[Shivani Devi]

Namaste.

For the past month, my neurological disorder, hiatus hernia and arthritis has flared up drastically, getting so bad that I could hardly lift my head up off my pillow without vertigo and agonising pain resulting. I was living on opiates which made the pain go away, but I still could not move due to drowsiness and lethargy caused by that medication....then I developed a chemical dependence on the medicine and needed to be weaned off under medical supervision like a common drug addict. This is why I have been absent from SF.

I went back to see my general practitioner today, looking for a referral to a pain management clinic and my GP said that my Neurological Specialist was the one to see about that. He also recommended I see a psychiatrist who didn't 'bulk bill' under Medicare and then he wrote out a prescription for medicines that were not on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

I cannot afford private health cover, but the public health system in my area is a total farce! They are privatising the two local public hospitals and the upshot of the whole scenario was that it was going to cost me about $300 for a 15 minute appointment with a psychiatrist, combined with allopathic liver-destroying drugs with nasty side-effects just to have a shot at 'getting well'. The standard medical establishment is just greed upon more greed, doing more harm than good in the long term - suffice to say, I am poor and cannot afford it anyway.

So I took myself off to the local Indian grocery store instead, with a 'okay, body..what do you need to get better here?'

I looked around the aisles...found some Dabur Chyawanprash, found some Churna powder, Kalounji (Bitter Melon) powder, found some Ashwaghanda and some Shellaki tablets, found some Safi tonic and some fresh Turmeric rhizomes, found some hingu (aesofetida), mustard oil, fresh black pepper and guava leaf extract. I bought ALL of that...it cost me, all up $17 for the LOT!

My body then said "that is not all...go into the supermarket" and I did...I bought some garlic and vitamin C capsules, some apple cider vinegar, some kombucha tea, some kefir probiotic yoghurt, some miso soup sachets and some spirulina and kale juice...all up, that was $24.

Then, my body was almost happy, but it told me that I was low in iodine and needed to go to the Japanese market to get some fresh seaweed salad, which cost me $5.

After I bought all of that, my body said "now, you need to do a full fluid fast for a week...no solid food at all, just fresh cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juices, artesian water, clear soups, probiotic yoghurts...as much of all of that as you like...no other dairy, gluten or protein...your liver and gall-bladder needs a full rest to heal".

On the way out of the shopping centre, I passed by a Chinese herbal healing clinic...a full accupuncture session with body massage, spa and detox cost $60...I didn't do it, but compared to 15 minutes sitting in a shrink's office for $150 OR having all of that done to me in the space of an hour...I know which one I would much prefer.

It is getting to the stage where 'seeing a doctor' is becoming too expensive for low income people, and all of this traditional ayurvedic medicine and practices is becoming a much cheaper alternative...not only cheaper, but healthier and addressing the whole root cause of the problem, rather than labeling me with a 'psychosomatic illness' that no doctors can treat anyway, yet the pain and discomfort leads me to their disease-ridden waiting rooms where I'll catch any bug that anybody else has.

I'll let you all know how I am getting on with this, but I must admit, Chyawanprash tastes totally disgusting. lol