homeopathy

Homeopathy is a medical system based on debunking the symptoms of diseased people and giving them natural cures to expedite the healing process.

I talked to the Chief Doctor at Fortis Escorts, a renowned brand of medicine practitioners in India. Through a series of counseling sessions, the doctor engaged me in deep and personal conversations, addressing my mental, physical, genetic and emotional health. He began to understand all aspects of my lifestyle, from learning what activities I enjoyed in my free time, to wondering if I had supportive and understanding friends, to guessing what my favorite food was. I almost felt as if I was being interrogated as the doctor traced my symptoms down to their core. After numerous sessions, he prescribed the bottle of little sugar pellets which I proceeded to eat for six more months. 

I distinctly remember the pellets coming in two different bottles – one with a green lid and the other with a light pink lid. Though they tasted the exact same to me, they were crafted with varying natural substances, so I had to take pellets from each bottle daily. This doctor was acclaimed and had copious success stories from previous patients by using this same methodology and game plan. Nonetheless, there was no material impact from the homeopathic medicine for me, and we still aren’t sure what made my case so different from everyone else’s. It just goes to show how different this disease impacts everyone differently through a biological lens, so no single treatment is guaranteed to work for everyone.

After failing to track down a successful treatment locally, my mom reached out to Indian doctors to learn about other possible strategies and medicines. After validating the success of a government hospital in Telangana, India, my dad flew to the city of Hyderabad to meet with a team that practices Unani treatments. Unani medicine is based on the teachings of the Greek physicians such as Hippocrates, who believe that the natural elements in the human body needs to be re-balanced in order to cure chronic and immunological disorders.

The New hospital

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We flew over 7,000 miles to India, a trip I would soon become very familiar with.

 

The head doctor of the newfound hospital prescribed both ointment and oral medication for daily application to restore my “elemental health.” After a few months with administration under the hospital, the doctor directed us towards his private clinic, where he gave us more medication, at an increasingly steeper price. After a few months, my dad noticed the medical bills growing from a few hundred rupees to upwards of a few thousand rupees. The doctor was commercially inclined and cared more about cash flow than curing his patients.

Twelve months into the treatment, and there was no improvement in my skin. My dad immediately stopped working with this doctor and we disposed the prescribed pills and cream. It’s unfortunate that we must deal with these types of corrupt and selfish businessmen, when all we want is a simple cure. Though I was too young at the time to understand what was happening, these types of issues are really exhausting and a huge waste of time, money, and resources.

It’s important to choose the right doctors and treatment plans for you, and to use reliable sources to make the best educated decision.

the first APPEARANCE

overview: vitiligo in the world

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder that impacts over 1% of people across the world. Vitiligo can occur at any age and is not always genetic. While there is no dependable cure, many western treatments and doctors recommend light and laser therapy, as well as drugs that target the immune system.

My first white spots appeared around my lips and eyes when I was six years old. Due to my grandma’s brief experience with Vitiligo on her stomach, my parents were somewhat familiar with the condition and started taking note of the pigmentation’s location and where it was spreading. Unfortunately, spots started appearing everywhere, from my face to my legs, feet and hands. So, my mom reached out to a pediatric dermatologist in Kirkland. After waiting several weeks for an appointment, we met with Dr. Likosky, who had worked with few vitiligo cases prior. She recommended an ointment called Protopic, which is still in circulation among some doctors today. We applied the sticky cream to my spots every night for years. While I was very young and don’t remember every detail of this treatment, I can vividly recall how much I complained and absolutely hated putting on the cream every night. While it took five minutes max to apply the cream everywhere, it would stick to my pajama pants and I would even have to use it at sleepovers in front of my friends – talk about embarrassing… 

Unfortunately, there was no material impact from the Protopic ointment. According to the recommendations from several of my doctors, Protopic is known as a somewhat effective treatment because while it does not always bring back brown pigmentation, it does create a stagnancy within the immune system so that new white skin does not form. While I didn’t know it at the time, this strategy of hindering the growth of vitiligo as opposed to directly trying to return brown pigmentation is a very common method of treatment. Unfortunately, however, this initial treatment did not stop new spots from growing on my appendages. Thus, my parents moved onto the next treatment, which will be discussed in my next blog.

I would also like to mention that there are currently several studies and trials for vitiligo. In a future blog, I hope to share some important trials in the vitiligo community on the journey to finding a cure. Thank you for reading:).