Chronic constipation

[Guest guest]

You have been already suggested a home remedy. Under what conditions this remedy

works has been discussed at:

ayurveda/message/13554

along with few more remedies and drugless approaches.

 

However, the purpose of this post is to explain that sometimes none of these

approaches may be useful as the problem root lies in patients mind. The message

by Mrudula already hints at it; author describes a patients case, where the

meditation, removing mind away from the entaglements of physical world helped.

 

Under stress, mind becomes gloomy, hunger reduced to almost nil, even sight of

spicy food does not cause desire to eat. Other than food habits and lifestyle,

todays environmental pollution is also causative factor. The chemical pollution

and excessive decibel levels in metros have deep influence on emotions and

health. Most of Metro poulation is suffering from mild form colitis or atonic

constipation. Despite visiting the wash room frequently, the colon is not

cleared fully, and body aches, tired and uneasy feelings continue.

 

The stress cause slow loss of elasticity of intestines, especially during middle

age. Modern laxatives give relief as long as they are taken. After stopping them

situation is back to old state. Mild pain below navel on right side, alternating

constipation and loose motions, elimination of sticky mucous, gas/sounds in the

stomach, loss of sleep, reducing weight are common symptoms.

 

Excess work, worries cause exacerbation of the symptoms, especially during

winter.

 

Pranayama, early morning walks, deep breathing in a garden, vegetable juices

(bottle gourd is most helpful and easy to make juice], leafy vegetables help.

 

We ourselves are to be blamed for the stress, as the following experience

indicates.Author remembers a patient in USA, suffering from chronic

constipation.

 

“I have suffered so much in life that I become depressed when I try to revive my

past life memories. I become very gloomy and for days together my stomach pain

continues”, said Prof. Richards(Name changed). He was a faculty member in

University of South Florida.

He was seen daily in the park, seated on a bench, when author and his wife used

to take morning walk. Slowly we knew each other by face and author broke the

silent communication once.

 

After hearing that the author was ayurveda expert, he wished to consult for his

chronic constipation. The pulse indicated Pran and Vyan vata out of balance,

suggesting stress induced symptoms. When author expressed it and urged him to

explain the roots of his stress, he continued:

 

“When I was eight years old, my parents went through the divorce. The years

before also were not good. I used to hear their strong heated arguments from my

room, and I used to shake with fear. Mom used to suffer injuries when dad used

to hit her. The fear caused me to reach grandpa’s house but mom used to carry me

back quickly. The ignorance, insult and injuries to the ego caused by dad made

our bond stronger. Under the fear that she would loose me, she would not allow

me to go to grandpa, mix up with friends outside or go for walks. I was almost

jailed in the house, she was doing it out of her love, but I could not

understand it at that time. She was living in a separate world of her own, away

from society. The stormy married life had made her so much dull, that she was

unable to think anything reasonable with cool mind. She could not understand my

needs. If I would slip out when she was not attentive, she used to punish me

later. She wanted to hold me tight to her bosom, while I was yearning to run

away, go out for playing, etc. One day I left the house, once and for all. But

police caught me and after hearing my story, put me in orphanage. A childless

couple adoped me for a year, but I was not comfortable there. I was now

impatient. One day I ran away from them, I was put in another house. But nobody

was understanding me. Perhaps I was unable to explain my needs. One after

another eight houses I was accommodated, but I could not become comfortable

anywhere The warmth and affection that I was yearning for was not available

anywhere. I kept breaking down from inside.

 

Despite all this, I became disciplined, serious student in schools and

university, which brought me to this faculty position. But my affectionate side

was never satisfied. In order to seek true love, I kept adjusting with wrong

partners and getting disappointed. Married three times and divorced everytime.”

He paused after this. He was too frank with me, perhaps the respect towards

vaidyas breaks all reservations and inhibitions.

 

“I consider myself more responsible for the failure of marital peace. By

nature, I am introvert. The bitter experiences of life and shocks have caused so

much turmoil in my mind that I cant be considered as healthy in mind. I cant

control my behaviour in social circles.” He continued.

