ACCLAIMED NEW BOOK BY CHICAGO NEUROLOGIST COMBINES MODERN, AYURVEDIC MEDICAL THOUGHT

Business Wire Report
Chicago, Illinois USA
Sunday, October 11, 2015

Offering new hope to the 36 million Americans suffering from migraines: Dr. Trupti Gokani introduces The Mysterious Mind: How to Use Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science to Heal Your Headaches and Reclaim Your Health.

If you’ve had a headache lately, you’re not alone. An estimated 36 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches. But if misery loves company, what it loves even more is a solution to the suffering. To give the public her unique insights about what causes headache pain and how to prevent and heal it, board-certified neurologist Dr. Trupti Gokani has written a practical book that seeks to crack the code on the mysterious mind and how it’s connected to other systems in the body, like the gut, the adrenals and the liver.

The Mysterious Mind: How to Use Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science to Heal Your Headaches and Reclaim Your Health has been amassing 5-star reviews from headache sufferers and even from fellow neurologists. The book has been called “a must-have … for every migraine sufferer,” “a great resource for natural healing,” and “a roadmap to good health.”

When most people hear the word “disease,” they think of something deadly, uncontrollable and swift ― like cancer. But we're facing an epidemic of “dis-ease” ― of Americans simply feeling unwell and unable to embrace the lives they want to lead. They’re tired, overweight and inflamed. They’re dealing with ongoing digestive issues, they aren't sleeping well, and many are suffering from debilitating headaches.

Dr. Gokani explains: “People say, ‘I just don’t feel healthy.’ They look in the mirror and wonder what happened to the vibrant person they were in their teens, 20s or 30s. They want to get back to that level of health, but they don’t know how.” According to Dr. Gokani, getting back to that “healthy you” requires understanding your natural state. Once you know what a balanced self looks like, you can identify the symptoms of imbalance and make changes to reverse the trajectory of poor health. In ancient Ayurvedic medicine, or Ayurveda (a science that dates back more than 5,000 years), these natural states are called Doshas. We are born with one or more Doshas that dominate our nature. There are three types: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. “Understanding your unique Dosha is the key to your health. Living a life in balance with your Dosha will alleviate many symptoms, such as headaches, mood issues, sleep disturbances, digestive issues and more. It’s really that simple,” says Dr. Gokani.

The Mysterious Mind tackles these questions, and more:

Why do I get HEADACHES and how can I prevent them?
Is it normal to be CONSTIPATED all the time?
Isn't there something I can do to cure my ACHING JOINTS?
Why can't I get my MOODS in balance?
What would it take for me to not feel so STRESSED OUT all the time?
Isn't there something I can do about my INSOMNIA?
Are there certain foods or ways to prepare my foods to help BALANCE my mind and body?

The Mysterious Mind has already begun to change and improve the lives of its readers, who are taking to social media with their stories and are writing book reviews in praise of its impact on their health. Rana Mafee, MD, goes a step further, suggesting that Dr. Gokani’s insights might also change how other physicians treat headache pain, characterizing Dr. Gokani as a professional who has “ingenuity, creativity, bravery, and a pioneering personality to pave the way to changing the culture in the neurology community to bring about more effective treatments.”

The Mysterious Mind is an accessible 178-page book written directly to the average person. It contains relatable stories, quizzes and checklists. The book helps readers interpret lab results that other doctors have called “normal,” and explains which herbals and nutrients are most beneficial for the brain and which medications are preferred (if medications are necessary). Because the book offers recommendations that are mindful of a patient’s Dosha, the approach is personalized enough to avoid “cookie-cutter” treatments, but is broad enough to be meaningful to any reader. Inside the book is a special offer for a free download of Dr. Gokani’s dietary handbook and recipes.

“Everyone deserves a chance to reclaim their life and live pain free. Everyone deserves answers to why they suffer and what they can do about it. Many believe these questions would go unanswered forever. That is simply not the case,” says Dr. Gokani.

The Mysterious Mind is now available in trade paperback and Kindle editions from Amazon, where it was ranked #5 among pain management books. The book was also released last week on iTunes.

