SURGICAL LAMINECTOMY, A FAILURE ?

DATE : 16/5/2014

PLACE : TIRUCHIRAPPALLY

Due to the special shape, i mean an erect shape of the human vertebrae, he is prone to a special type of disease called the BACK PAIN ! 

Almost 90% of the cases that come to an Ayurvedic hospital invoves disease involving spine and joints, and majority of them being what is put in our diagnosis column as THE LUMBAR DISC DISEASE(LDD-we prefer shorter formatt for everything) or THE CERVICAL DISC DISEASE.

When I pass through my memory of taking cases , intriguing patients, writing down their history of presenting complaints (all in the typical medical stereotypical manner, no compromise for that !), one very strange fact came to my observation which was also pointed out by one of my senoir docs, about the failure of surgery in treating back pain related cases. (He strongly advices every patient that comes to him not to take surgery)

I remember one such instant where, a patient with L4L5 disc prolapse, complaining of thigh pain and calf pain for left lower limb, which suddenly aggravated after subsiding , posing a surprise for us (our assumption .....or rather my assumption was that , he would have aggravted his condition himself by forward bending, which is not advised in such cases!) !

He adamantly requested for a discharge, and almost lost the confidence in the treatment ! Dammit, I almost had my heart in my mouth ! But to my rescue, at that very same instance there were two other patients who had performed a laminectomy treatment, and got bilateral radiculopathy , which was then unilateral, before the treatment !

Our doctor introduced these patients to the complaintee and he seemed somewhat satisfied as there was no other go !

But Ayurveda Panchakarma showed its effects two days later when the pain was controlled, and the radiating pain was not present even when the patient was asked to sit and walk for more than half an hour.

NOTE : THE ABOVE SAID ARE JUST OBSERVATIONS AND THE EFFICACY OF PANCHAKARMA THERAPIES OVER SURGERY HAS NOT YET BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY PROVED !

ALS,,...ayurveda,,,,the effect of holistic healing ! "god sure lives in the neurons" !!!

Two years before during the initial stages of my clinical practise in hospital as an RMO I came to encounter the ALS, the amyotropic disease, but I did not know the disease was such rare and could become so severe, that the awareness created for it that is the ice bucket challenge spread like a wild fire, from the clebrities to the common man.

The patient, a short statured female of 46, had presenting complaints of, progressive weakness for both upper limb since 15 yrs, which worsened since the past 2 yrs or so, difficulty to lift both the hands and hold objects such as a glass tumbler, pain for the entire spine, non essential tremor for legs while carrying weight  or while standing for long time, pain for shoulder joint, wrist joint and knee, morning stiffness especially for neck and shoulders, difficulty in getting up from bed, numbness in thighs and generalised weakness. The onset was insidious.

Patients appetite was less and the sleep was disturbed. Blood pressure , pulse and other vitals were normal.

Gait was difficult due to LL weakness especially the instability of hip being the predominant symptom.Upper limb reflexes were diminished or absent while the lower limb reflexes were normal.The power of shoulder were 2/5, elbow were 3/5 and the wrist were 4/5, while that of hips were 3/5, knees and ankles were 4/5. The Creatinine phosphate and Creatinine phosphate cardiac marker values were 134 and 5 IU/ML resply which were within normal ranges.

The main challenge as far as the treatment were concerned was in returning the lost confidence of the patient who was anxious, depressed ( and why not ?) usually replying in trembled tones about her complaints and worried about her fate ! But to our aid, she was an ardent believer of Sathya sai baba, and when ever we entered her room , we could here songs of sai from her tape which she used to carry with her every where ! The treatments and medicines given were nothing different from what other ayurvedic hospitals give like abhyangam, choorna swedam, anuvasana vasti, njavara kizhi etc...vata samana and brmhana therapy with dhanada nayanadi kashayam and vidaryadi kashayam respectively, Dhanwantaram 101 avarti, Ksheerabala thailam for head etc...which is a common treatment schedule for an ayurvedic doctor ! But the patient needed her doubts to be cleared off ! Wether she could walk ? Is it possible to get better with this treatment ? But we ensured her 60% relief ! Two years after the treatment she is going good, and that is a good news for all patients with neuro-degenerative diseases including Multiple sclerosis, Demyelinating neuropathies, Poly neuropathies, GBS, Peripheral neuropathies etc !

