AYURVEDIC TREATMENT
Why?
On recommendation from a trusted friend, I went to the Ayu Centre in Chiang Mai, Thai- land and the attention of Dr Rajeev. This centre specialises in Ayurvedic treatment, the traditional system of medicine of India. Ayurveda aims to treat body, mind, and spirit using a holistic approach.
Personal history
I am a believer in western medicine and have been adhering to my daily medication for years. I have no issues going to my GP and specialists. I am very proactive about my healthcare. I think it is mainly due to this that I have avoided almost certain heart attacks by closely monitoring my heart with regular checkups, blood tests, scans, MRIs and, when necessary, angiograms.
Recently my health problems have just started mounting up with no positive outcomes insight. I have been suffering from various heart problems (5 years) [aortic stenosis, hypertension, clogged arteries which now have four stents and an aortic aneurysm], cervical spondylosis (3 years) (NB this is like sciatica but in the arms) and a very painful right ankle (9 months) which is the product of a break from a scooter accident eight years ago. Last year, X-rays and an MRI showed that the ankle had not fully healed, and there was still a hairline fracture and joint issues.
Most regular doctors were saying that my heart problems were the primary concern. I had to stop playing sports. My neck, spine and ankle needed rehabilitation, weekly physio visits and maybe some injections of cortisone. The distinct lack of progress just got me down.
Last year my health started to spiral downwards.
I have been suffering from heart problems (5 years), cervical spondylosis (3 years) (like sciatica but in the arms). This had already put paid to my squash career, but a very painful right ankle (9 months ago) from a scooter accident eight years ago started to get me down.
I had a heated discussion with an English GP who told me that certain things are untreatable, part of ageing (I am 54), and I should accept my lot.
Thankfully I live and work in France, and the French health system did not hang me out to dry or wilt. I had to wait but got treatments for my heart (2 angioplasties), cervical spine (rehabilitation) and ankle (infiltration injections). All these operations and treatments, however, did not make much of a difference.
In Europe, with each health problem being addressed by different specialists, none of whom seemed to care or know how one treatment would influence another, the Ayurvedic approach just made sense. It is a one-stop-shop. I was ripe to try new avenues.
Check up and diagnosis.
On arrival, Dr Rajeev asked me to write down my detailed health history, not simply about my health but about but all significant events, traumas etc., mental, emotional and physical. I was then presented with an enormous ‘list of symptoms’ questionnaire (everything imaginable from headaches, constipation, anxiety, etc.) with multiple-choice options of ‘never, ‘sometimes’ or ‘always’ to each symptom listed.
Dr Rajeev was then able to pinpoint the causes of my overall health rather than specific issues. His diagnosis took account of everything that has happened and happens to us.
However, Dr Rajeev said it was my failing central nervous system and one main nerve, in particular, that was behind my decline in health on all fronts. And that my heart operations had made me even weaker. As an active chap and sportsman who could no longer play sport or move quickly, I was primarily interested in getting my ankle ‘fixed’. He said that the ankle would improve at the end of the treatment as the healing could only begin after the nervous system was working efficiently again. That did not fill me with great hope, but I was at my wit’s end about my overall health and wanted, needed to believe in something. I needed to feel hopeful again rather than resigned about my health.
The Programme of treatment
Dr Rajeev then devised an 8-day treatment programme. His wealth of knowledge and experience came up with the Programme and its length. He did mention that 2-3 days extra could be added if I had the time and resources, to really focus on the legs.
Holistic is a word that is overused and often inappropriately. This treatment was holistic in that Dr Rajeev also did regular ‘counselling’ sessions throughout the treatment to ascertain my way of thinking, my way of behaving and my eating habits. The ob- objective was to learn to ‘detox’ mind, body and soul.
Counselling
We had many informal and formal conversations, and he gave the advice to improve my mental and emotional health in tandem with my physical health. He said that the treatment would be a complete reboot, not only a physical one.
losing energy
identifying and plugging the ‘holes’ reconnecting with my essence Mantras – letting go…
Marma sessions
My ayurvedic treatment was a combination of Marma sessions ad energy balance sessions plus counselling sessions about nutrition, emotional and mental detoxing, and the Pre- and post-detox (flushing of toxins) counselling.
In plain English, Marma sessions use massages of the whole body using oil infused with herbs, often using a ‘potalis’, a herbal heat compress. This enables the toxins and problem points (“marma” points) to be ‘loosened up.’
Energy Balance sessions
Energy balance sessions were more physical treatment done by Dr Rajeev himself.
As he has identified the problem points from the complete checkup (day 1), he did short but very painful sessions to further break up the toxin deposits in the body before a 2-hour ayurvedic massage session. I feel fortunate that I can withstand pain as this accelerates the treatment.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: Ayurvedic treatment can be done pain-free for those who wish to avoid pain. The therapy takes longer as the herb/oil and massage is used to achieve the same thing over a more extended period.
