Chapter 4: Alternate Therapies & Setbacks
My Physiotherapist Professor while treating my injured leg had asked me if I had ever tried Unani medicines for my kidney problems. I told him that I was not aware of any such Doctors and had not tried any other alternative therapies apart from Allopathic. He said that his university specialized in Unani Medicines and they had Unani Doctors and he could take me there. I readily agreed.
Unani Medicine means Greek Medicine and is a form of traditional medicine widely practiced in South Asia. Unani medicine first arrived in India around 12-13th century and subsequently flourished under the Mughal Empire.
So on a Saturday morning I reached his university and he took me to the hospital where all Unani Doctors were seeing patients. There was a huge crowd. However since the professor was a faculty in the university he managed to take me directly to the room where the Doctor along with 3 to 4 assistants were seeing multiple patients simultaneously. While the assistants checked the patients BP and collected past medical history and wrote all that down, the doctor once he had the information sheet from the assistant asked further questions and then prescribed Unani medicines. When my turn came, I told him that I had multiple cysts in my kidneys. His first reaction was “let it be, it should not harm you why do you want medication”. I then told him that the cysts were numerous and my Creatinine had already risen to 2. He then got a little serious and prescribed a whole hot of medication and the different ways in which they had to be taken. He wrote the entire prescription in Urdu, so I could not understand it. I then went to the medicine shop within the hospital and bought all the medicines. There were all sorts of herbs and tonics. Out of these some were ground then and there and handed over to me. All the medicines hardly cost anything compared to the allopathic medicines that I had taken till now.
I tried the medicines for a month and then went for a blood test again. There was no change in my Creatinine figure so I decided to discontinue this therapy as the medicines were really horrible to taste and results if any should have shown up in a month as per the Unani Doctor.
In July 2008 my sisters Creatinine suddenly shot up to 5. Our Nephrologist asked her to get a fistula made in her hand so that it would be mature and ready by the time the need for dialysis arose. He also asked her to register with the Cadaver donation registry at AIIMS as a recipient for kidney transplant since we did not have a donor in our immediate family. The only living person in our immediate family without a kidney problem was my mother but she was above 65 years and hypertensive and hence not really suitable for kidney donation. The fistula surgery in my sister’s case was a disaster, as the first fistula that the surgeon made in her left wrist did not work. The surgeon tried to rectify his error and tried making another fistula a little above the earlier one, but even that failed. She decided to desist from any more risky attempts at a fistula surgery and face the consequences as and when the need for dialysis arose.
Around this time one day I was attending an event related to my work, where a middle aged CEO of a software company was speaking to a small group of entrepreneurs that included me. His talk was on entrepreneurship and how he had created and grown his company and the challenges that he had faced and overcome while doing so. The talk was interesting and towards the end of it, he introduced his wife who was sitting next to him. She said that she was into “Past Life Regression” (PLR) therapy and hypnotherapy for healing of diseases. All of us were immediately very interested and curious to know what that was and put up a lot of questions to her.
Past Life Regression is a technique that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations, though others regard them as fantasies or delusions. Past Life Regression (PLR) is typically undertaken either in pursuit of a spiritual experience, or in a psychotherapeutic setting. Most advocates loosely adhere to beliefs about reincarnation. In this, one recollects ones past lives, and understands the incident or factors that may have led to a disease / illness or phobia in the present life. Once one understands that, it is easier to cure the disease. As per the lady it could help cure many diseases that were incurable. Though PLR dates back to the 4th century BC when Patanjali, the ancient Indian philosopher who codified yoga, instructed how past lives can be recalled through meditation, it made a comeback in modern times around the early 20th century Psychologists, psychiatrists and mediums have developed PLR therapy since the 1950s. The belief gained credibility because some of the advocates possess legitimate credentials, though these credentials were in areas unrelated to religion, psychotherapy or other domains dealing with past lives and mental health.
