cure through mind power.
Given our heritage of tried and tested therapies, where does allopathy stand? Dr. Hemant K. Kalyan, an orthopaedic surgeon, while agreeing that people may be turning to alternative medical systems to avoid the side effects of allopathy, contends that fashionable views on allopathy are not entirely objective. "If a person needs surgery for replacement of his knee cap, he needs just that. Nothing else will give him relief. I tell my patients to try everything and come back. They always do. Antibiotics are curative. Steroids are curative, indispensable, and life saving. These have a bad name because they are misused by practitioners and even taken randomly by patients without proper advice."
He, however, agrees that in some conditions, alternative treatments produce great results. Breathing exercises help asthmatics tremendously. "I tell my patients with chronic low back pain to continue their yoga, while warning them against some asanas."
Refuting Sumathi's allegations against allopathic medicine, Dr. Hemant observes: "One cannot question the validity of a medical system with biased eyes. At least, that medicine had a label, warning the user of its contents. Which ayurvedic or homoeopathic medicine will tell you what it contains? There are legal remedies for anyone ill-treated by allopathic doctors, institutions to sue. These are not developed to that extent in other systems of medicine. Weighing risks and benefits is important."
But Padmini, mother of a five-year-old and seven-year-old, is not impressed. "Isn't the air we breathe getting more carcinogenic everyday? Our vegetables grown with pesticides are probably carcinogenic. Why don't we consider all that?" She prefers homoeopathy for her children to tackle even severe infections. "I just don't trust any other medicine to work well, and with no side effects."
Every industry has its black sheep and the ayurvedic one is no exception. But there are now companies like Himalaya whose research-based ayurvedic preparations are gaining popularity. "Not even one product of ours has been withdrawn after launch," pointed out a senior executive from the company at Arogya 2002, a health expo sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bangalore Cantonment recently.
The meet offered an interesting perspective of alternative and holistic streams of medicine. There were people like Pinky Robert, an aromatherapist, who displayed a range of essential oils, carrier oils, and herbal powders for a range of ailments and disorders.
While one pranic healer in the health expo claimed that an electric device could recharge the body with positive energy, another was using waving gestures around the subject to do the same. They claimed they could tackle the side effects of some diseases such as Aids and cancer, hair fall that follows chemotherapy, as well as reduce post-operative stress and pain.
Kamlesh, 40, who was a stage-2B stomach cancer patient, is a believe-it-or-not case of a person who rejected chemotherapy for herbal remedy. "I refused to undergo chemo as I had heard of a herbal treatment for cancer patients at Rajgarh near Bhopal. Though I could order it by post, I went there to see the villager, Mangilal, who would treat me. When I alighted from the train at Bhopal and started for Rajgarh, people asked me if I was a cancer patient. Cancer patients throng Rajgarh where Mangilal's son continues this treatment. The medicine is a powder with 70 per cent badam and 30 per cent herbs. It is delivered by VPP if the key details are sent to them by post," says Kamlesh, who says in a month and a half, his reports showed he was normal.
"The best part of this preparation is that it is cost-effective, delivered at your doorstep and can be taken along with your other allopathic medicines," says Rajalakshmi, whose husband has been on this medicine for one year, after being discharged from Apollo, Madras. "The diet restrictions, however, have to be followed strictly."
CHARUMATHI SUPRAJA
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