Homeopathy at work at Karthi

The recent ruckus regarding the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies and ayurvedic medicines against Covid-19 is the inspiration for this post today. It seems that allopathic doctors are all riled up due to the state government recommending the use of homeopathic remedies as preventives. It is clear that they fear that these remedies will fail and that people emboldened by having taken the preventives will go out indiscriminately and cause a wider spread of the disease. I can understand their fear. 

What I write here is not a defense or condemnation of any branch of medicine. I also know just enough of the three major medical systems to know that each has different theories of how diseases are caused and how they can be dealt with. My aim is just to show you why I do not think that homeopathy is complete hogwash as some people think and reiterate. If you check the Wikipedia page on homeopathy (which some knowledgeable homeopath should consider rewriting soon), it will show a completely biased outlook favoring allopathic medicine and calling homeopathy a "pseudo-science". I wonder how there are medical colleges all over India that teach this pseudo-science!

The main accusations leveled against homeopathy while I was growing up were that:
1. It is very slow and healing takes a long time, even in the case of colds and flu.
2. You can't trust homeopaths because they give powdered allopathic medicine to speed up recovery.

It wasn't till 2015 when I heard the talk of a renowned homeopath presenting a program on TV that I started thinking of taking homeopathic treatment for my pre-diabetic condition. And that good doctor happened to be my husband's classmate and dear friend. Although we had known him for so long, it was a classic case of familiarity breeding indifference (not contempt, never). Here are a few instances of how he and his wife who is also a gifted homeopath have helped us over the years.

1. My younger son developed small white patches on his skin. I took him to a physician nearby who recommended vitamins and a lotion. Two months, no change. Next to a dermatologist at a reputed hospital. He prescribed a high-dose antifungal medication as well as an ointment. Two weeks later we went back with no change. This time he wrote out a list of six medicines. I was chatting with the pharmacist and casually asked her what all these were for. She said she didn't know the uses of any except one that was for itching. That puzzled me because my son's condition didn't include that symptom. Coming back with the meds, I did a detailed online search. What I found really shocked me. Two of those medicines were carcinogenic and banned for pediatric use. One would cause intense itching as a side effect (so that was what the anti-itching medicine was for). One was a high-dose steroid. When one of those meds was used, the user was to avoid sunlight (we weren't informed of this). Since I was already taking homeo medication, I rang up my doctor and tentatively explained the situation and asked if he could help. My son's case was taken over the phone, the medicines arrived by mail. Within two months, the condition was gone and has not returned.

2. My elder son developed eczema-like sores on his feet and lower legs. I thought it was due to his playing outdoors and applied topical treatments recommended by our local GP. Then I noticed that he was developing thick, raised, dark skin over the healed areas and wherever he had lacerations on his skin. This time I immediately called my homeopathic doctor who asked me to send him photos. He diagnosed it as lichen planus - and sent medicines immediately. But he also asked us to get it verified using a biopsy and blood test. For the test I had to go to a dermatologist. The list of medicines he gave me of course included a host of medications both topical and to be ingested. This condition has no cure in allopathy. So our elder son is on a long-term homeopathic treatment for the same. He still has dark scars on his skin from the early flare-up, but since then, nothing. 

3. One morning I was aghast to see that my urine was blood red. Needless to say, I panicked and called my homeopathic doctor. He directed me to start drinking water, ordered blood and urine routine tests as well as an abdominal ultrasound to rule out uterine bleeding. Yes, I had severe urinary tract infection. The medicine was twelve drops of a remedy in half a glass of boiled water. The doctor then educated me on the symptoms of UTI and told me to take one dose of the same medicine if I felt any of those symptoms coming on. This was amazing for me because after our trip to Rameswaram and Dhanushkoti in 2013, DH had fallen ill. He was first misdiagnosed with flu and treated only with Paracetamol till he was in a very bad condition. When we got to the hospital he was diagnosed with UTI and had to stay there for a week and take high-dose antibiotics to recover.

