Cardiovascular blockages and plaque, varicose veins, hypertension, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, obesity, dandruff, hair fall, asthma, sinusitis, rhinitis, allergy, hay fever, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout, bursitis, gas, acidity, flatulence, constipation, hemorrhoids, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, obesity, under weight, undeveloped breasts, kidney stones, gallbladder stones, high creatinine, hyper-pigmentation, fits, epilepsy, forgetfulness, loss of balance, poor analytical skills, menstrual irregularities, menstrual cramps, menopause problems, PCOD, infertility, Fibromyalgia, endometriosis etc are presently wide-spread chronic diseases.
When a patient, with one or more of the above ailments, walks into a Western Medicine general practitioner’s clinic or a specialist’s consultation office he is very desirous of narrating to the doctor the origin, development, and duration of the disease, and the problems and difficulties that he/she has been facing. The doctor does not devote much time to listen to the patient about the context, background or the suffering that the patient has been going through. He immediately orders a series of diagnostic tests. He assumes that the results of diagnostic tests reveal more useful information about the disease than what the patient can tell about the ailment that he has been suffering with. .
The diagnostic tools and tests that Western Medicine uses now, however, can only indicate in which part of the body a disease exists and how serious a given disease is. The results of none of these tests can identify the root causes of the disease. No chronic disease can be permanently cured without treating and eliminating the root causes.
On the basis of the results of the diagnostic tests the doctor prescribes one or two medicines for each of the symptoms experienced by the patient. Almost always such medicines are maintenance medicines that need to be taken every day. They do not cure the disease. They only keep the disease within normal limits. Doctors often assert that there is no permanent cure for many of the non-communicable chronic diseases. If there is no curative medicine or medicines for a particular disease, Western Medicine practitioners declare it as incurable and assert that life-long maintenance medicines are the only option.
Even angioplasty, stent, and bypass surgery for coronary artery blockages are temporary solutions. They cannot guarantee that plaque and blockages would not appear again. Five to eight maintenance medicines and periodical checkups are recommended. It becomes a lifelong treatment. Multiple angioplasts, multiple stents and repeat of bypass surgeries are not unheard of.
The best the western medicine practitioners can do is to prescribe permutations and combinations of patented over-the counter or on-prescription medicines produced by pharmaceutical companies for mass marketing. Neither the general practitioner nor the specialist talks about the root causes of the disease. Until recently mainstream medicine argued vehemently that diet, life style factors etc are neither a cause nor an essential component of treatment for curing a non-communicable disease. Diet and life style factors etc are still not a part of the syllabus in most of the medical colleges all over the world.
Nature of Modern Chronic Diseases
Most of the chronic diseases are not caused by bacteria or viruses. These are not communicable or contagious diseases. They cannot be passed on from one person to the other. These are also called civilization diseases or modern food and lifestyle diseases. Often, they are not hereditary diseases either. In case of some patients, imbalanced nutrition, lifestyle factors etc that cause chronic diseases are passed on from one generation to the other and they are often mistaken by general practitioners and specialists to be hereditary diseases.
Root Causes of Chronic Diseases
The root causes of most of the chronic diseases are in improper nutrition; unhealthy life style factors; sedentary life; inadequate or lack of physical and breathing exercises; mental stress, anxieties, apprehensions and sense of insecurity caused by modern competitive life; polluted environment where one is living, travelling and working; and stressful social environment within in the family or work place.
For most of the diseases, changing different brands of medicine and increasing or decreasing dose are the only options in Western Medicine. It does not even occur to most of the Western Medicine practitioners that imbalanced or poor nutrition, faulty lifestyle factors etc could be the root causes of these diseases. At the Australian Herbal Clinic, Dr Rao and Dr Sailaja practise Holistic, Participatory, Customised, Curative and Pure Herbal Medicine, hereafter called ‘Holistic Herbal Medicine’.
Holistic medicine means the whole background of patient is very important for identifying the root causes of diseases and for designing medicines and counselling. Every patient is unique in terms of the root causes of an ailment. Patient is empowered to participate in healing and curing the disease. So, it is a participatory medicine as well. As every patient is unique, he or she is offered customised medicine and counselling. Even when the medicine is the same for different patients, counselling regarding diet, lifestyle factors etc have to be individualised to eliminate the root causes.
A vast majority of the modern chronic diseases are curable with Holistic Herbal Medicine. Every patient is treated only to cure not just manage the disease on a life-long basis. Only edible and pure herbs are used for formulating medicines and for curing most of the chronic diseases. As such there would not be any adverse side effects.
Preventive medicine is an integral part of Holistic Herbal Medicine. Every patient is advised that if his family members, relatives, friends, acquaintances etc also adhere to wholesome nutrition, healthy lifestyle factors etc their health would be robust and their immunity to disease would be at the highest level. Even the most contagious and communicable diseases cannot touch them.
A Holistic Herbal Medicine practitioner worth his salt would advise his patient that he should adhere to proper overall nutrition, healthy lifestyle factors, physically active life, maintain peace of mind, and healthy physical and social environments to maintain robust health and a high degree of immunity to disease. The doctor should also advise his cured patient that if all the members of his family adhere to these basic health principles, they can reduce their visits to doctors and hospitals to a bare minimum, if at all.