Sunday, March 22, 2009

Health Care: Some Personal Anecdotes

Health Care: Some Personal Anecdotes


Earlier I wrote about the health care crisis and steps I have taken to ensure my family's well being. In this blog I am going to talk about some personal experiences. I am writing this to illustrate that, while conventional doctors and health care is still required, often there are simpler alternatives to every day concerns.

The first incident took place more than three decades ago. My grandma was suffering from wheezing (not sure if it was asthma) for several years and the doctors were not able to provide any relief. She was in her sixties then and relatively good health, but wheezing really upset her. Out of sheer desperation my father borrowed a homeopathy book from a neighbor and after browsing through it, he bought some homeopathic medicine for her. Believe it or not, it was gone within a day. She never had the problem again until her death several years later.

Later during the late seventies, my father developed allergy. Once it was so serious that he had to be hospitalized for a couple of weeks, and the doctor warned us to take care of him so that it does not recur. He was prescribed a continuous dose of anti histamines and he took them for more than 10 years. We haven't been able to identify the environmental or dietary cause of his allergy even now. During the late 80s he started consulting a homeopathic doctor. This doctor had a great reputation and we had to often wait a couple of hours (because he wouldn't give appointments) to see him. I don't know what medicine he prescribed my father, but the allergy pretty much went away after that. Even today, in his late sixties, he develops allergy rashes, may be once or twice a year and the intensity is far less. The same homeopathic doctor also cured my mother of spurs in her feet which otherwise would have required surgery.

When I was younger I never felt the need to consult a dentist. I have mixed feelings about it, but that's for another blog. Anyhow, during the late nineties I developed serious pain in my lower incisors (front teeth). I finally went to a famous dentist in Bangalore (at the time I lived there). He examined my teeth, took some X-rays and then he told me I needed a root canal. At that time I had no idea what a root canal was, so I asked him to explain. Savvy that he was, he showed me a little animation on his computer. He also showed some lighter areas in my X-ray and said that's pus that has accumulated in my gums. I was incredulous. I asked him, “in other words, I lose my front teeth forever and will be condemned to wear caps for the rest of my life?”. He smiled wisely and nodded his head. I was deeply skeptical and said I will think about it. I then consulted an ayurvedic doctor who prescribed some foul smelling liquid as a mouth wash as well as some medicines. He told me not to worry about it and come back after three months. To this day, I have relatively healthy front teeth with even lesser problems than before. Later on when I studied teeth in more detail, I came to realize that it was accumulated tartar (or calcified plaque) that he was pointing to as pus. Was he deliberate in misguiding me? You be the judge.

After moving to the US in 2000, I suddenly had such a severe lower backache that I was bed ridden for one whole day. I had been suffering from lower backaches for more than a decade by that time. I was attributing the problem to my faulty gait, and the fact that as an IT professional I was desk bound all day. I went to see an orthopedics doctor in Los Angeles. After listening to me, he took some X-rays and measured my legs. He came up with a surprising diagnosis: my legs are unequal in length. He then went on to describe a months long therapy and some expensive medications as well. I didn't buy it because I felt perhaps all I needed was a special shoe to correct my less than perfect legs. During my visit to India, I consulted my friend who also happens to be an orthopedics doctor. He measured my legs and assured me that if they are unequal in length, it is within natural variability. He went on to do X-rays and all they could come up with were natural age related (I was in my mid 30s by then) bone degeneration . So I continued to suffer occasional lower backache as before without any remedy for some more time. One day, I suddenly read somewhere that keeping wallets in the back pocket can pinch a nerve and cause a chronic lower backache. Immediately I stopped keeping it there and voila!, no more backache. To this day, it hasn't recurred.

My final anecdote is about PVCs or premature ventricular contraction. In early 2000s I started feeling breathless. This used to be especially pronounced after a walk on the treadmill or a bit of physical exertion of any kind. Then one day while I was feeling breathless, I measured my pulse. I realized that it was not regular. It would go, lub dub, lub dub, -----, lub dub and so on. The gap was disconcerting and I was really alarmed. So went to my physician who sent me to a cardiologist who was really nice. He did many tests, including a stress test, an imaging test for blocked arteries in the neck and a Holter monitor for 24 hours. In the end, he said it is a benign condition one I could safely ignore. He suggested that I don't stretch myself too much while exercising. He never mentioned PVCs and I had no idea that's what it was. After a few months, I came across a Yahoo group called PeopleWithPVCs and joined it. There someone said that supplement Co-Q10 is known to alleviate some of PVC like symptoms. As Co-Q10 is known to be beneficial for the heart and it is an over the counter supplement, I decided to give it a try. You guessed it, I got rid of the PVCs within a few days after starting the supplementation. Why wouldn't my cardiologist know about it? It is a mystery to me.