My faster rate of treatment, I think, could be summed up by the PREPARATION-PAIN-PREPARATION combination. The “preparation” refers to the whole body being prepared for the flushing out of toxins. “Pain” (optional) refers to the painful breaking up of toxic deposits, which the Doctor himself can carry out.
Day 3 I started with this combination. I had the toes and shoulder blades worked to break up the toxins deposited there. Excruciating!
Imagine a pain of 5 out of 10 being a pleasant respite from many moments of pain ranging from 8to 10 (on the 0-10 scale). The fact that I believed in the treatment enabled me to handle the pain more efficiently. If pain is not your thing, then the treatment can be done with massage and oils (in reservoirs herb and oil on the “marma” points), but the treatment will take longer, maybe 1.5 to 2 times as long on average.
After the toes came to the scapular DEEP manipulation, the precision with which Dr R finds the problem areas and so often the excruciating pain is uncanny. Whether you believe it or not, the mere fact that he can put his finger on your body and gently apply pressure resulting in extreme pain and discomfort, told me he was onto something. In my opinion, pain is the body’s way of telling us something is not correct.
Then day two of pain, my main issue being a dysfunctional main nerve, had the nerve worked from scapula to ear to eye. He deeply massages the area around the nerve, which passes from eyes to ears to neck and then scapula.
The last day of pain was 30 minutes of using a brass stick to find calcification and pressing into it. The feeling is of being cut, but the skin was never broken. The end result is that calcium deposits are broken down, and also acid is secreted from these toxic points.
THE DETOX = FLUSHING OUT OF ALL TOXINS, After all this, the body and whole system are ready for cleansing.
You start by not eating from 2 pm and taking 200 ml of juices (pre-prepared) every 2 hours until the special 300 ml of liver cleanse juice mix. Then sleep 8 hours, and then two more doses at 6 am and 8 am.
The treatment affects everyone in different ways. After a couple of days, I found my sleep disturbed, but I just embraced this as part of the journey, and it felt less energy-sapping.
Each time you add honey to keep sugar levels up and hydrate by sipping water slowly.
Photos for the Doctor record the toilet visits. It was surreal as what I produced changed precisely as the good Doctor had said, which reflected what kind of toxins and where those toxins were coming from.
After the liver cleansing juice, you must lie on your back or YOUR RIGHT when you sleep. I did that, and it seems to have flushed out a lot of my loosened toxins.
OUTCOME OF TREATMENT
I now feel light, alert, happier and almost high!
I have just completed eight days and feel like a new man. My ankle has healed, and there is no pain, but I am still wary that this may not last. It is now three weeks on, and I have played tennis twice on the ankle with no problem. Fingers crossed, this means I can restart my sporting pursuits slowly but surely.
I came to sort out my neck and ankle. Although no work has been done directly on those areas, both feel much better. The ankle pain I have had for eight months has gone, precisely as Dr Rajeev had explained during the checkup. These areas were not healing as they were not receiving the blood and help needed due to blockages.
Now unblocked, the whole body, mind and soul are soaring as they are being nourished. Not only physically but mentally and more, I am healing and becoming ‘healthier’.
A lot of counselling focused on identifying what makes me lose energy. Dr Rajeev said, “it is like we become a bowl with holes, and we need to plug those holes and keep the bowl full of energy”. I also brought up my disturbing nightmares, which he got me to ‘decode’. Strangely the whole shift of focus on the loss of energy seems to impact favourably on my nightmares. As I write, I am becoming aware that I have not had those hideous nightmares since we spoke.
Now for me, it is maintenance and annual cleanses, which apparently will leave me looking five years younger, so I am looking forward to my forties once more.
And let us not forget the main gain is that I can walk and am back playing sports. Yeah!! Now to get fit and, more importantly, feel optimistic and upbeat about the future.
It was as a last resort after western medicine had failed to heal me. That said, I still believe in using all kinds of treatment. The critical thing is to have an open mind and let the healer and healing have a chance to work.
Regrets are pointless, but I do wish I had used the ayurvedic approach before. That said, I am grateful and aware that western methods have helped me avoid heart attacks. Now I intend to make use of both systems to keep me at my optimum level.
I am leaning towards Ayurveda for my future health treatment, including my heart problems and spinal issues.
Thank you, Dr Rajeev and the Ayu Centre.
COST
So after the checkup and two days of treatment in December and this 8-day Programme, it has cost me 112,500 baht = £3000 or 3500 euros (11 days) plus all travel and accommodation in Chiang Mai etc.
For me, it was well worth it, and I am grateful that I could afford it. Now to maintain the im- improvements, and visit Dr Rajeev annually to consolidate my progress health-wise.
AKBAR HAMID
