Author Richard S. Weiss is a Senior Lecturer in South Asian religions at Victoria University (Wellington, New Zealand). In his “Recipes for Immortality,” (Oxford University Press, New york City, 2009) Weiss illuminates the continuing success of traditional healers in the face of Western medicine’s global spread by examining the ways in which practitioners of traditional Siddha medicine in Tamil Nadu enlist the confidence, support and patronage of their patients. This is a book about the interactivity and interdependency of tradition, faith, cultural identity and the sentiments of nationhood. The author presents a fascinating in-depth study of this traditional system of knowledge, which serves the medical needs of millions of Indians.
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Ayurvedic Prevention & Management of Lyme Disease
Introduction
With the onset of spring and summer and with increasing amounts of time spent outdoors in those seasons, the issue of Lyme disease is a timely one.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by any one of three gram-negative bacteria of the spirochete class: Borrelia burgdorferi causes most cases of the infection seen in the United States, while B. afzeli and B. garini are responsible for most European incidences and 20 further Borrelia species have been identified as carriers and vectors. First identified in 1975 in the town of Lyme, Connecticut (USA) the disease is the most common tick-borne infection in the northern hemisphere.
Ayurveda & Infectious Diseases
The study and treatment of infectious disease is not an exclusive property of contemporary biomedicine. In ayurveda, millenia before the invention of microscopy, the Rshis adduced the origins, courses and treatments of infectious diseases, and these have long been the subjects of ayurvedic interest, and research and clinical activity. By way of introduction, ayurveda categorizes all microorganisms – whether microbes, viruses, rickettsiae or parasites - as Krimi (from the Sanskrit, meaning worm). All krimi divided into two main categories, viz., external and internal.
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FDA urges caution with potentially lethal Licorice; Overlooks Prilosec, Accutane, Meridia, Crestor, Bextra, and Serevent.
An article appeared on October 29, 2011 on the Consumer Reports website Health.org (http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2011/10/fda-black-licorice-candy-treats-can-cause-heart-tricks.html ) captioned “FDA: Black licorice treats can cause heart tricks” and warning of the potentially lethal effects on heart function of ingesting black licorice - an herbal remedy used for thousands of years, in a globe-spanning variety of cultures and traditions, and, used knowledgeably, without ill effect on the general population.
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Book Review: Alchemical Medicine for the 21st Century
Alchemical Medicine for the 21st Century (subtitled ‘Spagyrics for Detox, Healing and Longevity’) written by Clare Goodrick-Clarke, is among the best “first” books for someone new to alchemy, providing the reader with a concise and very well-written compilation of alchemical history as well as practical facts and easily-implemented suggestions on how to use the healing properties of plants and the ancient art and science of spagyrics for the treatment of contemporary health problems.
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Would Conventional Medicine Have Killed Steve Jobs? Did it?
An article appeared in the October 12, 2011 internet edition of Medpage Today, a widely read online medical professional website entitled “Did Alternative Medicine Kill Steve Jobs?” by a Colorado-based gynecologist named Michelle Berman, MD.
Every once in a while, when one thinks that the partisans of medical orthodoxy have gone about as far as they can go in asserting the ridiculous to enhance their claims of scientific correctness and exclusive access to The Truth (capitals intended), they go and make a jump into the sublime, surprising us all. I am thus surprised by this article, although perhaps I shouldn’t be.
In substance, “Did Alternative Medicine Kill Steve Jobs?” speculates that the delay between his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer and his undertaking conventional treatment (i.e., corrective surgery) was – coupled with his subsequent pursuit of alternate therapeutic modalities – likely what cost Jobs his life.
Diabetes – An Ayurvedic perspective
Diabetes is the fifth deadliest disease in the USA. According to ADA (American Diabetic Association) 23.8 million people in USA suffer from diabetes i.e. almost 8 % of the total population of USA. Not only in USA, but all over the world there is an increased number of diabetic cases. In India, there are 25 million diabetic cases and unfortunately India
ranks as the largest diabetic populated country. Statistically every fifth diabetic in the world is an Indian.
According to Ayurveda, Diabetes can be correlated to “Madhumeh”. Madhumeh is categorized under the disease “Prameh” which is extensively described in all major Ayurvedic texts. The word ‘madhu’ means honey (sweet) and ‘meh’ means urination. Hence ‘madhumeh’ means a disease in which person urinates honey like urine.
Book Review: Ayurveda: A Comprehensive Guide to Traditional Indian Medicine for the West
Ayurveda is a lineage of healing that has evolved from the primordial past in a far-off land with an unimaginably different cultural context from the West and has endured through oral legacies of countless generations of healers as well as literal translations of radically varying quality and completeness. This text demands that Western readers peel off the sheaths of their way of thinking about the origins of matter and life - that is, discard their cultural preconceptions and - its most rewarding aspect - opens their eyes to a new way of thinking about health and healing.
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Ayurveda & Myasthenia Gravis
Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is a neuromuscular disease characterized by increasingly severe fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability. This weakness is brought about by an over-active immune response by the body against its own tissues; hence, it is termed an autoimmune diseases.
Myasthenia Gravis is caused by a defect in the transmission of nerve impulses to muscles. It occurs when normal communication between the nerve and muscle is interrupted at the neuromuscular junction - the place where nerve cells connect with the muscles they control. Normally when impulses travel down the nerve, the nerve endings release a neurotransmitter substance called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine travels through the neuromuscular junction and binds to acetylcholine receptors which are activated and generate a muscle contraction.
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All About Kapha Dosha
The physical universe is derived from three powers: energy, light and matter. Energy works through the air element, light works through fire, and matter is dominated by water. When these factors are imbued with prana, or life force, the three doshas (vata, pitta and kapha) are created. These doshas determine our conditions of growth, aging, health and disease; they produce the physical body and oversee its substance and function; and they relate to our individual habits and proclivities–from bodily structure to emotional responses.
Kapha dosha
Kapha dosha is composed of earth and water. These properties make this dosha stable, and it is responsible for growth and homeostasis of the body. Kapha dosha is produced in the body as a post-digestive product (in the form of energy), and its quality and quantity depend on the substances consumed and their proper digestion.
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Cancer: A Comparative Study Of Modern And Ancient Ayurvedic Thoughts About Pathology Of This Disease
The human body is a multicellular organization or ecosystem whose individual units - cells - grow and reproduce by cell division and organize themselves in collaborative groups of tissues. Tissues further assemble to form organs, pathways and systems. In this functional society of cells where each cell is an independent as well as an interdependent life unit, there occur cellular births, deaths, functional and territorial limitations, maintenance of population sizes, nurturance in favorable habitats, the performance of specific types of work, etc., just as is the case in any society or ecosystem.
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