Hemorrhoids: Pain in ass... Literally

Hemorrhoids: Pain in Ass…

“Is it possible to have a prompt relief with your ‘slow’ system of medicine?” An Acquaintance asked, at a social gathering.
“Why? What’s the problem?
“I don’t have any problem, but my father-in-law has. He has come to attend this function but poor fellow can’t sit anywhere… can’t even stand for long… he needs to move constantly to avoid pain, even while moving he keeps on moaning with the pain…” the complaints about the suffering father-in-law went on flowing…

I interrupted the flow of narration and asked “Please tell me, what is actually bothering him?”

“He literally has pain in ass.., has complaints of piles, bleeding piles... As the day dawns he starts fretting with the idea of attending the loo. The idea of passing stool brings the fear of pain it would cause to him, the unbearable pain, constant smarting burning pain, can’t sit or stand, has to walk hither tither… sometimes the pain is relieved by lying on sides but he has to bear the torture daily for four to five hours…”

The descriptive and exact narration of sufferings of his father-in-law was interrupted by the entry of father-in-law himself.

“Please come, I was just mentioning about your sufferings to my friend, he is a homoeopathic doctor. Thought, let me ask about your suffering, right?”

“I have tried homoeopathy too, but my sufferings do not leave me...”

The turn of my opinion was after the discussion between son-in-law and father-in-law. I listened to his plaintive complaints and called the patient to my clinic, to understand the complaints in details and for physical examination, on next day.

He was suffering from the complaints of hemorrhoids for more than ten years. His family business was of tiffin’s, and had good number of junior doctors, staying in hostels, were amongst his clientele.  He was guided to their ‘seniors’ and their treatment was continued for more than eight years.  Most of them had advice for surgery, but the preoccupation of business and fear of operation forced him to bear with the suffering.

Now the condition and pain had worsened. He used to have bleeding  in the form of jets of bright red blood on passing stools and with that burning at anus and hemorrhoids, which were lasting up to five to six hours. He was also experiencing loss of appetite.

He had tried several home remedies, Ayurvedic, Homoeopathic and more famous over the counter drugs, internal medication with external ointment application; everything provided temporary respite but none providing long term relief.

I took note of his complaints and other associated symptoms. He seemed reluctant about answering apparently unrelated questions to his suffering, like his thirst and appetite, his food preferences, his need of sleep, his responses to weather and temperature.

“I have problem at my ass, how would my thirst, appetite and mental makeup help you to get rid of my pain?” He questioned, derisively.

I tried to explain him in simple terms:

 “Every man walking on road seems to have two hands, two legs, two ears, one head, but do they have same personality? The food is necessary for each one’s survival but does everyone have same food? Each one does not feel comfortable to every environment. Every individual has one’s own preferences, likings and dislikes. All of these make him or her individual and it helps us for treating each patient individually. I explained him further with modern day mall culture. When we go to a section in a mall, say to shirts section. There would be shirts of many sizes available but only one size would be of perfectly your size. Similarly, we have more than three hundred medicines in our homoeopathic armamentarium, which can help a patient to treat the condition of Hemorrhoids, out of this only one remedy is to be selected, and to select the perfect one, we need to keep in mind the points like: the nature of your complaints, its intensity, associated complaints (if any), your physical built-up and mental makeup. This is one special and advantageous aspect of homoeopathic treatment.

He answered the questions with some discomfort, but on completing the interview he eagerly inquired: “Now that I have answered, will I be relieved?”

I started his treatment covering his obstinate complaints, his personal getup and impatience nature.

He came back within three days and asked: “My complaints are still there…, though the bleeding has stopped the smarting is still there. When will this go? Will it ever go?”

I pacified him and asked: “Was there any change in your routine food?”

The old fellow smiled and replied: “To tell you the truth, the bleeding stopped very next day of starting the medication. That was a big relief. I was advised by my previous doctors to avoid lots of food and mango was one of them. As the bleeding stopped and you did not mention about any food restriction in particular, I thought, I have not had mangoes for so many years, let me have some. So I eat two bowls of Mango juice with some Ghee (Clarified Butter) and Soonth (powder of dried Ginger). No other changes!”

His treatment was modified covering the above changes and he was asked for the follow up after a week.

After one week the patient arrived along with my friend. Both of them wore a broad smile and sense of relief on their faces. The patient complimented on arrival: “Miraculous result!!! I must say, I am relieved from my chronic complaints. But these would not relapse, right? Look, I am ready to take medicines so long as you wish me to. Now I have developed the faith in this system. Very effective medicine, but I just do not want to suffer again. Now I could understand:  till now everyone was trying to treat my piles, but none tried to treat me as a whole, which this system has done to me now.  I am thankful to you for my complete recovery and grateful for removing my misunderstanding about your system of medicine too.”

The duo of father-in-law, son-in-law, left the consulting room gratified.

Homoeopathy won the faith of two more families…