Believe in god ! Be an theist if you have MND ! I have seen some theories as to "GOD LIVES IN NEURONS"...and so on.....but as far as MND is concerned, God exists and it sure lives in the neurons !
By Dr.Prasanth BAMS, Kerala Ayurveda Hospital, Trichy.
29/08/2014

AN OPEN LETTER TO NARENDRA MODI !

FATE OF AYURVEDA DOCTORS ???

This is in reference to your budget that was presented a week before or so, where Indian System of Medicine, Ayurveda was given the least or negligible importance. Ayurveda is India is under the regulation of AYUSH under the ministry of health. This is not only a concerned plea regarding the approach towards Ayurveda, which pioneered the whole concept of Medical Tourism in India, which in Kerala alone is to be worth 4billion $ by 2017, but regarding the fate of Health Sector in our country. Indian Health Care system is just a nominal health care system, there is not enough hospitals, doctors, medical staffs medicines or ambulance services available in the country.Quallity of care and accessibility is very poor. Most of the people depend on private hospitals for health care except very poor people, who depend upon government hospitals because they cant afford private out of pocket health care. This system cant be called a health care system on western perspective. Although the initiative of distributing free over the counter drugs is welcome, my concern is about providing expert care in rural areas. The role played by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in elevating the health status of China and the steps taken by Chinese governments to endorse it has benifitted it very well. The New Rural Cooperative Medical Care System , a 2005 initiative, with an investment of 2.4 billion US $ from the Chinese govt to be spent over a period of five years primarily was meant at over hauling the private medical systems, for which the TCM played a huge role in giving essential services to the rurals, with them being equppied with necessary western methods of treatment especially in handling emergencies.Today TCM continues to be a part of all major and minor hospitals in China even though the integration level varies in different hospitals and it is to be accepted that the process is still not smooth one. The Modern and Traditional methods don’t easily merge ! China is also a witness to mass mobilisation campaings for health and patriotic health campaigns for the eradication of epidemics. Barefoot doctors from people commune are a part of history ! They stand as a testimony to health care development in China with them being trained equally in Traditional and Modern medicine. Such a spate of affair is totally lacking in India. The Modern hospitals don’t have an Ayurvedic wing, and even government hospitals don’t have it ! Here Modern and Ayurvedic medicine are treated separately, and only MBBS graduates are considered to be fit for treating patients. They (allopaths in india)are totally ignorant of the theories of Ayurveda yet prescribe a wide variety of patent ayurvedic propreitary medicines for all sorts of diseases. There is no major hospital that exists in India that has its reputation for giving quality ayurvedic treatment , that is run by the central or state govts, other than that under the colleges which can be counted with our fingers. So the need for putting more hospitals all over the map is a genuine one, and the effect of ayurveda in treating chronic diseases of all kinds is now world famous. So it is a bit of a costly mistake to not to make quality ayurveda a reality, orlese just like the british took away our kohinoor, this system is also gonna be lost to foreigners who seem to welcome it with both hands. Steps must be taken to provide free and cheap treatment to the poor so they can affor d ayurvedic medicines. In the name of Medical tourism we must not sell Ayurveda to foreigners, we must first cater to the indigenous needs , then look up ! Strict controls and regulations for preparation of medicines,  their distribution, running hospitals, medical health centres, parlours must be brought into the control of government institutions. The ayurveda must be brought out from the clutches of big private companies and monopoly must be eliminated, by creating more govt run medicine production units and hospitals. Sure any measure in promoting ayurveda at the grassroots level will be welcome by the ayurvedic community, and we wish you all success in your endeavours.