Interview of Dr. Vikram Chauhan (MD-Ayurveda)
Interviewer: Hello friends! Welcome to our show “Swasthya Gyan Health Diary”.
Dr. Vikram Chauhan: Friends, due to a busy and hectic lifestyle we’re unable to take care of our health. Due to which, we invite harmful diseases like obesity, diabetes and heart disorders at a very young age and the reason behind it is our lifestyle and eating habits. Today, we will discuss about Ulcerative colitis. With a solution for it, we have amongst us Dr. Vikram Chauhan in our studio. Dr. Vikram, we welcome you on our show. Let’s know about Ulcerative colitis!
Interviewer: Dr. Vikram Chauhan, please tell our viewers about what Ulcerative Colitis is?
Dr. Vikram Chauhan: Ulcerative colitis is a very fierce disease which causes ulcers in the large intestine similar to the ulcers in mouth which are extremely painful. The large intestine is divided into parts, Ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon followed by sigmoid colon, rectum and anal canal. In Ulcerative colitis, the descending colon develops ulcers which are very painful and the Patients gradually slips into depression because of increased stool frequency and heavy bleeding.
We have seen such patients who have a stool frequency of 20 to 30 times and that unables you to work, travel etc. and your lifestyle gets deeply affected. Ulcerative colitis is serious health issue related to the digestive system in the large intestine which affects the life style.
Interviewer: Dr. Vikram Chauhan please tell us the symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis?
Dr. Vikram Chauhan: As I said patients with ulcerative colitis have a stool frequency of approximately 20 to 30 times. Usually this happens twice or thrice a year. But, when the patients take allopathic medicines, with which sometimes the symptoms gradually decrease with the intake of steroids, mesacol, asacol and mesalazine. By taking these medicines the frequency of stools decreases but the patient still has to pass stool a number of times. The major symptom is that one has to pass stool frequently and every time the patient passes stool it is accompanied with blood. Patients always complain about bleeding with stool. Sometimes, the bleeding is so profuse that the patient’s hemoglobin decreases to a great extent which causes weakness, dizziness and tiredness. The food that he eats does not digest which reduces his weight and makes him very weak. I have a number of ulcerative colitis patients visiting me and I can tell from their appearance that they are suffering with this major problem as they tend to look very weak. I’ve also seen such patients who have swelling on their legs and feet because the albumin level from the blood has dropped immensely. Stomach pain, gas formation and bloating is very common. Patient does not feel hungry due to which formation of gas is caused. Patient can’t eat anything due to this problem which causes depression, inability to go to work which totally disturbs the lifestyle and the sleep pattern is also fitful. So, we get to see a lot of similar symptoms in Ulcerative colitis.
Interviewer: Dr. Vikram Chauhan please tell our viewers how can this disease be cured by Ayurvedic treatment?
