Young Onset Parkinson’s is the new scourge of our times. A study conducted in India indicates more and more patients in their late 30s are being diagnosed with the Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement, speech and posture.
The incidence of the disease in the age-group between 30 and 40 in India, as the study indicates, has risen from 3 % to 10% in the last five years. The disease afflicts both men and women almost equally.
Holywood star Michael J Fox suffers from Parkinson’s desease. But unlike several famous personalities – Salvador Dali, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Mohammad Ali, Pope John Paul II- associated with the degenerative disorder, Fox was just 30 when he was diagnosed with the disease.
Hardly known in the 1990s when Fox announced he had the disease, the phenomenon of Young Onset Parkinson’s is now becoming a global reality.
0ver 60,000 newly diagnosed cases every year join the current 1.5 million tally of those affected by the disease in the USA. While the condition usually develops after the age of 65, 15% of those diagnosed are under 50, according to National Parkinson Foundation of the US.
In India 360 people per 100,000 suffer from the disease, which has no known cure. Over 5% of those over 60 are afflicted in the country.
According to specialists at the Parkinson’s disease clinic in New Delhi, the increasing prevalence of Young Onset Parkinson’s has turned the popular perception on its head. Till recently it was thought to be an old man’s disease appearing mostly in people in their 60s. Today patients in their 20s are being diagnosed with the disease. Such cases are relatively few though.
The doctors suspect the main cause to be the fast-paced modern day lifestyle marked by increased stress, improper diet and inadequate sleep. Other known reasons are genetic, environmental, high levels of toxins one has to live with and drug induced Parkinson’s.
The effects of stress, environmental pollution and pesticides in our food and water are successfully managed by time-tested regime of yoga. A well-defined system of breathing exercises under the name of pranayama and physical exercises called yogasanas have been found to be very helpful in mitigating the effects of Parkinson’s disease. Experiments to investigate the effect of yoga on the Parkinson’s disease have revealed encouraging results.
September 14th, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
A thought struck me out of the blue a few days ago.
It suddenly occurred to me how dependent we are on medicine, medical technology and the availability of medical services. Looking around at my family and friends, I realised that very few of us would be here now if it hadn’t been for medical treatment at some point in our lives.
I, for one, wouldn’t be here now. I probably would have died from some infection when I was very young, but if I hadn’t, then an attack of acute appendicitis would certainly have killed me when I was ten, however medicine, or more accurately, surgery saved me.
Almost everyone I can think of has had some form of life threatening disease, condition, or accident at some point in their lives, however they have been fortunate that medical intervention was available when needed.
Thinking through this is more detail, I started wondering about Ayurveda and other forms of traditional medicine. Two thousand years ago, when people realised that they could cure themselves and each other with concoctions made from the plants and substances naturally available to them, they started to increase their chances of surviving diseases and accidents.
Imagine the mortality rates then though. Local plants and natural substances can only go so far and even simple infections would have been hard to contain. There must have been a desperation to learn more, experiment more and strive to increase their life expectancy.
So here we are today with our sophisticated drugs, diagnostic and surgical equipment and advanced medical knowledge. I, and everybody else, I suspect, owe our lives to the medical advances that are available for us, however there is still a place for the holistic natural alternatives that can offer treatments, and even cures, that conventional medicine cannot.
September 13th, 2006
Written by: chris
Quite a few people who are referred to me have mental health problems.
One, such person, Shirish Fernandes, called me from Bangalore, the Information Technology capital of India. He told me that he was highly successful within a very short time after joining an IT company and was drawing one of the best salaries in the industry. The fat pay packet enabled him to apply for a loan to buy a swanky apartment in an upmarket location of the city. He could afford a decent car too.
All this and more brought a turnaround in his life-style over a very short time. While the goodies were enjoyable, the repayments Shirish had to make were making him insecure. What if he could not sustain his high-pressure job and could not repay his loan, then all that he could afford would be gone, he told me. He had a number of examples to substantiate his fears. And often he thought of giving it all up and going back to his past life without the luxuries.
The dilemma was affecting both his work and personal life.
