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Integrated Medical Approach

by Dr Atul K. Shah and Dr (Mrs) Rupa A. Shah(more info)

listed in integrated medicine, originally published in issue 29 - June 1998

We are at the end of this century and in the process of making a quantum leap into the next century. We have witnessed and are enjoying the fruits of incredible research done in every field of life. Medical research is a major area, one that has now gone as far as the possibility of cloning human beings. That is how accurate and advanced we can claim ourselves to be.

With the modern medical approach, so called 'Allopathy', showing its limitations in treating innumerable diseases, many Complementary or Alternative, Energy-based treatments are becoming widely acknowledged. So much so that in the last decade a lot more people have come to accept that we are not just bodies with brains and chemistry, but also thinking minds and feeling emotions which are totally interlinked and influence, the whole of us, in health and in disease.

Now, a patient who walks into a doctor's clinic does not fully accept his doctor's views, especially when diagnosed with a serious illness. He wants to look around, talk, study, and gather information on other approaches to his illness.

Flower and Gem Essences

Flower and Gem Essences


Flower Gels

Flower Gels

What is the Integrated Medical Approach?

It is about making choices, better ones, well-informed ones. It is about treating a patient with the co-operation between patient and doctor. Making choices to treat with the most appropriate, gentle and yet powerful method, to give ease, comfort and even to cure many illnesses.

Most patients used to make such a choice after a system failed, in the majority of cases, when Allopathy failed to heal them. Many times they came to a complementary medical Doctor very late, when a lot of damage had already occurred due to the wrong treatment or side effects or long term suffering.

An Integrated Medical Approach does not oppose any type of treatment method. It rather encourages the use of the experience of healing from all the therapies and make use of 'the good' from each of them. It is not an 'excluding' approach but an 'including' or 'combining' approach.

The Missing Link

Often one sees that the Allopathic approach is ignoring the 'mind over matter' theme of the disease process. There are limited drugs to overcome deep seated fears, panic attacks, shocks, lack of confidence, deep seated grief and addictions, areas where Homoeopathy and Flower remedies and Acupuncture do a wonderful job. By helping the mind and the emotions, they help the body too. For example, ego and pride are associated with knee problems, therefore, a Flower remedy combination for ego and pride gives good results in knee problems. Pain in the calf muscle is associated with emotions of guilt, so a Flower remedy combination for guilt gives good results in calf muscle problems. Urinary problems are related to fear and condensed emotions that can even lead to stone formation. Combinations of Flower remedies lead to the healing of nephritis and urinary stones.

We have repeatedly seen this pattern in most diseases, when the mind and emotions get better, the body gets better too.

Allergies to drugs, chemicals, vaccines, etc. can also be helped by complementary therapies.

In cases of cancer, chemotherapy and radiotherapy can cause many unpleasant side effects. Immune system suppression from chemotherapy, can be helped with Flower remedies which boost the immune system. With the diagnosis of malignancy itself, there are a lot of mental and emotional symptoms, like grief, shock, fatigue, lack of confidence, fear and anxiety. Flower remedies are excellent at this time. In radiation burns, non-healing ulcers, and after surgery when there is a sense of loss, at all these times, Flower remedies, Homoeopathy and Acupressure, and sometimes Acupuncture offer much relief. There is now a lot of research being done in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, talking about the mind and the emotions having a link with the development of cancer in the body, there is a very good possibility that the prevention of recurrence of cancer can be helped by complementary therapies during and after treatment.

A lot of psychosomatic diseases can be treated well with Homoeopathy and Flower remedies in combination or separately.

Bedwetting, when purely out of fear in a child gets well in most cases by Flower remedies and Acupuncture.

Even diseases like psoriasis, which are very difficult to cure, can get much help from Flower remedies, Acupuncture and Homoeopathy.

A panel discussion on a disease or disease group is an ideal part of any medical set up, allowing the sharing and exchange of ideas for treatment.

We are amazed by the ignorance of our own colleagues about the alternative therapies available for a particular disease or diseases. And, the reverse should also be true, the complementary therapist ought to take the best of the Allopathic system.

It is a good time to begin discussion with an open mind instead of just ridiculing or criticising each other. Our own colleagues are amazed at the transformation that has occurred in us through researching Flower remedies and energy medicine, and through choosing to be open, to learn, to investigate the efficacy of the 'other' therapies and, to offer them to our patients here at the Centre that we have established in the heart of Bombay.

Our Experience

We have now had 14 years of experience in treating more than 10,000 patients with the 'Integrated Medical Approach' and it has been more than exciting, creative and satisfactory to us
and to our patients.

No one treatment method can cure all the diseases; and not always completely. Each of the therapies have a role to play; each is valuable, and that includes Allopathy. Each therapist's role is valuable in treating a patient.

The Integrated Approach of Flower remedies and energy medicine with other therapies, we will classify according to:

–  Acute.
–  Chronic and sub acute.
Integration is with Allopathy, Homoeopathy, Acupuncture and Acupressure.
Integration is leading and supportive.
Integration is according to the system of the body and causative factors.

Most of the diseases mentioned here had results as follows:
–  Symptom free for five years or more.
–  Symptoms were controlled only.
–  Very few patients did not respond.

Acute Diarrhoea

A case of acute diarrhoea and vomiting as a result of food poisoning needs very urgent emergency care for water balancing, salt balancing and to stop the diarrhoea and vomiting as quickly as possible.