My intention in writing this blog is not to say that all chronic problems are this simple or even that every one of them can be remedied. With the internet, today we have no excuse not to explore more than one avenue for many of our everyday ailments. As long as it is not a life threatening emergency, it makes sense to explore other remedies, listen to others' anecdotes. After all the (relatively new) conventional medicine comes with a price – not just monetary but also with serious side effects. Invasive procedures, strong medical concoctions, radiation therapies solve some problems while potentially creating even more problems. They have their place, but mostly as a last resort not as a first line of defence. I am wondering if it would make sense to start a web portal that focuses on collecting and publishing personal anecdotes from people all over the world. Perhaps that would help thousands of people find quick and easy solutions. Obviously it can't replace a physician or proper health care, but at least it may help many people avoid unnecessary procedures or medications.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Health Care at Home

In my previous blog I listed a litany of complaints about the health care system. In this blog, I will talk about some actions I have taken to ensure a healthy lifestyle.

By most standards, I am a health freak. It is not that I always do optimal things nor that I am in perfect health. But I have improved my health considerably in the last ten years or so and this blog is an effort to share my learning.

Over a period of time, I have been consulting doctors and getting lab reports. In order to improve something, one needs a baseline. One measure is to count the number of times a person falls sick. This is very subjective and sometimes deceptive too as major diseases can lurk under seemingly good health. The metrics in the lab reports provide a more objective basis. Based on these metrics I do my own research on possible lifestyle, diet and exercise changes that are needed to get better. I have realized measurable improvements of health over several years.

In my opinion, diet is the primary source of our health issues. After all we are what we eat. I avoid junk food, including all sodas, colas, synthetic additives and preservatives, synthetic sugar substitutes and so on. Where possible I have substituted whole grains for bleached floor, brown rice for white rice, olive oil for peanut oil and so on. I buy organic where I can. About 50% of my personal diet consists of only raw fruits, vegetables and nuts. For example today my lunch consisted of the following (all raw): sprouted moong (green gram), red and yellow bell peppers, Persian cucumbers, broccoli, apple slices, a mango, blue berries, raspberries, almonds and walnuts. I try to consume flaxseed in many different preparations.

Recently I purchased a Vita-mix whole food machine. It is an excellent device for making juices, soups, dips and assorted other things. I highly recommend this product to anyone interested in cooking and especially those who enjoy raw food.

Our teeth play a very important role in our health. It is not just the social consequences of bad breath or discolored teeth; they have a much more profound impact on our lives. Treatments like root canal can do more harm than good in some cases. I have followed a very simple regimen: I make sure to brush at least twice a day and floss after every meal for at least 2-3 minutes. Just flossing alone has made a tremendous difference in my dental health. Recently I also purchased a Panasonic mouth irrigator. This product is available for about $25 at amazon.com and worth its weight in gold.

As I am an IT professional besides being an internet junkie, it is almost certain that my eyesight is weak. However, I have always resisted wearing glasses and never got a pair. I think eyes are the best optical instruments ever designed and they are capable of working under extreme conditions. I have always relied on eye exercises and yoga to keep them in reasonably good condition. I definitely need reading glasses but don't yet wear any. I also do no wear sunglasses even in the sunny locale where I live. I think sunlight is good because we just don't get enough of it in our home and office bound existence.

I have mixed feelings about supplements. If one is deficit in certain vitamins or minerals, it may make sense to take a few supplements until that deficit is overcome. But I am not sure about the effectiveness of multivitamins. Ideally we should get all our vitamins and minerals from our diet. It is almost impossible to determine the action and interaction of so many different nutrients which are present in foods an isolated in a pill form. Our ancestors did not take any supplements but at least some of them enjoyed perfect health. However, I must admit I have taken certain supplements over the years and they have certainly helped. In particular, Co-Q10 which helped eliminate PVC (premature ventricular contraction, a benign heart condition) and Niacin which helped reduce tri glycerides. I have discontinued use of both.