This call of Shirish came at a time when a news item that had appeared in the newspaper a month back, was still fresh in my memory. It announced that Bangalore was emerging as the suicide capital of India with 3.28 deaths a day, 1200 a year. The newspaper reported that the city had been registering the tragic figure every year for a few years now. The report further pointed out that the main cause of suicides was high stress levels among its working population.
Close to 70% deaths were reported within an age-group of 20 to 40.
I gave a patient hearing to Shirish. I told him that I would design for him a crises management program which he could work with at home. I asked him to work through the program for three days and then call me up with his feedback.
The crisis management program for Shirish included yoga exercises. I suggested the breathing exercises called pranayama to be practised with a simple diet, as a part of the yoga regime.
Shirish did not call me up after three days. I was anxious to find out the result of my program. When I called him up he could not take my call.
He eventually called me back to say that he was busy in a meeting at his office. The meeting was on the crises management program that I had sent him. He said that it worked so well with him that he shared it with his colleagues. Hence, the meeting.
Shirish told me that the circumstance he was in had not changed. But yoga helped him take the things in his stride. “I have started taking life as it comes, and no insecurity about it.”
Shirish was at peace with himself. That was what I had predicted for him.
September 11th, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
I have so far only been reading about the power of yoga and ayurveda. I have been even contemplating practicing it seriously for quite some time now. That I have been unable to do so, for whatever reasons, is another story.
Like I have written earlier, it is probably the case of the spirit willing, but the flesh being weak. In my case, working out, walks, and various other forms of exercise have been happening, no doubt, but in fits and starts. The more I have been reading about yoga, and I have had ample opportunity to do so in recent months, the more I am tempted to take it up as a full time exercise activity.
However, like they say, it sometimes takes a jolt, a kick in the butt, or some sudden
realization sometimes to actually get down to brass tacks and actually make something happen. In my case, that happened a couple of days back. My mother has been suffering from a few things associated usually with ageing. One of these, and it has been causing her considerable pain over the past few months, is cervical spondylitis.
It manifested physically as a severe pain in her right hand, starting initially at the shoulder region and then moving down over time right to the palm. We tried everything – medication, physiotherapy, even traction – but nothing worked fully. The pain was there in some degree all the time.
Things reached a point where she could not even clench her fist, or hold a cup properly. As the pain raged, so did the temper. Matters reached breaking point one
day, and it was then I thought of trying yoga. I managed to get her to a good yoga instructor. She was wary initially, because she feared that it might involve postures that could aggravate the pain – that is what happened when she was undergoing physiotherapy. However, after being assured that no such thing would happen, she agreed to give it a try.
It has been a few days now, and the results are amazing! The pain has reduced considerably now. She is able to clench and unclench her fist, and also hold things in her right hand comfortably. The yoga instructor says it will still be a while before she is 100 percent okay, but get there she will.
The relief and happiness on her face is something to see. She is no longer ill-tempered, and is generally happy. If this is what yoga can do, I think I need to take it up seriously as well….
September 8th, 2006
Written by: daisy
One of the hardest habits to give up is smoking. You may hear a number of people who claim to have given up smoking, but if you check on them after sometime, you will find that they have gone back to their favourite habit.
For twenty years I had been a habitual but a moderate smoker. I used to smoke on average five cigarettes a day, but often I would go on a binge and smoke as many as 15. This went on even after I took to practising yoga.
My yoga teacher had assured me that being a practitioner of yoga I would not keep smoking habit for long. For, according to him, yoga would force me to give up my habit. I did not take that too seriously and continued smoking along with my practice of yoga.
After a few months of yoga, my habit of smoking a cigarette after breakfast started making me uncomfortable. After smoking a cigarette I started feeling sluggish and sleepy. Since I used to smoke while driving to my office, my being sleepy started telling on my nerves. After a few days, I was still lighting up my cigarette but I could not go beyond smoking it more than a half. Later on even smoking half a cigarette was leaving me tired and was giving me headaches. I had no choice but to give up my morning cigarette.
Soon I stopped smoking a cigarette after lunch and even when driving back home in the evening traffic. Smoking in the evening started making me intolerably hungry and I could not help snacking. That was enough to kill my appetite for dinner.
Untimely eating gave me a kind of constipation I never experienced in my life. I started spending working hours with bloated bowels and a mild but continuing headache. My productivity level plummeted sharply and I started losing my temper at the slightest provocation.
