Recently couple of the folks I know (let's call them persons A and B) were hospitalized with 2 different conditions. I will explain my diagnosis of those conditions Ayurvedically and also summarize the allopathic/Western medical diagnosis treatment they received. Please note that I'm not emphasizing on any one medical approach here but just providing information and leaving it upto readers to their interpretation and analysis.
Person A was hospitalized with pneumonia and subsequently went on ventilator and ECMO since lungs had been very weak and damaged mostly. Allopathic doctors treating A have been doing their best to alleviate the condition and monitoring the progress towards A's recovery. The allopathic diagnosis was unclear, rather it was stated just that infections had weakened lungs. When I heard about A's condition especially when learnt about the history over the past decade, it seemed like COPD to me which is a progressive disease with symptoms strikingly similar to regular bronchitis/asthma. And A had been suffering from increasing episodes of bronchitis/asthma at a minimum over the past decade and also had been overweight for most of their life. (Please note that A didn't have bronchitis/asthma as a kid, teen or even into much of adulthood). None of the allopathic doctors that A had visited in the past decade didn't make any diagnosis of COPD but simply gave medicines to alleviate the current "symptoms" then. If A had gone to see a "good" Ayurvedic practitioner, A would have received not only herbal medications to alleviate the condition but also the root cause of the disease would have been identified Ayurvedically (primarily Kapha dosha vitiation in this case) and subsequent diet/lifestyle changes and also breathing exercises to strengthen the lungs and PanchaKarma treatment would have been recommended to prevent any further episodes. Unfortunately, most people are either strongly opinionated against Ayurveda or any other alternative treatments or don't believe that these holistic medical approaches would be able to cure conditions like these.
Coming to person B - they also had been hospitalized with a clogged artery, swelling in the legs and nausea/vomiting. Here in this case, as expected allopathic doctors couldn't figure out immediately what was wrong (besides clogged artery). They did several tests in the gut, and other systems and finally concluded some cortisol numbers are low, that's why digestion is not happening properly and prescribed steriod use for a few months to increase those numbers. Patient saw the symptoms getting alleviated and started to slowly getting back to their regular diet. When I first heard about the symptoms, it took me less than a minute to diagnose B's disease - it is again Kapha vitiation. The symptoms B had relate to very basic Kapha dosha vitiation, In my opinion, the symptoms would have started many months before with some nausea/heaviness after eating/indigestion - and at that point they would have ignored those symptoms and tried to treat those with foods they think are "right for that condition" (which are ofcourse wrong in this case). And those foods might have aggravated the condition leading subsequent Kapha dosha relocation to other systems causing swelling/edema, clogs and throwing up after eating. Here in the case of B, there was absolutely no need of hospitalization (maybe except for the minor clog in the artery) and all those expensive tests done in the gut and other systems were also not necessary. B's condition would have cured with taking some Kapha dosha reducing herbal formulas, taking herbs that increase digestion and most importantly avoiding all foods that aggravate the condition. Here in this case such foods include - milk, yogurt, sweets, nuts, fruits like bananas etc., But as with B, most people are either fond of almost all of the foods I've listed or even worse, have a very strong wrong foundation that those are the best foods during indigestion/heaviness. I have a feeling though B's symptoms temporarily alleviated due to all the steroid usage, if they continue to take the same foods listed above, the condition will recur.
In both the cases of A and B, not only hospitalization could have been avoided but also the extensive amounts of money that had been spent on the numerous tests and hospitalization could have been saved if only people had a bit of openness combined with some common sense and analytical nature instead of blindly following the path of others!
My feeling in both the cases is - pure helplessness! But hey, I can't control anyone if people want to waste money on health and would like to continue to pay deaf ear and mind and everything to anything alternative. On a side note, I have to admit, as with allopathic doctors, not all Ayurvedic professionals are good with diagnosis or treatment, so there's a reason why Ayurveda got a bad reputation. Allopathic medicine looks and examines at the organ level in the body, while Ayurveda looks at the entire body and mind. Our organs in the body aren't disconnected. Body and mind also are connected tightly, so a disease in the heart doesn't mean the origin of the disease started at heart or it doesn't impact other organs. The root cause always lies elsewhere, and which is where Ayurveda comes in - to identify the root cause and which is where allopathic medicine can "never" figure out the original root cause and most importantly how to cure/control that root cause!
Comments