Trupti Gokani, MD, is an award-winning, board-certified neurologist best known for her innovative and integrative approach to treating headache pain. Her unique melding of modern medicine and ancient wisdom has enabled her to establish a thriving private practice in suburban Chicago. When not in the clinic, Dr. Gokani dedicates her time and significant insights to helping the wider community understand how to feel optimal, through a deeper appreciation of the mind-body connection. Dr. Gokani has been featured on The Dr. Oz Show, is a blogger for The Huffington Post, and is part of a forthcoming documentary on Ayurveda.

50,000 MORE AYUSH DOCTORS REGISTERED IN 2013-2014

Times of India (Sushmi Dey)
New Delhi, India
Thursday, September 24, 2015

Traditional medicine streams such as Ayurveda, homeopathy and siddha seem to be gaining popularity with over 50,000 more doctors registering between 2013 and 2014, showed statistics collected by Central Bureau of Health Intelligence in National Health Profile, 2015.

"Over the years with gaining popularity, there is a steady rise in total number of registered AYUSH doctors in India from 6,86,319 in 2013 to 7,36,538 in 2014," the Profile highlighted.

According to the data, ayurvedic practitioners constitute the majority of it with over 54% of them registered with the government.

The government is now planning to induct AYUSH doctors into the mainstream medical system with required training to serve the rural population. Though allopathic doctors too have increased over past few years, the doctor patient ratio continues to lag. According to the data, an allopathic doctor in a government hospital is estimated to serve a population of 11,528 people.

Officials believe, utilizing AYUSH doctors to at least serve the distant rural area, where allopathic doctors do not wish to go, may help the situation. Of late, AYUSH has received tremendous support from the government. The present government has not only promoted the traditional medicine stream through events like the International Day of Yoga but has also proposed to support research to create documentation of the results of treatments of various chronic diseases through AYUSH. The government is now also mulling to set up a separate regulator for AYUSH medicines and practitioners.

"These (AYUSH doctors) are trained medical practitioners and can be used in at least primary care centres and district hospitals where the footfall is high with dearth of doctors," an official said.

"India with its kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage, is proud of some unique medicinal forms that look at health, disease and causes of disease in completely different ways," the Profile said.

States such as Bihar and Maharashtra, which are also impacted by poor doctor-patient ratio, have witnessed increasing trend in number of AYUSH doctors.

KOZHIKODE TO HOST GLOBAL AYURVEDA FETE

The Hindu
Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala, India
Sunday, October 4, 2015

Kozhikode will host the third edition of the Global Ayurveda Festival (GAF) and Arogya Expo, said to be the largest biennial get-together of Ayurveda fraternity from January 29 to February 2.

About 5,000 delegates from 50 countries will take part in the conclave of Ayurveda enthusiasts at the Swapna Nagari here. Manifold stakeholders of Ayurveda including practitioners and students, manufactures, hospitals, medical plant growers, government and non-government agencies, service organisations, and civil society organisations will be part of the mega event.

The GAF is being organised by the Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action in association with the State government, Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisations of India, Ayurveda Drug Manufactures Association and Kerala State Indian Systems of Medicine of Medicine Self Financing Management Association, State Department of AYUSH, Department of Tourism and Department of Industry. The State AYUSH Department has appointed a nodal officer for the effective coordination of the event, organising committee chairman, P. Madhavan Kutty Warrier, convener M.M. Sanil Kumar and general convener Manoj Kaloor, told a news conference here on Saturday.

The GAF has been positioned as the destination festival on Ayurveda in the State to bridge the great native medicinal tradition with the global community that remains curious to gather knowledge, care, products and collaborations from India.

Both the preceding conferences organised in Thiruvananthapuram in 2012 and in Kochi, 2014, have made the GAF into an internationally recognised event in Ayurveda.

The delegates’ participation shows consistent growth from 1,800 in 2012 to 4,000 in 2014. President of Mauritius Raj Keswur Purryag was the chief guest at the Kochi conference. “This time we are planning to rope in Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the inaugural function,” Dr. Kaloor said.