Dr. Vikram Chauhan: According to Ayurveda, many doctors correlate this problem with sangrahani disease. As per my studies and analysis I correlate it with ama atisara, pitta atisara, rakt atisara sannipataj (which consists of all doshas) condition and it’s not only sangrahani but worse than that. Sangrahani can be compared to IBS which has all the symptoms like stomach upset, formation of gas. Whereas Ulcerative Colitis is the worsened form of sangrahani, which can be called pitta atisara and raktatisara. It has a very beneficial and satisfactory cure in Ayurveda. Ayurvedic doctors have researched on it I will suggest allopathic doctors to research on it. Ayurveda has such herbs which can cure ulcers, stop bleeding and immediately harden the stool. We have a herb in Ayurveda which is called vatsak-kutaj (Latin name Holarrhena antidysenterica) it controls dysentery and hardens the stool. It requires a lot of precautions which includes avoiding milk and milk products only curd is allowed in Ulcerative Colitis. Milk, cottage cheese, Butter and buttermilk are not allowed. But some doctors allow butter milk in IBS as per my experience butter milk is fine in IBS but, not in Ulcerative Colitis. 90% people are not able to digest butter milk whereas curd is digested in Ulcerative Colitis. I suggest curd and banana to my patients. It gives immediate relief to the patients. My patients tell me that they’ve improved quite a lot with the diet itself. Patients get 50% relief through diet which includes curd, banana, gruel, green lentils and boiled potatoes. 50ml fresh pomegranate juice taken daily is the astringent which hardens the stools and gives strength to the patients. Leaves of Indian rosewood (Shisham) is a strong astringent, similarly touch-me-not is a plant which when touched shrinks, it terminates the bleeding, take 2 teaspoon juice of crushed marigold petals every day in the morning and evening as it ceases the blood loss. These are a few herbs which we use in Ayurvedic treatment. I have brought along a few herbal formulations like Vatsakadi churna. Aegle Marmelos’s (wood apple) is a very beneficial fruit for the treatment of Ulcerative Colitis and ayurvedic doctors will agree with me on this. Powdered kernels of Bael/ wood apple work in this disorder. Some people use powdered form of the leaves of this fruit which is good in diabetes but will never suit an ulcerative colitis patient. Some doctors prescribe Bilva Churna (Powdered wood apple) and some people starts using its leaves but you should refrain from using that instead use the powdered form of bael kernels. In Vatsakadi Churna, we have a combination of powdered seeds of Aegle Marmelos (wood apple), vatsak (kutaj), and other herbs also Foeniculum vulgare (Saunf), coriander sativum (Dhania) Cyprus rotunds (nagarmotha), dried pomegranat peel are used in the form of an astringent formulation. Vatsakadi churna is a classical formulation. I prescribe my patients to take a teaspoon of this formulation along with powdered kernels of Aegle marmelos in the morning and evening. Fresh Aegle marmelos (wood apple) juice can be taken. The other product for Ulcerative Colitis I have is Coolstrin-A and it is named so because it’s cooling in action and is an astringent herb. Since, Ulcerative colitis is a it is pitta disease i.e. the pitta dosha is highly aggravated. According to ayurvedic principles, if vata, pitta and kapha gets imbalanced then it leads to a disease. In Ulcerative Colitis, pitta increases and to pacify the pitta we should consume things which have a cooling effect like coconut water. Avoid spicy foods, tea, coffee, cold drinks and alcohol. Refrain the consumption of milk as it is the biggest enemy of Ulcerative Colitis. As soon as you consume milk and cheese, the bleeding will immediately start. Buttermilk suits a few people but I don’t recommend it. Coolstrin-A has the extract of marigold, pomegranate and Arjuna. Arjuna is a very nice herb because it has a cooling effect. Arjuna is usually used in heart problem. The bark of Arjuna tree is used for curing heart disorders as it has a cooling effect and also controls blood pressure. Other than curing cardiac disorders because of being an astringent it has the capability to heal wounds and cease bleeding also. I basically use Arjuna in this disorder to stop bleeding. To cool down the pitta we use moti pishti. Pearl has very cooling effect and you must have heard, astrologers suggest short tempered people to wear a pearl around their neck to keep them calm. In Ayurveda, we use Mukta Pishti. Most ayurvedic doctors, prescribe sachets of Mukta pishti, prawal pishti, akik pishti, jaharmohra pishti, kamdhudha ras and giloy satva to the patients with increased pitta dosha. Instead of making sachets, we have filled this combination in vegetarian capsules and it has become a medicine to pacify pitta. Motion