Immediately after the event was over I went up to this lady and mentioned about the health issues that my elder sister was facing and if she could heal her with PLR therapy. She said that although she used to practice earlier, she did not do so anymore and she only trained others on how to do PLR therapy. Instead she suggested, that I meet her Guruji who was a spiritual Guru and he should surely be able to help cure us of our health issues. I took the address of the Guruji and thanked her.
The very next day was a Sunday and I went looking for the Gurujis house located in a flat in South Delhi. On reaching there I was told that he was traveling to the USA to meet his disciples there and I could come back on Wednesday evening when he would be back and would be seeing disciples again here.
On Wednesday, I reached the flat promptly at 7 pm as directed. There were already at least 40 pairs of shoes and slippers outside the house where disciples were to remove their footwear before entering his residence. There was a large drawing cum dining hall with carpets spread out for disciples to sit. I entered with some trepidation, but most people who were sitting there smiled and welcomed me. There were people of all age groups, gender and religion. There were some devotional songs playing in Punjabi. A “Sevak” who is basically a volunteer came up to me and asked if I wanted to meet “Guruji”. I said “yes” and he took me to another smaller room which had a lot of incense lit and had a small temple also built in a corner that everyone who entered the room paid their respects at, before sitting down. I did likewise. There were a group of around 15 disciples sitting here. Right at the entrance of the door was a Sikh gentleman wearing a normal dress of a pant and a shirt. He had calm and soothing eyes, and he was talking to all the people in the room. He was talking about life and how it has its twists and turns and how one should have faith and one can sail through it. Somebody then addressed him as “Guruji” and he immediately pointed out that he was just a humble disciple of “Guruji” who had taken the task of carrying on Guruji’s work ahead after his sudden death a couple of years before. It was then I realized that although the main “Guruji” who had created this movement and who had his dedicated large group of spiritual followers had passed on, and this Sikh gentleman had taken on the mantle and was taking his good work forward. The small temple in the room had some personal items of “Guruji” and hence all disciples paid their respects to that temple on entering the room before sitting down. The disciples however insisted on calling the Sikh gentleman their “Guruji” as well as they felt he was his worthy successor. I sat on the floor right in front of the Sikh gentleman at the closest possible space available. He just smiled and carried on interacting with the people who had numerous general questions. Someone came from the kitchen that was just next to this room and handed me a glass of tea and plate of 2 Samosas and some sweets. I tried to decline, but the “sevak” who had got it told me that this was Guruji’s “prashad” and should not be refused. I ate the offered snacks and realized that it was actually very tasty and one of the best samosas that I had ever had. After around 10 minutes, I mustered up the courage to tell “Guruji” that I had come on the reference of a lady who was his follower and had something urgent on which I needed his help. He was able to recollect the lady instantly and asked about her wellbeing and said that he would discuss my problems in a couple of minutes.
Some time later he got up and asked me to accompany him to another room that was full of “Prasad” and other “food items” that were to be offered to disciples for dinner. He asked me to tell him my problems. I narrated to him about the kidney failure of my elder sister and her two failed fistula surgeries. He asked me to get her reports on Friday and not to worry too much as all would be fine. He took two toffees and prayed and gave them to me and asked me to give it to my sister at home. He also asked me to have dinner before leaving. I saw that all disciples were served dinner that was quite elaborate with two vegetables, rice, chapatti’s, dal and a sweet dish at the end. While leaving a “sevak” near the door again gave me a bunch of toffees as “prashad”. This was being given to every visitor.
I went back on Friday and again had a one to one chat in the small room with Guruji. He looked at all the reports and prayed. I asked him if I needed to get my sister too. He said, sure if she was in a position to come it would be good if she came here and was a part of this gathering every Wednesday and Friday. From then on, we started visiting the Guruji twice a week every week. I finally told him about my health issue as well and that my kidney condition had deteriorated and my Creatinine was up to 2. He told me not to worry and that I would not have to suffer any more and that I would be just fine. To hear someone say this so confidently and so positively does wonders to ones morale and immediately one starts feeling as if a huge weight has been lifted off ones heart and feels better.
