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.