4. I got dengue fever in 2017. My homeo doctor recommended testing for dengue after she listened to my symptoms. After confirmation, I took only homeo medications and recovered completely. My blood platelet count was below normal only on the day I was diagnosed. On conducting regular followup tests on the doctor's recommendation, it never went below normal again. 

5. In May 2019, we visited a temple town in Karnataka. On the overnight train journey back home, our younger son felt nauseated, had a stomach ache, started vomiting and ran a slight fever. I did my best to soothe him and avoid dehydration. Reaching home, I called my doctor who asked me to give one dose of a remedy. The kid was up and asking for lunch by noon time. Over the course of the next week, the rest of the family developed symptoms of the same disease in varying degrees. My elder son and I escaped with mild symptoms as we took the remedy immediately when we recognized the symptoms. DH was caught outside escorting visiting family members around the city when he developed symptoms. But he too recovered within 12 hours of onset, with just one dose of remedy. This would not have been remarkable if not for what we learned on a visit to relatives in December 2019. A group of ten or so of them had been to the same temple town in May 2019 around the time we had been there and had all been felled by the same symptoms for at least a week each. Three of them required several days' hospitalization due to dehydration and high fever. Even family members who had not gone to the temple town caught the infection and were prostrated.

6. Before starting taking homeopathic treatment, I used to get colds at least once in a month or two and at least two or three times a year, these would blow up into infections (bronchitis, sinusitis and whole hosts of other itises) that would require the use of antibiotics. I am glad to say that I have not needed antibiotics for the last three years, touch wood! At the least sign of colds, I call my doctor and take the recommended remedy. I have found that if I catch symptoms early, just one dose can heal me. If I neglect the symptoms till they are worse, I might need three days' worth of remedies. But that is usually enough. 

7. I once ate fried dried shrimp in a chutney. Two hours later I started choking. At the time I had no cold or any other condition, so I connected it to the shrimp and called my doctor. She told me to take a dose of a remedy and wait to see if the choking sensation eased within ten minutes. It did, I could literally feel my air passages opening up again.

Of course these are only the more spectacular instances and I could go on. It has not been easy to adopt homeopathy for our ailments. Social conditioning has a lot of influence on us. DH who is a worry wort, tends to keep asking me, "Should we go to a doctor?" several times during my illnesses or the kids'. But over the years, he too has become convinced of the efficacy of homeopathy. These days, I can tell that his question is more out of habit rather than actual anxiety. 

Here are the things that I feel are different about my homeo doctors:

1. Detailed case-taking at the beginning to analyze each patient's idiosyncrasies.

2.The use of modern lab tests to confirm diagnoses rather than depending on just the listing of symptoms as in classic homeopathy.

3. Immense patience and readiness to accept the skepticism of patients.

4. Exact documentation on the progress of patients' conditions.

5. Their use of the Target Super protocol that they developed with years of clinical practice.

6. Telling the patients the exact names of the remedies, in most instances. I know this is usually not done mainly to avoid self-medication and consequent inefficacy of remedies. But since my doctors do not live in our town, we consult mostly over the phone. Therefore, we can actually be sure that we are not taking "powdered allopathic medicines."

My personal philosophy regarding the health care of my family has now expanded to include homeopathy in all instances except in dire emergencies or acute infections with sudden onset. I believe that homeopathy has a lot to contribute to medical care. In fact, once the era of antibiotics is over due to the development of superbugs, I believe we will have to turn to alternative medicine, especially homeopathy for help. I hope that all branches of medicine can be brought together, forgetting their differences, so that the most appropriate and effective treatment can be provided for each disease. The first step in any medical course should be the acceptance of other medical branches as well.

Therefore, in these Covid times, I am not very scared. At the slightest cold-like symptoms, I turn to my trusted doctor for help. But even with this ready help at hand, we strictly practice wearing masks, social distancing and sanitizing. And we don't go out unnecessarily even though we miss meeting our friends and family members.

If you want to know the basic principles etc. of homeopathy, you can take a free Udemy course: Introduction to Homeopathy by Ellen Bench, D.Hom, Homeopathic Master Clinician. It is very interesting and enlightening.

