Dancing with Life (9 page)

Did acupuncture have any side effects? Yes, there definitely was one. One that was positive! I had never had regular menstrual cycles and since I did not get periods for nearly a year (2009–2010), I thought it was early menopause. In fact, I had spoken to a couple of people who also suffered from the onset of early menopause. They told me it did not cause any major problem so I thought it was not something to worry about.

After six months of taking acupuncture, my periods became regular. ‘I never told you about my menstrual cycle, Sir. However, did you also work on this?’ I asked Dr Rawal. He shook his head and said he was anyhow trying to harmonize my entire body as that is the principle of acupuncture. Now, I was even more impressed. Acupuncture indeed had made me feel better and more comfortable, even in the face of severe weather changes.

The improvement in my health was starting to become visible to my neighbours as well. So much so, that I started getting a lot of queries about how they could get rid of their health problems. One of my husband’s colleagues had a severe backache. He was actually wondering what to do as his surgeon had told him to take it easy for a while and only do regular exercises to strengthen his back. He asked my husband where I went for treatment. I gave him the number and address of the acupuncturist, and in a matter of months, he became much better.

Another neighbour of mine, Veena Shah (
*
name changed), had shifted recently to the next apartment. Once her maid came to our home and told me that she was bedridden as she was suffering from severe backache. She said she had taken leave from office and could not even get up to open the door. She asked me to come and meet her. I immediately went to her house and convinced her to come with me at least once to meet my acupuncturist. She did that and improved tremendously in some time. She rejoined office but still continued taking acupuncture treatment. Now, she is fit as a fiddle and is extremely active.

On the personal front, after a long time, my family had something positive to say about my health. My son, Siddart, had come home during a college break. After a couple of days he asked me if there had been a new discovery in MS, for he thought my mobility issues had certainly lessened, and that I was walking in a better manner. I had told Siddart that I was suffering from MS when I had gone to Kerala to explore Ayurveda. This time I told him about how wonderfully acupuncture was working for me, and he was very happy to hear that.

I continued diligently and went for another wedding at the end of that year, and this time I thoroughly enjoyed it!

In this world where there are many so-called well wishers, there are a few who genuinely care an extend support, no matter what the situation is.

One such friend is Smita Kale, the wife of one of my husband’s colleagues. Smita had seen me in all stages of my married life. She had actually been very worried when she saw me in 2009 which was the time the effect of MS on my body were obvious to everybody.

She was one person, perhaps one of the few people who would give quiet support but would never sermonize or focus too much on the disease.

When she saw me in 2013 again, she was extremely happy about the improvement in my health. She was genuinely happy that I had avoided heavy medication and yet was able to find the path to wellness.

When people started asking me for advice regarding their health, I was truly convinced that I was indeed getting better and it gave me tremendous confidence.

I must admit that till then I still had not reached the stage where other people’s opinions didn’t matter to me.

This again is a weakness most of us have. Actually, how does it matter what others think? Shouldn’t we focus on our improvement in the body, mind and spirit? Shouldn’t I have been grateful that incontinence, which had troubled me a great deal earlier, had disappeared? Shouldn’t I have been grateful that I did not even need to think about adult diapers now?

As far as acupuncture is concerned, it needs tremendous patience and perseverance, especially in chronic diseases like MS. In fact, when Dr Rawal’s patients thank him profusely for improving their health, he in turn thanks them for being regular and not giving up easily. This is because acupuncture as a science does take time to show results. It is also mildly painful, hence there are many people who come to take the treatment but give up too quickly.

Now, I am not saying I was born with tremendous patience. The fact is, since my ailment was classified as ‘incurable’ in allopathy, I had to explore other therapies. This is why I explored acupressure, reflexology and finally acupuncture.

While my incontinence problem had improved rapidly, my mobility was and is still not completely all right.

This, my doctor, said would take a long time to disappear. He said that mobility and strength do return but this takes time. The principle is the same for any ailment. Very often, our aims are unrealistic. I knew I had a chronic ailment, and thus couldn’t get completely healed in a matter of days.