stop is the tablet made of Aegle Marmelos’s (wood apple). Coolstrin-B is the medicine for the patient who is suffering from profuse bleeding. I give a combination of Coolstrin-A & Coolstrin-B to the patients who have a stool frequency of 20- 30 times. Vasaka treats imbalanced kapha. According to Ayurveda, Vasaka terminates bleeding of all types. It is also a cooling formulation. I use a combination of herbs like Kutza Ghan vati is very important. Kutaj is a tree whose bark is used to stop motions. Persons suffering from a stool frequency of 10 to 20 times will be at ease by taking capsules made from the extract of Holarrhena antidysenterica. This combination start showing its results within a week. I have a message and suggestion for colitis patients sitting at home. Apart from drinking pomegranate juice, make a decoction from its peel and consume it on a daily basis. Pomegranate is a fruit available throughout the world and it strengthens the body. If there is gastric formation in the stomach take a decoction made of 1 teaspoon each of cumin (Jeera), Foeniculum vulgare (Saunf) and carom seeds (Ajwain). Any type of gastric formation because of colitis, IBS or due to any other reason will be cured by this decoction. According to my experience, Ulcerative Colitis has no age limit because I have even seen cases of kids between 2yrs to 5yrs. Most of my patients are aged between 20- 40 years and even have kids of 10yrs, 8yrs as my patients. Recently, I had a 2yrs old kid as a patient of ulcerative colitis. Male and female both can be affected by ulcerative colitis. Modern medical system says it’s an autoimmune disease in which our body army starts fighting against cells of large intestine and prescribe immunosuppressants, steroid and suggest surgery in the end because it has no cure. According to allopathic, ulcerative colitis has no treatment. We’re curing patients through Ayurveda who are leading their life properly without any difficulty. This disease can affect any age group. Treating this disease is very important because frequent stool passing with profuse bleeding will weaken the patient’s body which can result in anything more severe. If proper treatment is not taken than it has to be operated on an urgent basis. Sometimes the colon is affected by cancer if one is suffering with ulcerative colitis from last 7 to 8years.Have natural foods and avoid artificial food like cornflakes, cereals, oats, dry toasts and biscuits. Our body is made by God and the fuel to run it is in forests and farms not packed in boxes. So, we should have natural foods. In fruits, boiled or steamed apple can be eaten. Avoid cucumber, melon, peas, mushroom and cauliflower which cause excess gas formation. These petty things need to be taken care of. This can be cured and has a positive result. Ayurveda has very satisfactory results, 80% to 90% cases are cured by Ayurveda.
Interviewer: Dr. Vikram Chauhan please tell our viewers can Ayurvedic treatment be taken with Allopathic medicines?
Dr. Vikram Chauhan: Yes, absolutely. When patients come to me they are having allopathic medicines at a very high dosage like mesacol, asacol, Vegas and azoran even taking enema of mesacol. When I prescribe them these ayurvedic medicines they get immediate relief within in a week. Along with following the precautions, the patient says he is feeling better just within 15 days. After the duration of one month we reduce the dose of steroids that he is taking. Initially, I ask the patient to take both medicines together. Earlier patient complains that he is not recovering after taking high dose of allopathic medicine and when I ask them to take the ayurvedic medicine they feel a lot of relief. Then slowly within 3 or 4months of time I get them off allopathic medicines. This ayurvedic medicine course continues for the next 3 to 6 months. After the course of 8 to 9 months I reduce the ayurvedic medicines also. Within the duration of 9 months to 1 year. In rare cases of 10 – 20% there are patients which even take one & half year of time but eventually their ayurvedic medicines are also stopped.
Interviewer: Dr. Vikram Chauhan what message do you want to give to the ulcerative colitis patients?
Dr. Vikram Chauhan: I want to give this message that our nature has numerous things to save us from diseases. When Lord Brahma created the world he created the herbs along with it so that if, ever we need them we can use them. But, what we did was we created a lot of artificial foods. Save yourself from artificial foods, consume natural foods and use these herbs regularly which will help you get rid of diseases.
Interviewer: Friends, I hope that you would have noted down all the important information given by Dr. Vikram Chauhan. Tomorrow, we’ll be back with a solution for another problem. Till then Dr Vikram Chauhan and I will take your leave. Namaskar (Greetings)!