Working from home? Avoid this as much as possible!!!

One thing I have envied among several of my DH's admirable traits is his ability to drop off to sleep quite quickly. Once he decides to sleep, he folds his hands on his forehead for a few moments of prayer, then arranges himself on his back with his fingers neatly interlaced on his chest or lies on one side. The next thing you know, he is off gamboling among the sheep on the grassy meadows in the land of Nod. It doesn't bother him even if the light is on or there is a panchari melam going on outside our window. He prefers having at least a night light on and music playing in the background as he drops off to sleep.

In fact, this was one bone of contention in the early days of our marriage. I need pitch darkness and absolute silence to relax and sleep. After my prayers, I first have to lie on my right side, rest a few moments and then turn to the other side before I can drop off to sleep. Even then the goddess of sleep is very picky about granting her boon to me. "Going to bed after 11 p.m.? Toss and turn for half an hour!" she will curse with glee. "Couldn't put the book down till midnight before courting me, eh? Lie there, listening to the night sounds for one more hour," she will chortle. And if I watch a horror movie any time of the day? She will flounce off altogether, allowing all the horrendous characters of the movie to lurk in the corners of our bedroom, staring at me with glowing coals that are their excuse for eyes. And I will be left, clutching a slumbering DH's slack hand for reassurance and chanting the ten names of Arjuna to keep me safe from fear. She is so fickle that sometimes, even without any reason, she will just refuse to appear.

So it was with great surprise that we both noticed that DH was lying awake for long stretches in the third month of the lockdown. He started complaining of very fitful sleep. He also complained of getting up several times during the night. One night, I got up to find him on the living room sofa, watching a football game's highlights on his phone. "Hey, that is my thing!" I told him, meaning the vigil on the sofa, of course, not watching football. I don't do anything except read on my sleepless nights.  

I put it down to the stress of the times. After all, he is snowed in with work and absolutely misses our trips to his family and traveling in general. He also misses not going to the theaters to watch movies. I thought that all that was playing havoc with his peace of mind. DH is a great worrier even in normal times. But even in periods of greater stress than this, I had never seen him lose his sleep. Soon, his sleeplessness affected me too. Even though I religiously kept to an early bed time, turned myself as per my schedule, etc., I too lay sleepless. I tried to blame my sleeplessness on the new extra-bright LED streetlight that had been newly affixed near our gate and even plotted throwing a stone at it.

But last Monday morning, I was practicing Sudarshan Kriya when it suddenly came to me. (This has become a somewhat regular occurrence of late - I get ideas and solutions while doing Kriya or Sahaj Samadhi meditation). The brainwave was this: our bedroom is being affected by too much work energy! When the lockdown started, DH started working in our living room. Gradually, he started shifting to the bedroom post lunch because he wanted to leave the living room free for the kids to watch TV. Our younger one, would initiate the "transfer protocol" the moment he finished his lunch by carrying DH's laptop and other accessories to the bedroom without being told, so that he could start watching TV that much earlier. 

Even when June rolled around, online classes started and our kids' TV watching was restricted to after 9 pm, DH was still shifting work to the bedroom after lunch. Understandably, his shifting guy now had to be asked to help each day! The hunch that I got was that all that work was destroying the relaxing atmosphere of our bedroom, robbing us of our sleep. Therefore, I asked DH to remain in the living room the whole day instead of working in the bedroom. 

I am very glad to report that DH and I have been sleeping much better since the change. The first few nights were still rather restless ones, but there has been definite improvement. So much so that I have decided that the new street light will be safe from me for the time being. So if any of you have a bedroom doing double-shift as a home office and find yourselves having trouble sleeping, try working from another room and banish all work-related paraphernalia from the bedroom. Wait at least a week or two to see if it works!

Last Saturday, Chunchu and Pirate, our visiting cats brought us some more company and introduced them to the food bowl at Karthi!

