Ayurvedic Treatment Benefits and Side Effects

As a traditional Indian medical system with a history of 5,000 years, Ayurveda has a clear positive effect on the regulation of sub-health states and auxiliary intervention for chronic metabolic diseases/autoimmune diseases under the premise of standardized syndrome differentiation and compliant operations. However, products from informal channels, inappropriate operations, and blind replacement of modern medical treatments may bring clear risks of heavy metal poisoning, organ damage, and delayed treatment. Currently, there is still a great deal of controversy over the boundaries of its efficacy in the global academic community. It cannot be completely deified, nor is it necessary to beat it to death with a stick.

In the past two years, I met many certified Ayurveda practitioners in Dali, and I have tried several programs myself. Friends around me have used them with good results, and some have gone to the hospital. I can just break them down and explain them clearly. I have an old friend who works in the Internet industry. He has been in 996 for six years. When he gets a migraine, he can't even take painkillers. He went all over the country to do a series of examinations. Brain CT and cervical spine MRI were all normal. The doctor only told him to rest more, but there was no solution at all. Later, he took annual leave and went to a regular Ayurvedic healing center in Kerala, India, for 21 days. The doctor first felt his pulse and determined his constitution. He said he had a typical Vata imbalance. He gave him a full-body massage with customized herbal oil every day, along with dietary adjustments and herbal teas. After returning, he didn’t have any migraines for more than half a year. Even his old problem of flatulence was mostly cured.

To put it bluntly, this is the same as when we choose skin care products. Applying moisturizing products to oily skin for dry skin will definitely cause acne. The core logic of Ayurveda is the differentiation of the three constitutions (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha). There are thousands of people using different methods, and there is no universal "magic medicine" or "magic project". I have a strong pitta constitution. I usually get angry and prone to oral ulcers, and my mood is always like a firecracker. When I did oil therapy for the first time, the doctor specially chose a cooling coconut oil base, added holy basil and sandalwood extracts, and the massage intensity was very light. After the treatment, I obviously felt that I fell asleep much faster. I would not lie in bed for half an hour and my mind was still racing. Even my usual acne was gone. But my best friend who went with me has an edema-type Kapha constitution. She insisted on rubbing my oil on her shoulders and neck once, and she stayed there for three days. Her face was swollen, and she also had several red and swollen pimples. After seeing a doctor, she said that pita’s cooling oil will aggravate the cold and dampness of Kapha. If the symptoms are not correct, health care will actually harm the body.

Nowadays, there are many solid results on the efficacy of Ayurveda in the world. The US National Institutes of Health has conducted controlled follow-up on thousands of samples before, confirming that standard Ayurveda intervention is more than 30% better than the placebo group in regulating fasting blood sugar and relieving the pain of rheumatoid arthritis in patients with type 2 diabetes. The improvement rate is even higher for functional problems such as insomnia and irritable bowel syndrome that cannot be diagnosed as organic problems. This is the core reason why high-end healing circles in Europe and the United States are now promoting Ayurveda projects.

But if you think that this thing is all about benefits and you won’t step into any pitfalls if you close your eyes, then you are too naive. There are more people around me who step on the pitfalls of Ayurveda than those who use it with any effect. Sanguobao was very popular in the past few years. Xiaohongshu was full of notes saying that it can laxative, lose weight and cleanse the intestines. One of my readers read Zhongcao and found an agent to buy Sanguobao powder, which is known as "India's time-honored brand". He made a cup of it every day and drank three cups of it. Zhou was unable to stand up at first, and then his urine turned darker. He went to the hospital to check his liver enzymes, which tripled. Later, he took the remaining powder and sent it for examination. The lead content exceeded my country's national food standard by 27 times, and the mercury also exceeded the standard. Isn't this a life-threatening way to lose weight?

Here I will talk about a controversial point that has not been made clear in the industry: in traditional Ayurveda, there is a type of mineral medicine called "Lhasa Shita". Originally, it had to go through more than a dozen processes to repeatedly detoxify it, so that the toxicity of minerals such as lead, mercury, and arsenic could be reduced to a safe range. However, now In order to save costs, many small workshops do not go through the detoxification process at all, and directly grind the raw materials and sell them in boxes. This is also the core reason why the European Union banned the sale of more than 100 unregistered Ayurvedic herbal medicines before - it is not to deny the therapy itself, but that non-compliant products can really kill people.

Another point of disagreement lies in the operating standards. In fact, orthodox Ayurvedic doctors in India place great emphasis on integrating it with modern medicine. For example, before patients with high blood pressure and gastric ulcers undergo Pachkarma (five detoxification therapies), they must first undergo a full set of modern physical examinations to confirm that there are no contraindications before the procedure can be performed, and patients are absolutely not allowed to stop taking conventional medicines at will. But now many commercial healing institutions don't care whether you have underlying diseases or not. They will pay you to do detoxification programs that induce vomiting and catharsis. There was news before about a girl with a gastric ulcer who went for detoxification and vomited until her stomach bleeds and ended up in the ICU. There are also many people who take high-dose turmeric powder at home for health care. If you happen to be taking anticoagulants, mixing the two can easily increase the risk of bleeding. These risks are not a problem with the therapy itself at all, but are caused by the unprofessional and unstandardized operators.

To be honest, my own attitude has always been very simple: Ayurveda is more like a "lifestyle adjustment tool". If you are the kind of person who goes to the hospital to check that all indicators are normal, but you are in a sub-healthy state with poor sleep, flatulence, migraines, and poor mood all year round. If you want to try it, be sure to find a practitioner with formal qualifications who can carefully identify your body constitution. Don't just randomly buy herbs from unknown sources procured on behalf of you, and don't do too many detoxification programs casually. If you already have a clear organic disease, such as diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, it is okay to follow the doctor's advice and take modern medicine, and use Ayurveda as an auxiliary adjustment method. Don't stop taking the medicine to engage in "natural healing" because you are in a hurry. Big trouble will really happen.