Ayurveda is the general name given to the collective practices of ancient Indian medicine and is made up of many different components such as lifestyle changes, iridology, massage therapy, aromatherapy and importantly, the application of medicinal plants and herbs. As an ancient science, until recently not much research has been conducted on the efficacy of such treatments and practices. This has been due to both the lack of availability of concrete resources and debate on the validity of translations of first sources. Of all the herbs, the use of three of the traditional plant-based treatments- namely Neem (Azardirachta indica), Sage (various Salvia species) and Turmeric (Curcuma longa) - will be discussed due to reported high efficiency rates and frequent usage. These plants are reported to be highly useful in the field of Ayurveda and are not only the most frequently listed of all the herbs but also the most frequently researched. Although many cases have been documented to prove the usefulness of these herbs, there have been many cases that discourage the practice of Ayurveda by providing an argument against the safety and reliability of these herbs. Many of these claims now have recently been verified or shown to be false through proper scientific study. The use of neem and turmeric in particular has become highly controversial due to the concepts of biopiracy and biopatents and a brief introduction of that topic will be given with specific examples. Issues of safety and the general lack of scientific study will also be discussed. Negative effects of Ayurveda and Ayurvedic remedies that have been discovered through research are presented. Other benefits of using Ayurvedic plant-remedies such as cost effectiveness will also be analyzed.
INTRODUCTION:
With literature that has been dated to over 5000 years ago and an oral tradition that is said to be even older, there is little doubt as to why Ayurveda is considered by many to be the oldest system of health care still practiced in the world today (Chopra, 2003). The term, meaning the “knowledge or science of life” is derived from the Sanskrit words ayuhu, meaning “life” and veda, meaning the “the knowledge or the science of” (Stutley & Stutley, 1977). This shows a marked difference from other systems of healthcare such as allopathy, osteopathy and homeopathy which end in “pathy” and denote a distinct emphasis and greater focus on disease. (Zisman, Goldberg, & Veniegas, 2003).According to most Ayurvedic practitioners, health is not merely a state free of ailments, symptoms and disease, but rather a state of physical, mental and spiritual contentment and fulfillment (Dash & Junius, A Hand Book of Ayurveda, 1983).
Mathews, Holly F. "Introduction: A Regional Approach and Multidisciplinary Persepctive." Herbal and Magical Medicine: Traditional Healing Today. Ed. James Kirkland, Holly F. Mathews, C. W. Sullivan, III, and Karen Baldwin. Durham: Duke UP, 1992. 1-13. Print.
In a previous paper I explored how new generations of Western doctors are more focused on treating the disease, rather than the patient as a whole. If doctors spent extra time with each patient to treat their spiritual well-being, as well as their physical ailments, they could create a new dynamic in the way medicine is practiced. In this paper I will discuss why arts from Eastern mysticism should be incorporated into Western medicine practices, as well as a few ways they may be incorporated.
Acupuncture, ayurveda, chiropractice, homeopathy, meditation, osteopathy, and yoga are just a few of the many types of medicine practiced all over the world. According to the western establishment, all these forms of medicine are called alternative medicines. However, some of the aforementioned techniques have been in continuous use for over six thousand years, predating western medicine by over four thousand years. Yet, still many M.D.'s reject alternative forms of medicine. One of the buzzwords in medicine in recent years has been "holistic medicine". Physicians are becoming more aware of the need to treat the whole patient rather than just certain symptoms. Due to this realization, a small percentage of doctors are turning to ancient forms of medicine as a guide to alternative treatments. As alternative forms of medicine emerge in the western world, Christian scientists need to determine the moral, religious, and scientific validity of such techniques in order to gain a more holistic approach to medicine.
In today’s world, many people assume that the latest medical technology and treatments are always the best option. However, all over the world, different techniques for curing diseases and aliments are being used. These methods fall under the category of complementary and alternative medicine.
Homeopathy medicine is a self-healing alternative medicine developed in 1790 by German physician and chemist Samuel Hahnemann. Homeopathy medicine aims to treat the whole body and not just the symptoms. Homeopathy medicine was very popular throughout the united states during the early 1900 but began to die out after the civil war. Homeopathy medicine is approximately 200 years old, though it is believed to have originated in 400 B.C through Hippocrates. However, Samuel Hahnemann gave this medical practice a name in the late 1700s and developed three principles for Homeopathy medicine that still stands today. Homeopathy medicine was developed in the late 1700s, which saw a period of unhygienic and brutal medical techniques. Samuel a physician
The famous spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi said, "Homeopathy cures a greater percentage of cases than any other method of treatment. Homeopathy is the latest, most refined method of treating patients economically and non-violently” (Malik). However, Homeopathy is only one of the many natural forms of treatment that patients are utilizing in an effort to avoid conventional medicine. A clinic practice model that combines conventional medicine with Naturopathic, Complementary and other forms of alternative medicine all in one setting, is the new health paradigm called Integrative Medicine. With the public’s growing concern of being over-medicated by costly and sometimes violent conventional medicine, I am going to explain the movement towards
The major use for herbal medicines is for the promotion of health and for therapy for chronic conditions, instead of being used for life-threatening conditions; except in the event of say advanced cancer or new infectious diseases when conventional medicine practices no longer are working an individual may use traditional remedies. While traditional medicines are often mistaken that because they are natural that they are safe, non-toxic, which is not always the case. In cases when an individual is taking herbs with prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, or other herbs that may cause some adverse side affects. As a flourishing commercial enterprise, it doesn’t matter why an individual uses traditional medicines, it provides important health care services for individuals that have access physically or finantually to allopathic
Some common health traditions based on my culture include the use of Unani Medicine, Ayurveda, Siddha, Yoga, Naturopathy and Homeopathy in daily use in rural villages as well as urban low cost clinics. The treatment however is highly individualized. Unani medicine is ancient Greek medicine that was based on the concept of balancing body humors. They either fell out of balance, which might yield diseases (depending on circumstances), or were restored to balance to heal diseases. Unani systems involve these four elements: earth, air, water, and fire; along with four natures: cold, hot, wet, and dry; and four humors: blood (which is hot/wet), phlegm (cold/wet), yellow bile (hot/dry), and black bile (cold/dry). Ayurveda is mainly based on herbs, plants, flowers, fruits, vegetables and all vegetation that grows around us in plenty. It is our native system based on the peculiar Indian conditions. Ayurveda begins when everything fails and when the treatment is uncertain a...