We saw and heard many wonderful cases of people who had been coming to Guruji for years and had been cured of serious maladies. Food was an important part of the rituals that were held in these prayer meets at his house. First people would come and sit and share their experiences and miracles that they had experienced with their problems in life while they were offered snacks and tea. Then there was a prayer session followed by some bhajans and then dinner was served. The number of disciples only increased by the day and the initial 40 people that I had seen on day 1 had grown to 100 within 2 months. In fact beyond a point, people had to stand as they ran out of place to sit. However there was always enough food for dinner for everybody. I also noticed that no one ever asked or gave donations to fund all the expenses. However each time someone had some problem resolved from their life, they would get sweets, which would then be distributed among all the disciples.
The environment here was nice and it was good to interact with people who were also facing challenging situations in life and learn from their experiences. Also, we realized that almost everyone irrespective of whatever health problems they had could have the food offered at Guruji’s place without any problems. My sister who had little appetite and felt unwell most of the time managed to finish the vast amounts of food offered in dinner here with ease. I even saw diabetics relishing sweets offered here without any problems later. In fact in my sisters next Creatinine test her values had come down by 0.5. We were really pleased to see this. This went on for the next three months until one day “Guruji” fell ill and we were told that meetings would remain suspended till he recovered.
In November 2008, we were watching television when we saw a channel by a renowned Yoga guru and a proponent of Ayurveda on how Ayurvedic medicines were helpful in curing kidney problems. Ayurveda or Ayurvedic medicine is a Hindu system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. The earliest literature on this Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India, i.e., in the mid-second millennium BC.
We decided to visit the Ayurveda pharmacy. There was free consultation by the “Vaid”, a name given to an Ayurveda Doctor. He looked at our medical reports and then prescribed different types of medicines that according to him would improve the functioning of our kidneys. The medicines were all herbs and the various herbs had to be taken in different ways. Some herbs that looked like barks of a tree had to be boiled and the bitter drink left over had to be filtered in a muslin cloth and then drunk. It was actually quite bitter. My sister vomited the very first time she took the medicines, so she gave up on it immediately. I decided to continue for a while.
The very next day, my sister started feeling unwell and started shivering as well. We called a neighborhood physician and he prescribed some blood tests including tests for malaria. Since we had told him that my sister was a kidney patient, he also prescribed all kidney function tests. The next day evening I was the first to see the test results and it was not good at all. Although Malaria was ruled out, my sisters Creatinine had risen to 9.0. I decided to call her consulting Nephrologist. He was unfortunately out of town, but he recommended that we admit her immediately to another hospital nearby which was also part of a very renowned and large chain of hospitals in India. We admitted her in the Emergency Ward where the Nephrologist was not in as it was around 9 pm by then. He was called and he took around half hour to reach the hospital. He examined my sister and said that since a fistula was not ready they would have to put a catheter in the neck and do an emergency dialysis and then attempt another fistula surgery.
The next few days were difficult, as we had to witness a lot of pain and suffering. Around the second day of admission, news broke of the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai which was being broadcast non stop in all the TV channels installed in the TV sets in the Hospital. We realized, life can be tough in more ways than one and one needs to have the courage to bear whatever comes your way. If you survive, it will only make you stronger for it.
The fistula that was made here also did not work out as it was too deep and the dialysis needle could not be inserted that deep. Hence we had to get her to undertake another surgery in another major hospital that we had heard a lot about but which was quite far from our house. The fistula surgery done here was finally successful. Within a week after this surgery, my sister got a call from AIIMS saying that a cadaver kidney was available and that we should rush to the hospital within 2 hours. When we reached there, we got to know that they had called three more patients whose blood group matched. They then conducted tests to check which patient matched the best with the cadaver available and which patient was in the best shape to undertake the surgery immediately. On all these parameters, my sister was not found to be the best fit and hence we had to come back home disappointed.
As time passed by my sister got used to the dialysis process and took it in her stride and her health improved a little. Since she was still doing a regular job she had to go to work in the day and twice a week she would go for Night Dialysis for the 6-hour slot after coming back from work. This continued for the next 3 years.