AYURVEDA MYTHS AND FACTS

Ayurveda is the oldest system of medicine but it is still struggling to achieve the faith of patients as there are several myths and misconceptions prevalent among them related to Ayurveda.

Why is this so? If you transfer a vessel completely filled with water from one person to other and so on, it is likely that water spills out before reaching the other person’s hands. Likewise, the wisdom of Ayurveda has been propagated throughout the world and the spillage during this transfer of knowledge from one person to the other has been in the form of misconceptions and fallacies. This article aims to throw light on the true facts and debunk the wrong notions surrounding practice of Ayurveda.

Below are a few common MYTHS associated with Ayurveda:

Unlike Modern medicine, there are no specialists in Ayurveda such as an orthopedician, gastroenterologist, dermatologist, cardiologist etc. Our body is made up of many systems, but that does not mean that every system needs a different doctor. One of my patients had several problems like acidity, knee joint pain, and eczema. He approached three different specialists: Orthopedician, gastroenterologist, and dermatologist. TOO MANY COOKS SPOIL THE BROTH held true in his case. I prescribed him some Ayurvedic medicines to bring down his elevated Vata Level which was the root cause and eventually his digestion improved, the joint pain got better, and the dryness over his skin decreased, which helped him in eczema. Thus, there are no different doctors here treating a single body.

Ayurvedic treatment does not need a doctor. If anybody gets cured with an ayurvedic medicine, he advises 10 other people to go for the medicine without proper consultation of a qualified Ayurvedic doctor. Such people forget that Ayurvedic medicine is given based on Prakriti (body constitution) of a person.

Ayurvedic medicines are free from side effects. Any object or thing that has an effect is bound to have side effects. If you eat semi-cooked food it can give you a stomach ache. When food—if not taken properly—can have side effects, why not Ayurvedic medicines? People take Ayurvedic medicines on the basis of articles over internet, books etc. as they believe that they would not have adverse effects.

Ayurveda is all about home remedies. If home remedies could cure diseases, there would not have been the need for doctors. If you had a spicy meal the previous night and you get up in the morning only to have a burning throat, you can try a home remedy for it and can save yourself from sitting for hours waiting for your turn in a doctor’s cabin. But, if this has become a daily routine for you, then stop looking for home remedies and knock the door of an Ayurvedic Doctor.

Ayurvedic medicines take a long time to show their effect. There is a disbelief that Ayurvedic medicines are slow in action which holds back many impatient patients from resorting to Ayurvedic treatment. This, in fact, is not true. For example, if you are constipated and you resort to Ayurvedic laxative at bedtime, believe me, the next morning your bowel will be clean. You will not have to wait for 3 to 6 months for that laxative to show its effect.

There are many dietary restrictions when on Ayurvedic treatment. Ayurveda believes if you take proper diet (Pathya), there will not be the need for treatment. Even modern medicine doctors would advise stopping fatty and greasy food in a patient of hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol level), and decreased sugar intake in Diabetes. So, why is Ayurvedic doctor blamed?

Ayurvedic treatment is about oil massage or spa. In many parts of the world, spas use Herbal and Ayurveda Prefixes to attract customers and hence an erroneous message has been spread that Ayurveda is like oil massage or spa. The spa uses aromatic oils which aim in body relaxation, whereas oils used in Ayurveda have medicinal properties. In addition to relaxation as well as rejuvenation, they serve the primary purpose of detoxification of the body and elimination of toxins.