The GAF 2016 will have a host of activities including an international seminar on the theme, ‘Women’s Health,’ and exhibition of 500 stalls in which Ayurveda hospitals, drug manufacturing industry and various government and NGOs will showcase their services and products. Solidarity meets, live treatment clinics, workshops, an international business meet are other events, they said.

AS DENGUE THREATENS GUJARAT, AYURVEDA A POPULAR TREATMENT

Times of India (Ankur Tewari)
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Tuesday, September 22, 2015

IIT-Gandhinagar student Minal Shah was petrified when her room-mate Sejal Tripathi was hospitalized with dengue fever this month. Since there is no specific vaccine or drug for the fatal disease, she took shelter in homemade remedies as a preventive measure.

Hers is not a lone case. With Aedes aegypti mosquito spreading dengue terror in the city, people have placed their hopes on alternative medicine — the ancient science of Ayurveda to protect themselves from the deadly bite.

Ayurveda experts are strongly endorsing the use of papaya juice, cow milk, desi ghee and neem to not only prevent dengue, but also H1N1 influenza.

Surprisingly, papaya leaves not only help prevent dengue, but also increase platelet counts. "The humble papaya leaf is a miracle panacea. I recommended its paste to several patients with less than 35,000 platelet count and it worked wonders," said Dr Dinesh Chandra Pandya, medical superintendent, Akhandanand Ayurvedic College.

He said: "Since nose is the route of all infections in the body, putting two drops of pure desi ghee in nose twice a day will guard you against all viruses."

Alpana Vasavada, a teacher in a private school, said: "My husband was diagnosed with dengue on September 5. I gave him the paste extracted from papaya leaves daily. This miraculously helped reduce the loss in platelet count."

Dr Pandya also recommended Sudarshan Ghanvati and Shamshamni Vati as an alternative treatment for dengue and swine flu. "Both are widely used for chronic fever. Patients have two tablets each of Sudarshan Ghanvati and Shamshamni Vati with warm water twice a day," he said.

Papaya tablets: Many pharmaceutical companies are selling papaya extracts in a tablet form to cash in on its popularity. A bottle of 15 tablets costs from Rs 300 to Rs 500.

Papaya paste: Devein the leaves of 'desi' papaya and use a mixer to make it into a thick paste. Remember not to mix water in it. Take 20ml (about four teaspoons) twice a day for at least a week on an empty stomach. Chymopapin and papin enzymes in the leaf not only guard you against dengue, but also help regenerate depleting platelet count.

Cow milk, dry ginger water: That cow milk helps bones grow strong is a common perception. But Ayurvedic experts claim that several enzymes found in this protein-rich milk can fight viral infections and dengue. After H1N1 or dengue, observe fast for at least two days and drink just dry ginger water for faster recovery.

Neem, Tulsi: Though bitter in taste, 11 leaves each of neem and tusli should be grounded and filtered. Consume 20ml twice a day. Even after recovery, this may be continued for another two days. Neem oil can also be mixed with coconut oil and rubbed on exposed body parts to ward off mosquitoes

Giloy (Guduchi):: It has a range of chemical constituents which are effective against different set of diseases. It is widely used in fever due to its anti inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. Have at least 20ml on empty stomach twice a day.

EDITORIAL: WHAT ABOUT THE MEDICAL SECRETS IN OUR SCRIPTURES?

Times of India (Sushmi Dey)
Saturday, October 11, 2015
New Delhi, India

This year's Nobel Prize has focused international attention on traditional medicine but India is still not tapping the full potential of its herbal remedies.

Sometimes it takes an old solution to crack an even older problem.T his year's Nobel Prize for medicine points to that: Three scientists who reached back into nature and traditional remedies to develop therapies to fight parasites that cause malaria, filariasis and river blindness -all diseases as old as humankind -were awarded jointly for their work.

It's research that has many Indian doctors and experts shaking their heads in regret as they say India has many more such herbs, metals and minerals that are used in natural remedies which are documented in ancient scriptures. It's just that no one has applied scientific techniques to test their efficacy and develop medicines, as Chinese doctor and Nobel winner Youyou Tu did. She drew on traditional Chinese medicine practices to rediscover a powerful plant-based antimalarial agent artemisinin.