Ross defines and differentiates between the terms healing and curing. She recognizes the fact that healing and curing are very intertwined and it can be hard to distinguish between the two terms. There are differences between the definitions in scholarly and general settings. She references an ethnographic study of healing versus curing conducted by anthropologists Andrew Strathern and Pamela Stewart in 1999 with native groups in New Guinea. The results of the study looked at how energy used by the different types of tribal healers to either cure or heal a patient. Eastern medicine focuses on how energy interacts with the healing process in connection within the mind. Whereas Western medicine is focused on the mind and the body separately. The practice is considered a holistic approach to finding cures. According to Ross (2013), healing is more a therapeutic process targeting the whole body and specific illness including emotional, mental, and social aspects in the treatment. The act of curing is a pragmatic approach that focuses on removing the problem all together. The life experiences of a person playing into how well certain treatments will heal or cure what is ailing them. These aspects can not be defined with textbook definitions. The interaction that the healing process has with energy is a variable in the success rate. Uncontrolled emotions can have a greater impact on the inside the body than a person can realize. The exploration of energy interaction within the body can be used for greater analysis of health care systems. (21-22). Are Western healthcare facilities purposely “curing” patients just so that they return are few years later? Is Western Medicine built upon a negative feedback loop? The terminolo...
Every year, approximately 230, 000 to 400. 00 deaths are caused by iatrogenic deaths ( in other words, these are deaths caused by wrong medical treatments). Two of the prominent yet some what contrasting types of medicine are, Ayurveda, the Indian traditional medicine, and Modern (aka western) medicine. Both of these have their own processes and methods of healing, which over the years have created their own followers. While Ayurveda addresses the root causes of the disease through identifying the imbalances in the elements, called “Doshas”, it also emphasizes on a spiritual lifestyle which for most people in today's world is a sea change. On the other hand, western medicine addresses the symptoms and provides instant albeit temporary relief for suffering. Needless to say there are more followers of the western medicine due to its immediate impact on subsiding the pain. Out of lack of awareness to the significance of traditional medicine, especially Ayurveda, many doctors and researchers are against the use of Ayurvedic and traditional medicines, which limits the potential of curing certain ailments of patients without additional side effects.
Ayurveda is the science of knowledge, which has been practiced for more than 5000 years. Ayurveda further states that, every person is made up of five basic elements or the Pancha Mahabhuta- which includes; earth, air, water, fire and space (ether), which reside in every person in such a way that they determine his physical and mental traits and shape their overall personality.
Over the centuries, several treatment methods have been utilized by humans for remedy diseases when they caught. Two of them are modern medicine and traditional medicine. Traditional medicine, which is also called alternative treatment, is older than modern medicine. This effective treatment had been used for many centuries before modern medicine was found. On the contrary, modern medicine has been used since the 1900’s (Lyons). In this system, drugs’ tests are carefully done in the safe laboratories, and their side effects are identified before they are given to the patient. Moreover, the effects of the pills are written on the leaflets which are found in the drug packages to warn the patients for these effects. However, sometimes the side effects are not blocked, so people have to take another pill to get better. It makes people take more chemicals into their bodies. Even traditional medicine, give its place to the modern medicine when its beginning times, it is used efficaciously like modern medicine at the present time. In course of time, people will gain reliance on traditional medicine again, since alternative medicine is more efficient and powerful in order to get better and soothe the diseases than modern medicine. In fact, in traditional medicine, there are fewer drugs, side effects, holistic therapy that people can be availed.
I define holistic health in this way because holistic health has numerous ways to attain a health and to approach the analysis of an illness. The modalities I learn in my holistic health class have made me to realize that there is more than one way to achieve the health and western medicine is not the only hope to reduce or cure the symptoms of any di...
Herbal remedies’ qualities are widespread availability, lower cost, effective for chronic conditions. Herbal remedies are the use of plants or plant extract to treat a person’ overall health. Herbal treatments are prominent for developing countries for instance, “in Africa up to 90% and in India 70% of the population depend on traditional medicine to help meet their health care needs” (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011), due to their low cost and availability. Herbal remedies have gained attention in the past decades, and expanding their uses due to the increased interest of natural therapies (Wachtel-Galor & Benzie, 2011). Herbs used on the remedies grow in the wild throughout the world, therefore making it easy to
Health claims are booming in today’s world. Many of these consumers are being misled by advertising and believe that their choice will benefit their health. Although herbal medicines have been in existence throughout human evolution, I have chosen to take a deeper look into these health practices. I’m curious if this is just another health claim or if there are actual benefits to taking these medicines.