Our ancestors used to rely a lot on the natural and home remedies. As a result they probably lived a much healthier lives than we do, though our life spans have increased during the last century. Invention of antibiotics and vaccines have reduced deaths due to many infectious diseases. That the overuse of antibiotics is now being seen as a leading cause of super infections is the irony of progress. We are born with amazing healing capabilities. And yet we provide crutches and artificial props in the form of concoctions of harsh chemicals in the mistaken belief that intervention is better than letting the nature take its course. As a result we compromise the very body we want to keep strong and fit for a hundred years.

My favorite home remedies are: turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and garlic for simple infections. Home made yogurt, buttermilk with asafoetida for many stomach ailments. There are a few commercial preparations that have become standard faire at our home. These are:

Inflameric as an anti inflammatory supplement
Oil of Oregano as a powerful natural antibiotic
Calendula Ointment (homeopathic) for cuts and bruises
Septilin for colds and flu

As a family, we have almost eliminated consumption of any prescription medicines. Neither of my kids, ten and six years old, have had to take antibiotics, ever.

We do consult doctors on a regular basis, but we tend to pay more attention to their diagnosis and much less to prescription. But once I have confirmed a diagnosis, subsequent course of action depends on my own research. Nobody knows my body, diet and lifestyle better than myself. Best course of action often depends more on these factors and less on a formulaic prescription. An average doctor does not have enough time or patience to take into account all these factors. My source of information:

Curezone – Lot of information, user contributed information, first hand reports etc.
WebMD – Information about diseases, medicines
FDA – US Food and Drug Administration
Allayurveda – Information about Ayurvedic medicines and principles
Yahoo groups – Individual ailment discussion groups

Our modern lifestyle almost ensures that we need to exercise on a regular basis in order to maintain good health. I try to get at least 45 minutes of 3-4 days a week, mostly on a treadmill. I probably need more flexibility and strength training, but I guess I will get there. While my lifestyle and diet do provide major benefits, exercise provides a further boost to it. My tri-glycerides have been high for the last several years. I have noticed that they come down measurably whenever I exercise regularly and go easy on simple carbohydrates and fat.

Yoga and meditation provide benefits to body, mind and spirit. I am still struggling to incorporate these into my daily routine. When I do that, my at-home health care should be complete.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and this article is not medical advice. Please do your own research.



Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Healthcare Crisis

There is a big crisis in the health care system (some would like to call it sick care system). The prices are going up by 10-15% every year, and correspondingly the insurance premiums. There is a tuberculosis epidemic that is threatening to breakout anytime, even in the developed countries. The chronic diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension continue to plague us with no solution in sight. The pharmaceutical companies and the medical community have managed to find palliative measures that keep a patient alive for a long time, but there is no true cure for many health problems. Every new drug invented, every new procedure developed is costlier than the one before, but with few exceptions, most of them do not cure the patient. Instead they keep him or her dependent on the system for a long time, with attendant expenses and unwanted side effects. Even antibiotics which saved so many lives in the 20th century have become ineffective against increasingly virulent and resistant bugs.

Every spoke in the wheel of health has had its own role to play in creating the mess we find ourselves today. Let's start with the health care professionals. General physicians seldom get to spend enough time to understand an individual patient, his or her lifestyle or diet. More than 50% feel they are overworked. More often than not, it is a quick enumeration of symptoms and some lab tests and a prescription. Physicians are happy to prescribe antibiotics and other strong medications even when they are not strictly called for. The pediatricians are the worst offenders of overprescribing antibiotics. Majority of the cases do not even need them because the infections are viral. This not only creates super bugs, but also weakens the immunity of a child. My reasoning is simple – if you give a crutch to the body, the body stops making an effort to heal itself and comes to rely on the crutch. See this article on antibiotics. Specialists such as dentists and orthopedics doctors are even more culpable. Often they tend to treat individuals like mechanics treat your cars – the more repairs the better – for them. This is not to say that there are no ethical, sincere and loving doctors around. But often they become unwitting part of an establishment that is too hard to navigate and change.


Next come the insurance companies. They show no interest in ensuring that an individual gets proper health care. For them every medical expense is another expense and it is their stated goal to reduce this expense. For example, most insurance policies do not cover preventive measures such as multi vitamins or supplementation. Most policies won't cover the membership of a health club or give discounts if you are an active member. Most often they are not interested because the employers who provide the biggest chunk of insurance policies, keep changing the insurance companies frequently. Thus insurance companies have zero incentive in keeping an individual healthy.