First smoking ceased to be a pleasure and very soon it became a nightmare. I really did not have to fight with my age-old habit or exercise restrain.
I realized that yoga just won’t let me go on with this vice of mine. It’s been nine months now since I last smoked. Now even the thought of reaching for a cigarette makes me feel ill.
September 7th, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
I was amused to see that Disney cartoon characters are being recruited to encourage children in the USA to eat more healthily.
Apparently a company in the United States has signed a deal with Walt Disney to licence cartoon characters that will be displayed on packets of fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods such as breakfast cereals.
With childhood obesity so prevalent in the States - and elsewhere - I think any attempt to make healthy foods more appealing to children should be encouraged.
Research has shown that if young children are introduced to foods with a high nutritional value, they are more likely to incorporate these healthy foods into their diet as they get older. Hopefully they will eat less fast food and more fruit and vegetables instead.
So Mickey, Tweety Bird and Daisy Duck you are welcome recruits in the war against obesity. Please pack your kit bags and come to the UK too!
September 6th, 2006
Written by: chris
If there is a system of beliefs that has caught the fancy and has stayed on to rule the mind of a common man, an architect, a builder, a developer and just anybody who has anything to do with construction, that is Vastu, the Indian version of the Chinese Feng Shui. Vastu and Feng Shui claim that the inanimate objects like the design and direction of the structures we live and work in and the effects placed in them affect our present and future.
I have been observing for the last five years or so how Vastu in India has established its roots in the psyche of all and sundry. A number of my friends living in the so-called inappropriately designed houses ordered, at vast expense, drastic changes to make them Vastu compliant.
Properties which do not face east and north, going by Vastu, are inauspicious and hence would be sold at a far lesser price than those which face the “good directions”.
Needless to mention, Vastu and Feng Shui have spawned an army of experts and consultants, some of who are highly paid for their advice. Feng Shui calls for far lesser changes and hence expense, though.
Living in a westward facing house for more than a decade and going through several hardships too, convinced me that non-compliance to Vastu was the root cause of my troubles. Unable to pay for a consultant, let alone for the anticipatory changes to my house, I decided to consult my yoga teacher. “Put a plant of Holy basil in your house and forget”, he was clear about the solution.
After having done that, I realized that my entire westward facing neighbourhood was prospering. My neighbours were changing their cars frequently enough, a ready sign of their prosperity. If I had to put up with my old car it had nothing to do with my house or its direction. It was to do with the way I managed (or mismanaged) my affairs. That was something I put right after I put Holy basil, neatly tucked in a pot, in my house. Things started looking up thereafter.
The leaves of Holy basil adorn all the rituals of worship and daily prayers. They are used both fresh and dry. In a traditional Indian home freshly prepared food is first offered to God before every one else is served. The food offered to God is topped with Basil leaves as a mark of purity and respect.
The Basil plant is worshipped as goddess Tulsi, the Hindi name for the plant. In worship it is offered water with chanting of religious verses from holy scriptures. The religious place of the plant is much attributed to its ability to keep insects at bay and for its anti-microbial properties. It is known to purify the atmosphere as well as having a high medicinal value.
Dr George Birdwood, Professor of Anatomy, Grant Medical College, Bombay wrote to The Times, London, dated May 2, 1903 - “When the Victoria Gardens were established in Bombay, the men employed on those works were pestered by mosquitoes. At the recommendation of the Hindu managers, the whole boundary of the gardens was planted with holy basil, on which the plague of mosquitoes was at once abated, and fever altogether disappeared from among the resident gardeners”.
September 5th, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
Working in cardiology at the local hospital, as I did several years ago, I came across many patients in different age groups and with a huge variety of medical problems.
Of course each patient had to be treated differently according to their physical and mental health, however I was struck how some people in their 80’s or even 90’s had the physical energy of those twenty years younger, and also that some in their fifties or sixties had the decrepitude of someone 30 years their senior.
I came across “young” 90 year olds and “old” sixty years olds, and often the factor that differentiated them was their mental outlook on life. Frail looking 90 year ladies, born soon after the first world war, would be remarkably active and alert. By and large they enjoyed life, had a ready laugh and a discernable twinkle in their eye.