I continued taking acupuncture treatment regularly for a couple of years, till my husband got transferred to Lonavla, a place not too far from Mumbai.

My daughter was entering eleventh grade then, a very important landmark in India’s education system. As Lonavla did not have a suitable high school or college for her, we had to leave her in a girls’ hostel in Mumbai (where she was doing her studies) assuring her that we would come to see her often from Lonavla.

I asked my doctor if I should come for taking treatment from Lonavla, so as to not break the chain of regular treatment. Dr Rawal discouraged me from doing so. ‘Jamuna, you are able to board crowded local trains, climb bridges and do everything that a person your age needs to do, however don’t overstretch yourself. Come for treatment only when you come to Mumbai to see your daughter but don’t waste time in coming all the way just for acupuncture from Lonavla,’ he said.

Once again, I was impressed with his integrity and his way of making me focus on my improvement. He could have told me to come to Mumbai regularly; asked me to take more sessions than necessary and could have charged extra money by doing so. He knew I would have readily agreed as I had benefited so greatly from acupuncture. However, he did not want to make it an excuse to fleece me and this impressed me a great deal. Till today, just like I rely on my first neurologist, Dr Mukherjee in the area of allopathy, to me Dr Rawal was and shall remain my benchmark for acupuncture, as he is knowledgeable, experienced and has tremendous integrity.

I went back to Lonavla and never expected an acupuncturist to be available in this small town. However, grace again presented itself, as a friend of mine told me that there was a doctor, Dr Alok Palresha, who had just begun practising acupuncture in Lonavla. I just could not believe my luck and promptly went to see him. He examined me and was quite open in accepting that he had never dealt with anyone who had suffered from MS earlier. He got in touch with Dr Rawal and took his guidance and assured him that he would be regularly updated on my progress. He did this diligently and Dr Rawal guided him at every stage. I was so lucky to have both these doctors in my life.

A
CUPUNCTURE
IN
M
AINSTREAM
?

After six months in Lonavla, my husband got transferred to Delhi again in 2013, and I now needed to find an acupuncturist in Delhi. This time help came from my husband’s senior, Admiral S.P.S Cheema’s wife, Gagandeep. We came to know that his wife too had benefited from acupuncture. Mrs Cheema told me, ‘I was suffering from Cervical Spondylosis and a knee ligament tear from quite some time. I consulted many orthopaedic surgeons over a prolonged duration. Although allopathic medicines used to ease the pain, they never gave me complete relief. It was then that I was introduced to an acupuncture specialist by a friend. On commencement of the acupuncture treatment I could feel the benefits of the treatment almost immediately and within a period of nearly three months I was completely healed.’

She however added a word of caution, saying, ‘It appears that the basic art/science of acupuncture is indeed easy to learn, and therefore there are a large number of practitioners who claim to be experts. However, they are actually not fully qualified in terms of acquiring the qualifications from proper channels and people should choose their acupuncturist very carefully.’

She gave me the contact of an acupuncturist’s in Delhi, Dr Sunil Kumar, and asked me to call him as soon as possible.

Dr Kumar’s clinic in Safdarjung Enclave in Delhi catered equally to all patients, no matter whether they were rich or poor. He believes firmly to extend as much help as he can and never asks for money but simply provides medical help through acupuncture. My acupuncture treatment with him began …

I also went to the clinic of the acupuncturist, Dr Purushottam Lohiya, from whom my doctor in Mumbai had learnt acupuncture.

Depending on the schedule of both the doctors, I would go to either of them to take an acupuncture treatment.

Recently, we shifted again to a different area in Delhi itself. A lady I once met a clinic told me about Dr Abid Khan who had been practising acupuncture for a long time in the Nizamuddin area and had even treated one gentleman with MS earlier. Since the clinic is closer to where I stay, I now go to Dr Abid Khan. He also taught me ear acupuncture or auricular acupuncture which I could do all by myself at home, in order to get healthy sooner. I have shared this in the chapter on self-help therapies later in the book as this is easily doable by all.