They were both predominantly white, with little to distinguish between them at first glance. In a textbook case of inverted racism, I lamented the fact that we never seemed to get kittens or cats with more color to them than this "boring white". The cat family left and then came back with a new addition!!!

The white kitties have a brother!!! We promptly named him Jack after Susan Branch's kitty who appears regularly on her blog. So one of his sisters simply had to be Jill! The other sister has slightly longer hair fluffed out all around her, so we named her Fluffy. Just look at the three posing near our sanitiser bottle!!!

Here is Fluffy trying to climb our screen when our Lab Goldie made her first appearance in their lives! As usual, on her evening run, Goldie tried to come up the porch steps to meet us, but Chunchu and Pirate blocked her at the top of the steps and hissed and swiped at her. Goldie could easily dispatch both with a lash of her tail, but our goofy Lab beat a strategic retreat rather than get a scratched nose. 

Aww, aren't they cute??? Please feel free to gush over the overload of cuteness! Pirate is quite nonchalant about her brood. And we are so happy that we have got to see Akrami's grandkids!

All three kitties have already learned that the kitty bowl at Karthi is always stocked up with snacks. All day yesterday they rushed in whenever they heard the front door open to restock on food after all the combat practice they put in together. Even today morning, all three rushed in by themselves! For the time being, our garage is their home. 

Already they are exhibiting unique characteristics. Fluffy, as you have seen, is scared easily. Jack is always looking for nooks to explore and Jill is feisty. She played football with our elder son, talked back at DH when he refused to allow her to jump up on the sofa and sat calmly for a few moments in my hand and looked me directly in the eyes before indicating that she would like to get down. Her siblings were pure scrambling panic when I picked them up. Jack has two little white mittens and knee socks on his hind legs as well as a white shirt front and pink nose. He is so adooooorable! 

Be advised, if they like Karthi enough to stay, there will be more kitty pictures coming your way!

Living with anosmia

Yes, that is supposed to read the way it is written, I was NOT trying to write 'amnesia'. "Anosmia", as Google tells me, is "the loss of the sense of smell, either total or partial. It may be caused by head injury, infection, or blockage of the nose." That pretty little nose you see in my profile picture? Yes, it is only decorative in purpose, because I do not have any memory of sensing anything by way of that organ. Ok, I will not say that my nose is just decorative because it does help with holding up the specs that my high-myopic eyes need, it serves to humidify the air I breathe and keep out a bit of the dust.... Oh well, I just meant to say that I have not been able to smell anything for as long as I remember!

Legend has it that my Dad used to stuff my nose regularly with Vicks Vaporub due to my excessive affinity for all kinds of common colds that came my way. I must have been a serious sleep deterrent with my constantly stuffed nose! Anyway, according to the ENT my family took me to at the age of five, intemperate use of this topical ointment was the culprit. Henceforth, my Dad was very careful to rub Vicks only on the exterior of my nose when I continued my friendship with colds. There is no scientific evidence for the ability of Vicks to cause anosmia, so let me go on record here that I completely exonerate my father of any culpability in this. 

The second and last intervention was in my early adulthood when another ENT took it upon himself to get me back my missing olfactory sense by any means possible. He made me take enough zinc tablets to galvanize a small ship and also did some cauterizing and left my poor burned nostrils stuffed with cotton wool for three days. Nothing came of it. Even today, smells are as complete strangers to this nose as ice is to the Sahara. I will not bore you with a list of smells that I cannot sense. The nearest thing I know to smell is when I paint my nails and I have a burning sensation when the nail polish is right under my nose, unlike my female relatives who can smell freshly painted nails half an hour after the fact.

What brought my attention back to my "disability" was a discussion in my writing group that is led by Dr. Manu Remakanth. He is currently conducting an online writing workshop with a series of videos, the first three of which have dealt with how to use the sense of smell and descriptions deriving from it in one's writing. One of the exercises that he gave us was to list some smells and the memories that were tied to them. As you can guess, I couldn't contribute anything to the subsequent discussion. Description of my anosmia led to people sharing that it could cause frequent hospitalizations and near-death situations. This led me to think how I have coped with my anosmic condition so far in my life.