Of course many people, unfortunately, contract a disease or ailment that can dampen even the most positive of spirits over time - I imagine constant arthritic pain could wear away any desire for life, for example, however those who are lucky to remain reasonably healthy, alert and mentally positive, can enjoy an active and enjoyable lifestyle in their later years.
Why am I saying all this now?
Well, one of my wife’s relatives has always been young for her age and I’ve never really accepted that she is in fact 85, as she has the disposition of someone twenty years younger.
That was until very recently, as she has now been told that she needs a reasonably simple operation. This realisation that something is wrong seems to be playing on her mind. She has become a bit introspective and quiet and has mentioned the phrase “if I live until Christmas” several times. Her lightness of spirit is somehow diminished and I can now see her as she is - an 85 year old lady with a medical condition.
She has suddenly become an old lady and I now fear for her future.
September 4th, 2006
Written by: chris
Some of the most recent research on arthritis has been on the effect of the extract of New Zealand green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus).
Arthritis is a progressive crippling disorder in which patients suffer from acute pain and inflammation of joints. The conventional line of medication in the modern medicine for the disease revolves around painkillers which could be both steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory formulations. Both the classes of medicines have serious side effects.
Steroidal formulations particularly cannot be prescribed to the patients for long periods of time for their adverse effects on bones and general immunity. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) cause damage to the lining of the stomach and intestine, often leading to ulcers (ulcerogenic). Ulcers are the result of the erosion of the gastrointestinal (stomach and intestines) lining.
Drs Miller and Ormrod of the Department of Medicine, University of Auckland, in their study established the anti-inflammatory properties of the extract of New Zealand green-lipped mussel. The study also proved that the mussel extract could be considered as a natural NSAID and was not ulcerogenic. The study indicated that the extract not only had no adverse effect on the gastric lining, it was found to have a rather protective effect against aspirin and indomethacin, the most commonly used painkillers.
The mussel extract has been found to be effective against the two most crippling aspects of arthritis - pain and loss of function. It is reported that those with moderate disease showed greater improvement than those with advanced arthritis.
Ayurveda, an ancient science of medications and treatments, exclusively draws its raw materials both from the plant and the animal worlds. A number of formulations from ayurveda too have mitigating effect on the severity of arthritis. But yoga has been found to overtake any system of medication in extending relief in arthritis.
A combination of simple breathing exercises, Aalom Vilom and Kapalbharti, as described in the yoga section of this website and short term medication that works on pain and inflammation, have been found to be very effective.
With green lipped mussel extract, which is available in the market and yoga, arthritic patients are better equipped to fight their condition.
September 1st, 2006
Written by: lalitgambhir
I came across this article about how scientists are trying to halt the ageing process.
It was interesting to see that a plastic surgeon is hoping to cash in on a potentially huge market by offering patients a therapy based on human growth hormone, that he claims reverses the aging process. After all very few of us want to die. Most of us would chose to live for as long as possible as long as the quality of life is there too.
The article got me thinking about my own attitudes, though. Why do I go the gym, or swim, four or five times a week? To be honest I have never really analysed it. I have always assumed that it is a good thing to do as it makes me fitter and healthier (hopefully).
Am I trying to stay youthful for longer? Probably not, as I know that is a lost cause already, but I am trying to stay as fit, alert and active for as long as possible. I truly believe that if you have adopted an active and energetic lifestyle throughout your life, then you will probably be active and fit in your later years.
This should increase the number of years where there is both quantity and quality of life. At least I hope so.
I am reminded of a patient I saw in the Cardiology department that I worked in. He had chest pains and needed an exercise stress test to rule out the possibility of it being cardiac in origin. He was in his late sixties and had the physique of someone at least thirty years younger.
He had walked three miles to the hospital for his test. During the exercise tolerance test he reached almost the maximum speed and incline, which very few people of any age can attain. He then walked the three miles back home again.
Needless to say his heart was completely healthy - he must have strained a muscle doing all his press ups and sit ups.
So when I go to the gym or plough up and down the swimming pool, I want to be like him. I want to be as fit and healthy as him in my late sixties.
Maybe then I can have a few more extra years with a good quality of life.
August 31st, 2006
Written by: chris
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