The other two winners, William Campbell from the US, and Satoshi Omura from Japan, have isolated bacteria from soil to develop a new drug, aver mectin, which fights roundworm parasites that cause filariasis and river blindness.

"There is enormous potential in India to develop similar herb-based medicines but it is a long process and needs institutionalized programmes," says Delhibased cardiologist Deepak Natarajan.

India has a catalogue of herbs and much of their use has been described in ancient texts and documents but there is a gap in its dissemination. "The data is primitive. There has been no development on it, no research to gather scientific evidence or prove consistency," says Natarajan.

Youyou Tu and her team found a reference to the use of sweet wor mwood, in which ar temisinin is present, in a Chinese text dating back to about 400AD. "From a large-scale screen of herbal remedies in malaria-infected animals, an extract from the plant Artemisia annua emerged as an interesting candidate," the Nobel committee says on its website. However, the results were inconsistent, so Tu revisited the ancient literature and discovered clues that guided her in her quest to successfully extract the active component from Artemisia annua.

The current government's moves to promote traditional system of medicines - ayurveda, unani, siddha and homeopathy (AYUSH) - have brought a ray of hope. The department was upgraded to ministry status last year and its budget allocation upped to Rs 1,214 crore. "We are commissioning research and observational studies to gather and document evidence on use of ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines," a senior official in the Ayush ministry said. Though the government wants to promote these streams, people do not have confidence in them due to lack of enough scientific evidence, he says. "Therefore, efforts are focused on documenting data through clinical trials and cohort studies."

Government data shows that malaria cases in the country rose from 8.8 lakh in 2013 to 10.7 lakh in 2014. Mortality due to the disease increased from 440 deaths in 2013 to 535 in 2014. And though artemisinin-based combination therapy has helped save millions of lives across the world and India, a new worry is resistance to the drug. It's already been de tected in Myanmar, quite close to the Indian border, a recent Lancet article warned.

Besides malaria, India bears the burden of other tropical diseases such as chikungunya, dengue, encephalitis and cholera.Many parasitic and bacterial diseases and infections have become resistant to regular medication.

Despite this, research on these diseases has slowed down and attention has shifted to chronic or lifestyle diseases such as diabetes.

Herbal medicines or those based on natural products can help bring down the cost of treatment, says PK Arora, consultant, Ayurveda, at Delhi's Ganga Ram Hospital. "For instance, neem and its bark have tremendous medicinal value and can be used to treat many tropical diseases but unfortunately, we are neither using these herbs nor promoting them," he says.

Experts say many of these therapies are not just cheaper but also don't have the side effects of allopathic medicines. In fact, several pharmaceutical companies have started manufacturing herb-based medicines.

DOCUMENARY FILM MADE ON LIFE OF DR. VASANT LAD, AYURVEDA PIONEER

Substratum Films
Brooklyn, New York
Undated (2014)

When Vasant Lad was eight years old, his guru predicted that he would one day spread the teachings and practices of Ayurveda in the Unites States. For a small boy in rural India who couldn't speak English, this seemed impossible, but that is exactly what came to be. This feature length documentary follows the journey of a simple man who has devoted his life to one of the oldest known medical systems in the world: Ayurveda.

Doctor Lad: The Movie is a documentary film exploring the life of renowned Ayurvedic physician Dr. Vasant Lad and is currently in production. The film is directed by Jeremy Frindel, Brooklyn-based filmmaker (most known for his award winning film One Track Heart: The Story Of Krishna Das) in tells the story of Dr. Lad's "pilgrimage of healing" that brought him from being a University professor of ayurveda in Pune, India to become North America's premier exponent of this ancient healing art.

The film follows the journey from Dr. Lad's childhood to his medical training and the Ayurveda movement in the West that his work has sparked. Filming began on this project in 2013 with travel to India and New Mexico to film Dr. Lad. This film has the enthusiastic support of Vasant Lad and his Ayurvedic Institute, and is being independently funded through individuals donors and private investors.

Detailed information is available at the film's website (http://www.vasantladmovie.com) and the movie's trailer can be viewed online at https://vimeo.com/88393685