 

“Are you alone presently”, I could not suppress this question.

 

“No, I married forth time. I have a daughter ten year old. My house has all the

ingredients of a successful married man”.

 

“Then what is lacking in your life?”, I asked.

 

“A person who can understand me. With whom I can share the wavelets arising in

my mind, I can pour my emotions over her. My present wife is taking good care of

me, but she seems not interested in peeping inside my mind. Perhaps she is not

capable of it. May be I am not destined to receive a sensistive, friendly

vibrant partner.”

 

I could not comment on this. I kept quiet. I too was silent after listening to

narration of his experiences and feelings.

 

“I have read a lot of Indian literature, I know about family life in India.

Indian women are exceptionally good as sisters, daughters, wife, mother. Their

capacity to remain unperturbed in adverse circumstances is exceptional. That is

why the relationships remain intact in India. Even if the family does not have

adequate money, the affection in the family keeps everyone’s interest alive.

Even if most ordinary husband reaches home after day’s work, the wife awaits his

return. Someone is waiting for you, is interested in taking your care, is itself

a soothing thought to a depressed person. You are served food with love and

affection, someone worries about your mood…I have read a lot and that is what

told me what I am missing in life. That is what is eating me up.”

 

Prof Richard kept on talking and giving a vent to his frustrations. He became

silent intermittently. He was perhaps probing depths of his mind and words were

coming from those folds.

 

“I had no opportunity to open my mind to anybody so far. I have been seeing

you in this park for last two months. The silent communication which we had,

your genuine interest in my loneliness made me open my mind. Thanks for

patiently listening to me and filling my vaccum.” Concluded Prof Richard.

 

There may be many more Richards in USA. They are present in India too, but their

number is significantly less. The reason for this fact is our family system,

home full of affection. The thirst for affection never remains unsatisfied in

Indian home life. Some of the parents returning to India after economic meltdown

or as a result of frustration arising from poor health, autistic children etc

realise this too well.

 

 

__________

 

But the constipation is still a daily problem.

Tried allot of churans ( & home remedies) but they only provide temporary

relief, the only thing that helps in making some daily routine is doing pranayam

(taught by Baba Ramdev) but still the problem stays & haunts every morning.

 

_____________

 

I have exactly the same issues, exactly the same.As I was reading I wondered if

I had posted it. But I think there may be some unresolved emotional issues.

[Guest guest]

I am not a doctor so i donot understand ailment s that well but I am very much

interested in easy methods to cure them. Dr Bhate has just mentioned mild

colitis. On that word I am writing that Baba Ramdev says if you have water while

standing you may get colitis and joint pains. So please tae care not to eat or

drink while standing. After that I tell every one not to stand and drink and

then so many people have told me that their mother used to say so or their

mother in law used to say so. A modern looking gentleman once told me that

sitting on the table and eating is also not good as compared to eating on the

floor. But now a days in our houses we do not have that provision.

Dr Bhatte the story of prof Richards is really heart rending. Then this doesn't

end here we carry it to the next births.

[Guest guest]

Thank you so deeply for your always thoughtful insights.

______________

 

However, the purpose of this post is to explain that sometimes none of these

approaches may be useful as the problem root lies in patients mind.

[Guest guest]

Dear Dr Bhate

 

Thankyou for the reference to article on constipation.

 

If the ghee from butter of Jersey cow does not pacify pitta, what can we do so

that this ghee becomes pitta pacifier (adding something ..)?

 

Should we consume very warm milk and ghee for constipation before bedtime? Will

the heat of milk not aggravate the pitta, making sleeping difficult?

 

These days, the herbs sold in market, in powder form, are ground in machine. I

was wondering if it will make these herbs aggravate pitta?

 

Thanking you for informative articles.