I think one of the greatest aids in coping with a disability is having a good support group. No one in my family or among my friends has teased me or looked down upon me for my lack of smelling prowess. No one has played any pranks on me for the disability. I have always had people to smell things for me if I was in doubt of anything.  My sister was always ready to conduct a sniff test of me or my attire. My sister-in-law and DH help me choose perfumes. My kids always smell food that is doubtful to tell me if it is still good or not. They can also tell me whether there is any smell of leaking LPG. My friends would walk with me past the Chem lab and tell me I was lucky that I didn't have to deal with the rotten-egg smell of hydrogen sulphide gas. They never said,"Oh poor you, because you cannot smell 'this or that'."

The second thing that has helped is counting the advantages that an anosmic nose gives me. To this day when I am talking to pregnant ladies who are complaining about the myriad smells that make them vomit, I am able to smile smugly and tell them no smell ever bothered me and I never had to vomit even once in both my pregnancies. If envious looks could maim, I would have to be carted around in a wheelbarrow by now. The same goes for when anyone in my family has stomach flu or such. DH gags when he is hit by the smell of vomit anywhere, while I can go in and take care of vomiting children and 'accidents'. Last August, when a stray dog died hit by a motorbike across the road in front of our house, it lay there festering for 18 hours and no one would go near it due to the smell. I dug up a pit in my upper yard, got my son to help me to carry the body and buried it. My son was heavily muffled up, even so he had to keep his face averted. I don't think I would have been able to do that if I could smell normally.

In fact, my sister-in-law (who is slightly hyperosmic) tells me that my anosmia might be a big factor in the success of my marriage because she usually flings away an item of clothing worn by DH and tells him, "It's a GOOD thing your wife cannot smell." And it is also a good thing that DH is a teetotaler, so I don't need to play detective with my nose to find out what he drinks. Taking things to another spiritual level, if the control of the senses is the sign of a good yogi, I have things quite easy. What with my faulty eyesight and my non-working nose, I only have three-and-a-half senses to control in the first place! 

As far as the literary device of evoking memories and sensations by describing unique smells goes, both in the appreciation of this device and in using it, I am certain that my imagination can cope with it even without having experienced smells. For instance, a good writer can make a person who has never seen or touched snow feel it just by describing it. Similarly, I can model myself on several literary giants who have crafted wonderful olfactory pictures to create something unique on my own. Besides, I have a host of smell stories in my community that I can always borrow and improve upon! And if I am in doubt about the smell of anything, my sister-in-law is one of the best olfactory resource persons on earth.  So I do not see the lack of the olfactory sense as a handicap in the literary field either.

No doubt I have missed a whole dimension of the physical world by not being able to smell. May be, by not having the ability to tie memories to smells, I have lost quite a few unique memories as well. But looking back, I can see that I have been immensely blessed in the disability that I was burdened with. So, if Mephistopheles himself were to come and offer me a good, perfectly working nose with retrograde effect in exchange for any of my other senses, or in exchange for my loving support group, I would give him a cold eye and a scornful lip and sashay away in absolute disdain.

The elephant in the room...

Till today, I have been avoiding this topic on purpose so that I can send out happy, frivolous tidbits that can lift the spirits of those who read my musings...

I don't know about you all... On my phone's browser, a page has been open for a week now. Every 12 hours or so, I pull it down from the top to refresh it. The loading bar travels its path from the left to the right. What I get at the end of it are numbers. Numbers that keep on dialing up with each refresh. Numbers with plus signs beside them; numbers in red with plus signs beside them. All telling me how many people have been affected by country and the number per million of the population.

Am I being ghoulish? I don't know. All the political unrest of a few weeks ago has been swept away by this deluge. The burning streets and neighborhoods must be eerily empty now. If this is not a sign of how unstable and unpredictable life is on this earth, I don't know what is. And yet, even in the face of a scourge that is spreading fast and winnowing the weak and infirm as well as some fit ones, there are people who are selfish, careless and simply wanton, for want of a better word.

