Simple reasons, simple solutions

Simple reasons, simple solutions                                          3rd Dec 2015

                    One of my patient developed high blood pressure in his early forties. As usual I asked him about his daily routine, when he gets up, what he eats, when he sleeps, and every minute thing about his routine. This is very important to get the clues about the reasons. And if you don’t reach to the roots how you are going to cure his issue?

                 With his daily routine certain things came across. First of all he was not feeling fresh in the morning after getting up. So either he was not taking enough sleep or the quality of sleep was not good. He was sleeping for almost seven and half hrs and quality was good. Naturally this much sleep was not enough for him. So question came why?

                About his food very interesting information came ahead. He used to get hunger just 2-3 hrs after his big meals such as breakfast &   lunch. So he used to eat almost five times a day. He wanted a tea with lot of sugar. It was very clear for me that he was not quenching his hunger, he was eating too less. Naturally his body was asking food again & again. Also as his sugar levels were falling down (due to less intake of food) his body was asking sugary tea from him. (This happens to many who didn't eat well)

                 With some further questions he came out with very important clue. Actually he is a lean person but as he was not able to exercise he was avoiding roti (Indian bread made from wheat).He was having only rice and that too not in sufficient quantity. Naturally rice being a lighter cereal than wheat it was not quenching his hunger and he was getting hunger again & again. He was using his intellect and not his experience. With unnecessary fear of gaining weight he was not fulfilling his hunger.

                One more thing came ahead in a same link. He said that with very little exercise or exertion he was getting tiredness. How come he can do a good exercise with such a hungry body? From where he will get an energy for exercise? His food habits also explains his requirement of sleep. A person like him is going to get exhausted at the end of the day just by doing the routine work, as he was not fulfilling the demands of the body, he was not eating adequately. Naturally will need much more sleep to take away this tiredness.

                    Few more things about him were his compliant of mouth ulcers, whitening of the hairs and excessive heat in the body. Again all this can be explained by his deliberate attempt to eat less and light. The acids coming to digest the food was not getting utilised fully. In a simple language he was not quenching his digestive fire and this fire was burning him, the Pitta imbalance. All these complaints was due to excess Pitta.

                    The story was clear, the reason was so obvious that he was not eating enough. This was causing imbalance of Pitta as well as Vata. (In the empty stomach winds enters) The excess Vata was the reason behind his high blood pressure and tiredness at such an early age. For this he tried many doctors and medicines but he was not totally satisfied. His suffering continued for many months.

                   After explaining the cause and effect relationship to him I advised him to start eating adequately. That’s what his treatment! I didn't prescribed a single medicine to him, not even a tablet of multivitamin or a bottle of tonic.

                  The Ayurveda wisdom worked for him. Within 15 days he called me back saying that his blood pressure came down, he is feeling fresh, he is not getting tiredness even after exercising and his complaint of heat in the body has subsided.

                   Somewhat similar to earlier patient one more patient came to me with complaints of acidity (burning in the stomach) and getting up in the middle of night around 2 to 3 am with the sensation of hunger. He was in his late sixties. He was also mentioning about the complaint of extreme tiredness. Due to this tiredness he was losing his confidence about the life.

                    He tried many medicines from different pathies. He tried best possible investigations to find out the cause but nothing came out. When asked about his diet very simple and obvious reason came out. He was deliberately eating less in the evening thinking that as he is getting older he must eat less in the evening. In fact he was getting a good hunger in the evening which was demanding substantial amount of food.

                 Even though he was retired from his job he was not sitting idle at home. He was doing a social service, helping underprivileged persons. For this work he need to run around a lot which was making him hungry in the evening.

                The cause & effect chain was very clear for me. As he was eating less he was getting acidity (Pitta imbalance) and tiredness. As the cause was happening every day the effect was also there every day. The unsatisfied hunger was coming back in the middle of the night making him awake.

                   After discussing with him he started eating well in the evening and the issue was resolved. He started sleeping well, his acidity left him and he got his energy back to serve the needy.

                 These above two cases teaches us a good lesson. Both of them were not listening to their body demands and were following their intellect. Their intellect has stored some myths such as, if you are not working physically you will gain weight so eat less or eat lighter food. Or as you are getting older you should reduce your food quantity. Today we all are getting exposed to so many such myths all the time. Don’t eat this, eat this, drink so much of water, so many don’t & dos.

             All these stories may have some truth into them, they may have helped some patients. But that does not mean they are applicable to every one of us. So one should be very careful before following any such notions. Rather respect your body signals and you will get a correct guidance. Check what is actually happens to you once you start following any such notion. If ten new complaints crops in your body then be cautious and stop following such notion blindly.

                You can see same thing happening in above cases. They were not following body signals and had to suffer from many issues. When asked they came out with very simple reasons. Unfortunately today we can’t sense these simple reasons. Rather we don’t accept that something can happen to me just by eating less or more, drinking less or more water, not taking enough rest etc. So let’s develop our wisdom to catch these simple reasons and to come up with simple solutions.

Dr Nikhil Mehta

Pune