Regards

Vibhuti

___________

 

ayurveda/message/13554

[Guest guest]

> If the ghee from butter of Jersey cow does not pacify pitta, what can we do

so that this ghee becomes pitta pacifier (adding something ..)?

 

Ayurveda recommends the way every medicine should be taken along with some other

substances, known as " Anupana " . They enhance the action of medicine, by way of

harmoney between their properties. Some substances increase the bioavailability

(as understood by this author)so that medicine reaches individual cells fastest;

for instance panchgavya distillates and medicines where cow urine is used for

killing toxicity of herbs.

 

Now Indian cow ghee is used to reduce the pitta (you may interpret it as " heat " )

caused by medicines, to make them cross the blood brain barrier, etc. Jersey cow

ghee does not share this property. It does have growth hormones, antibiotics,

synthetic oxytocin etc which causes obesity and hormonal imbalance. Even if

something were to be added to make it pitta pacifier, a vaidya would prefer that

" something else " to be taken with other pitta pacifier substance rather than

Jersey cow ghee.

 

 

> Should we consume very warm milk and ghee for constipation before bedtime?

Will the heat of milk not aggravate the pitta, making sleeping difficult?

 

Milk should be just few degrees centigrade above body temperature. Milk helps

sleeping, if it is from Indian cow. The tryptophan in the milk(in addition to B

vitamins), curd, shreekhand etc causes boost in seretonin, inducing sleep.

 

 

> These days, the herbs sold in market, in powder form, are ground in machine. I

was wondering if it will make these herbs aggravate pitta?

 

The grinding process causes loss of some ingredients (mostly low volatile

matter) by oxidation caused by heating. In old days, hand grinding gadgets were

used (known as Kharal) and even spices were pounded, not ground. Author obtains

the powders made by pounding, not grinding. The fineness is better and

ingredients are preserved. This luxury is possible only when powders are made on

small scale. To cite an example, the ginger powder gives pungent smell even when

packed into a 50 micron thick polythelene packet. In present day mass produced

drugs by pharma companies, such finer details are difficult to observe.

Pulvariser, ball mills etc are maximum used. However, heat of grinding should

not be imagined to make powders pitta enhancers. It is not simply 1+1=2. To

illustrate, ghee is made by adding much heat to milk. Should not ghee become

pitta enhancer?

 

________________

 

 

 

 

ayurveda/message/13554

[Guest guest]

> If the ghee from butter of Jersey cow does not pacify pitta, what can we do

so that this ghee becomes pitta pacifier (adding something ..)?

 

I do not have personal experience of Jersey cow ghee. But by it's inherent

nature ghee from any cow's milk should have the same properties. Ghee is

considered to be the supreme pitta pacifier (shrestha pittaghna dravya). Maybe

because of the way they are reared, this property of ghee from a Jersey cow must

be getting suppresed. So the only solution would be to allow the natural rearing

method to be re-instated. Adding a substance to any ghee to make it a pitta

pacifier is like trying to supply the sun with fuel to burn.

 

> Should we consume very warm milk and ghee for constipation before bedtime?

Will the heat of milk not aggravate the pitta, making sleeping difficult?

 

Not very warm but not too cold either. It should be comfortable for you to drink

in one or two gulps. Again the specific method I have mentioned is for

constipation. If you are drinking milk for sound sleep, it can be plain warm

milk. Even if you are taking milk for having a good sleep, warm milk is much

better as aggravation of vata leads to sleeplessness. The heat from the milk

helps subdue the vata.

Because of the inherent nature of milk, the heat provided to milk does not

aggravate pitta.

 

> These days, the herbs sold in market, in powder form, are ground in machine. I

was wondering if it will make these herbs aggravate pitta?

 

Again, not so much if the substance itself is not of ushna veerya. The problem

with machines is their impersonal touch. The amount of heat produced by manual

and machine process does not vary much.

This can be a long and heavily debated topic.

 

Vd. S.M.Shirodkar

M.D. (Ayu.)

Royal Ayurveda

http://www.geocities.com/clinic_royal_ayurveda/