Governments can only do so much. A month ago, a young guy from DH's company returned from Singapore with a cold, went to the hospital, disclosed where he had come from and was immediately asked to enter quarantine by the doctor. A health worker visited him as soon as he had returned home and advised him and his family on how to keep the quarantine. Every day he received a phone call to assess his health condition, every second day a health worker visited his house to make sure that he was okay. This is the level of care given by our government. No one can do it better.

And then came a few irresponsible people from Italy, the Gulf and so on and all hell broke loose in Kerala. Reports are coming in from all over Kerala about people simply refusing to quarantine themselves for two weeks at home. At the same time, there have been some very heartening news items like that of an aunt who missed her daughter-like niece's wedding because she was completely healthy but in home quarantine because she had been to Qatar to visit her new grandchild. 

Even while deaths are being reported in other states, Kerala still hasn't had even one fatality due to the flu till now. Touch wood. Even the extremely elderly set of parents from Pathanamthitta have been coaxed back from the brink of death by the wonderful health carers. Even as I write this, the health department workers are each doing the work of ten or more people without thought of shift, holiday or rest to keep us safe. 

All at Karthi heaved a huge sigh of relief on this Wednesday because Kunjunni's board exams were finally over. It was just at the right time too, because on Thursday, all of the rest of the exams of CBSE 10th standard were postponed indefinitely. Kunjunni who had missed playing football in our yard for a whole year with his friends - a couple of whom were in the tenth themselves - enjoyed an evening full of football, scaring the poor front yard plants once again.

All his friends are from hereabouts and they don't go out much or use public transport to get around. Yesterday again he had an evening to play. But then came disturbing news. One of his friends had gone away to play on a hired turf. One neighbor came back from Chennai when his university closed indefinitely. He was required to attend a mandatory health check for crossing the state border. He was declared healthy for the time being and asked to remain inside his home for 14 days. And he immediately came out and mingled with his friends joking that he would not be cooped up at home come what may and spoil two weeks of his unexpected vacation.

Kunjunni had plans to play again today at 7 am. But yesterday, we all heard the PM's address and the whole family talked about the need for care and home quarantine. I told Kunjunni frankly that I was upset about his two friends who were flouting the health guidelines. I told him that I didn't have any right to admonish them, and that he was the only one with whom I could share my concern. He didn't tell me what he had decided. But today morning at 7, when his friends came, he came and told me that he was giving them his ball, but he wouldn't be going out to play. Understandably he was morose and gloomy for sometime. But he made me immensely proud for making the right choice.

A home quarantine is not at all hard on me because I am a homebody and have enough to work and play at home. But it is tough on the men in my family. DH loves driving all over on Saturdays and even on Sunday, he will all too often announce, "I'll be back in fifteen minutes" ostensibly on some errand, but really to take a spin on the scooter. He loves going away on trips and planning months ahead. Yesterday we cancelled our train tickets to Bangalore where we had planned to catch up with friends and family. Besides, he will have to start working from home where the internet is at times spotty. 

My father who will turn 85 this year is fiercely independent. We offered to do all his shopping so that he could remain at home. Yesterday, the PM asked citizens of 60 and above to stay at home. I called my father to reiterate our offer to do his shopping. He happily told me that he had driven out yesterday to fill his and my brother's prescriptions and had refilled his pantry. So he can sit comfortably at home for a month. He is much the same as my DH when it comes to staying at home, so I will need to keep an eye on his movements. 

All in all, it is going to be a bit tough on all of us in the coming days. But for nothing will I flout the government suggestions. On Sunday the 22nd, we will be strictly observing the janata curfew. And yes, we will be out on our balcony, ringing a bell for five minutes at 5 pm that day to thank all the selfless health workers of our country. We owe them more than we can ever know. 

Meanwhile I have a few projects lined up at Karthi for these trying times. More of that next week. 

Meanwhile, stay in, stay healthy, stay happy! Break the chain! My prayers go out to all of you!