As far as doctors practising acupuncture are concerned, the best way to verify the efficacy of the therapy and the calibre of the doctor remains the old-fashioned way – try talking in an in-depth manner to people who have already taken treatment there and are satisfied with it.

The number of people who take acupuncture, especially in the metro cities is increasing day by day. The number of people that I saw turning up at all the clinics for various diseases and even small ailments stands testament to the fact.

E
FFICACY
OF
A
CUPUNCTURE

Suma, my editor at
Life Positive
, had noticed substantial changes in my health due to acupuncture and suggested to me that it was the right time for me to write about acupuncture as our magazine focuses on alternative healing therapies.

I did an article on the subject and within a few days I got calls from people suffering from all kinds of illnesses, not just MS patients. This was essentially because people had a lot of misconceptions about acupuncture, wondering if it would be too painful or may lead to infections because of the needles being used.

As far as I am concerned, one of my missions in life now is to promote the efficacy of acupuncture, especially in the context of MS. I must here mention that this is only one of my missions and not the be-all and end-all of my life, as too much focus on anything is not really beneficial. For instance, if I made acupuncture into something like an addiction, I will not be able to travel, go wherever I wish to, and hence, become therapy dependent if not drug dependent. Now, I do go wherever I wish to and take acupuncture treatment whenever I can, without disturbing my life.

Here, I shall digress a little and tell you about the people, both young and old, that I have spoken to in order to encourage and motivate them and some others who have benefited a lot from acupuncture.

The Remarkable Story of Dr Rashmi Jha

Recently, one of my husband’s friends called to ask for help for his sister, who was also suffering from MS. She was staying in Bhopal at that time. I looked for acupuncturists in Bhopal and finally found one, Dr Rashmi Jha. When I asked when and where she had learnt acupuncture, an amazing story unfolded.

Dr Rashmi Jha had done a degree in Ayurveda in 1975 and was medical officer in the District Hospital of Bhopal when the Bhopal Gas Tragedy happened in 1984. The havoc of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy was unleashed by the leak of the gas methyl isocyanate (from the Union Carbide factory) which blended with the air and rested in the lungs of men, women, children and animals, leaving them breathless. Rashmi was one of them. Her vision too was affected due to macular degeneration due to the gas leakage. Further, some lifesaving drugs that were administered to her at that time caused her to develop osteoporosis.

She tried various therapies but nothing helped. She started suffering from asthma and her breathing capacity was diminished by 85 per cent. It was in 1988-1990 that she got a little better due to acupuncture treatment given by Dr S.K. Jain in Bhopal. After two years, she stopped taking any allopathic medicines for her breathing problems. Being a doctor herself, she started learning acupuncture from Dr Jain, as it was the only thing that helped her become healthy. Moreover, she wished to help others too.

Later she wished to develop her acupuncture skills further and miraculously, this became possible. In 1994, she applied and got fellowship from the government for a cultural exchange program with China for learning acupuncture. She went to Beijing and learnt Chinese along with acupuncture. She also learnt moxibustion
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from the University of Traditional Chinese medicine in Guangzhou, China in the year 1995-1997. While she was learning, she was getting herself treated too in China, where acupuncture is believed to have originated.

Although she hasn’t got complete relief from vision problems and osteoporosis caused by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, she is leading a complete life otherwise, and is diligently treating many people through acupuncture.

I do believe and wish to share that apart from being better it was her aim to help others that has helped her lead a happy and wholesome life. I do not mean that everyone should consider helping others as their mission. We all are different hence our goals too will be different. However, having a goal is extremely important for all of us in life. Dr Rashmi could have chosen to be in despair after the Bhopal incident, but kept her focus strongly on finding a solution, and not the problem. Again, she could have been sad about the fact that she is still not hundred percent all right. However, what really is 100 per cent? It is we who define it. She chose to focus on what she ‘could’ do and hence, leads a complete life, which is what I would call 100 per cent.