I attended a case where, although the patient was hospitalised just in time, and a very fast drip was given for water and salt balancing, plus also all the best anti-diarrhoea medicines, diarrhoea continued. From my own experience and knowledge of Homoeopathy, I chose Podophyllum 200 powder. It stopped the whole reaction in less than half an hour. It took 6 more hours to stabilise and balance the fluids in the body. More doses of the Homoeopathic remedies were given during the day as part of the treatment. The patient was mobile in 12 hours, with no weakness, and no more need for allopathic drugs.

This is a good example of the Integrated Medical Approach. To take the best of all.

The healing is faster, uneventful and gentle.

Myasthenia Gravis

A 23 year old girl was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis –This girl was brought to us about five years ago. She was diagnosed and was under treatment. She had been to a place for hiking, and during that time, she could not climb, felt very weak, and was investigated and was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis. From her history, it was found out that she was given typhoid vaccine just before this excursion. Probably, her immune system reacted to this, and therefore the new disease. With the help of Flower remedies, Homoeopathy and Acupuncture, she was free of drugs and symptoms in three months time. Later, she got married, and even had a full term normal delivery, which suggests the efficacy of the treatment she had taken.

Thyroid

This was the case of a woman, 30 years old, on thyroid hormone for 9 years. She was diagnosed with hyperthyroid 9 years ago, she was given radioactive iodine as a treatment, following which, her thyroid hormones dropped, and she was placed on oral thyroid hormone. However, she had many symptoms such as palpitations after meals, fatigue, lack of confidence, anxiety, nervousness, loss of weight, poor concentration and depression.

When she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, she was going through a very difficult time in her life, she was alone in another country, had a broken relationship and was leading a very hard life. While treating her with Flower remedies to help her overcome her suppressed grief, she found they helped her to open up and express herself easily. She was a film director and a writer, and had had a creative block earlier, now she could write very easily. When this happened, her symptoms gradually went away, she even forgot to take her hormone tablets after a while. Her blood reports later showed normal thyroid levels. She has kept well for the last three years.

Non-Healing Ulcer

This man had diabetes, with complications. He developed an ulcer on his leg, which would not heal for a long time. Even a skin graft failed, due to his poor healing power. He was treated with Flower remedies and Homoeopathy, and one could then see the healing of the ulcer bed. Later, he was encouraged to have a graft, which was well accepted this time, as even his blood sugar was now under control. This is a good case of an Integrated Approach, where he got the benefit of all therapies.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

A 13 year old girl was diagnosed as having Rheumatoid Arthritis. She was also suffering from a bedwetting problem. She was a very clever child. She went into depression on hearing about her illness, that it was non-reversible and had a very grave prognosis. She responded very well to a group of Flower remedies, after which her bedwetting stopped in just two weeks, later we added another set of Flower remedies, to which she responded fully, making the Rheumatoid arthritis factor in her blood negative. A life saved of this painful disease. Her mood changed completely, and she became once again a happy girl.

Our experiences of Flower remedies are mainly with our Indian Himalayan Flower remedies, which are prepared by ourselves. All the Acupuncture and Acupressure points were treated with an Energy Massage Stick, a device which was manufactured by us and we have not used acupuncture needles or electro-acupuncture machines. This device was also used for Floripuncture, i.e. the local application of flower remedies on related acupuncture points and then balancing acupuncture points with the Energy Massage Stick.

We have taken the help of an Acupuncturist and qualified Homoeopath whenever these therapies are required for the Integrated Approach in healing.

Apart from this, we also study the effect of electromagnetic pollution and environmental stresses, including chemical pollution. It is very important to recognise these sources of illness, and eliminate them from the environment.

To help us in this area, we have developed many gadgets related to environmental stress, like the Food Allergy device. This device works on the principle of subtle energies, where it alters the subtle energy of the food to be eaten in such a way that one does not get allergic reactions to the food.

There are also possibilities of getting diseases from poor quality water, for which we have developed a Water Energiser. Water may be filtered or sterilised in a conventional way, but it continues to carry energetic information of all the substances, including the chemicals and bacteria that were in it and which still work to cause ill effects on the body and the mind. The Water Energiser works to neutralise these harmful energies in water, so it becomes refreshing and energising like spring water. In many cases this also initiates a cleansing reaction in the body.

Limitations and cautions

There are some life threatening diseases where the role of the Allopathic physician or surgeon will be necessary.
–  Acute cerebral haemorrhage.
–  Acute breathlessness with or without cyanosis and with severe hyperventilation.
–  Acute myocardial infarction.
–  Diabetes mellitus with high blood sugar, ketosis.
–  Acute dehydration.
–  Severe fetal distress.
–  Rabies.
–  Burns with complications.
–  Valvular diseases of heart.
–  Congenital anomalies of heart.
–  Certain fractures.
–  Acute Metabolic diseases.
–  Tetanus.

In all the above mentioned conditions, Indian Flower remedies and Homoeopathy are complementary.

Conclusion

It is a time for Allopathic doctors to look into Flower remedies, Homoeopathy and Acupuncture as complementary therapies and to be more open and accepting.

We have learnt the biggest and the most valuable lesson of our life: it is not 'A' pathy or 'B' pathy or 'H' pathy that heals, it is the 'sympathy' and 'empathy' that heals.

This is the essence of the Integrated Medical Approach for us.

To take care of the person as a whole.
To us, 'To Heal is to Love'.
To be open to knowledge from all therapies.
To be humble, to learn each day.
To continue to grow and flow,
As life is constantly flowing.

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About Dr Atul K. Shah and Dr (Mrs) Rupa A. Shah

Dr Atul K. Shah, M.D.. and Dr (Mrs) Rupa A. Shah, MBBS

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