Then come the pharmaceutical companies. While they have done some wonderful work in the past in developing life saving drugs, now they are in a rat race. Their credibility lies in tatters due to recent scandals. Peddling drugs that are of dubious efficacy, suppressing research that shows negative aspects of their drugs, bribing doctors to prescribe more medicines, encourage doctors to use the drugs off label, you name a perversion, they have indulged in it. The scandal goes on and on and with no end in sight. What is worse, there is hardly any liability for the individuals who consciously swindle the society. At the most they get a slap on their wrists.



This brings us to the fourth spoke – the regulator – FDA in America. For all practical purposes they do the bidding of the pharma companies. It is a revolving door at the FDA, often professors and researchers with deep connections to pharma industry head the FDA. While there is a process to certify and monitor drugs, FDA uses its big stick to beat back any attempt by alternative medicines to address a market need. In the States, no supplement or food producer can make a claim that his ware can cure anything. There are many such instances where a traditional (really traditional like an Ayurvedic preparation) can and does alleviate a certain condition, but they are not allowed by FDA to make that claim or at least FDA won't certify them. According to FDA, something is a drug only if it has gone through certified clinical study. No matter that these clinical studies are conducted by the interested parties, and that the traditional medicines have gone through millennia long trials. A lot of the funding for FDA comes from the pharma industry itself.


The final spoke is the consumer. This is where the biggest blame lies in the whole system. People tend to believe that a doctor knows everything. We are ultimately responsible for our own health – failure to recognize this simple truth often results in fatal consequences. People go to doctors with their mundane problems and accept prescriptions which are often not necessary. Doctors have become very defensive because of the ever hanging threat of malpractice lawsuits. So they will choose the strongest measure even when a wait and watch method will work just as well. We are too lazy to choose a careful diet that's suitable for our lifestyle, genes and body. We do not exercise enough. We eat and drink a lot of junk food. In the end is it any surprise that we are at the mercy of harsh chemicals and - at best - indifferent professionals?


In the second part of this article I will write about some of the methods we have adapted to ensure a healthy lifestyle.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

A limitation of the scientific method

Scientific method

"Scientific method refers to bodies of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. A scientific method consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses."


I often hear from scientists and wanna-be scientists (like me) that the scientific method is the only way possible forward in understanding the universe. Logical reasoning and the scientific method have their place in the scheme of things. But to say that they are primarily responsible for all progress is putting the cart before the horse. In the definition above, formulation of a hypothesis is taken as a part of the scientific method. However, this formulation is often mysterious, and no one can really explain how a "productive" hypothesis is arrived at. Most of the times logic and reasoning have nothing to do with it.

The anonymous Indian genius that conceived zero, Kepler, Newton, Kekulé, Marie Curie and Einstein all have one thing in common: they created a paradigm shift in our understanding of nature. The paradigm shift was not in the proof they offered but the hypothesis itself. While proof is important, it is secondary to the hypothesis. I doubt if anyone of these giants have explained how they came up with the hypotheses. Given a "productive" and viable hypothesis, someone can and will come up with a proof eventually just as Fermat's last theorem demonstrated.

The modern scientists spend their lifetimes perfecting the scientific method. But they probably do not spend enough time understanding how the hypotheses are made. It is assumed that a good scientist "knows" how to arrive at one. There is no process, no class (that I know of) and no "formal" guidelines to come up with a good hypothesis. No good hypothesis no significant progress. That's a limitation of the scientific method.

The ancient Indian sages approached the process in a different manner. Many of them were true yogis and attained samadhi by meditation. The claim is that when one attains samadhi, the knowledge about the true nature of the universe arises spontaneously. Perhaps this is the source of all hypotheses. They made seemingly amazing leaps in understanding the nature. Often they didn't explain how they arrived at that knowledge, but only stated it with authority. Frequently one hears the phrase "self evident" with such statements. It is left for the later commentators to comment on that statement and expound it. Some commentaries on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras say this: if all the books are burnt and all knowledge is lost save the Yoga Sutras, then rest of the knowledge can still be developed by accomplished yogis.

I know that there will be some scientist types on DC who will grill me on this one (where is Commonsense?), but I will make this claim: scientists will do much better in their disciplines if they include meditation in their curriculum. Have you noticed how often multiple scientists come up with the same new idea that miraculously solves a difficult problem that mankind has grappled with for ages? In my opinion this phenomenon is not magic or coincidence, but it can be explained by our spiritual nature. We are all connected by an underlying thread and that manifests itself in these mysterious ways. In fact someone even conducted a maze running experiment on rats that showed that once a particular maze is solved by one rat, other rats find it easy to solve.