cooling mudpacks: the aesthetic quality of therapy 175
Reactions to Medications
Another, more frequently heard set of complaints several ayurvedic patients
brought up regarding their previous allopathic treatment concerned the eff ects
of allopathic medications.
A 30-year-old Hindu man, Raju, had been having problems ever since he
returned during the 1991 Gulf War from Kuwait where he had been work-
ing as a mechanic. He had had violent outbursts, he would laugh without
reason, and he threatened to destroy his family’s property. Raju’s mother, who
accompanied him while he was being treated at the GAMH, explained that
allopathic medicines were unpleasant and made him tired which led Raju and
his family to change therapies:
We changed from allopathy to ayurveda because he felt tired from allopathic
treatment. He didn’t like the eff ects of allopathic medicines. Th ey made him feel
tired. He felt allopathic treatment caused memory loss.Bindu, a 36-year-old Hindu woman who was receiving treatment at the
GAMH had a similar reaction to allopathic (which she calls “English”) medi-
cations. Bindu had been depressed and “lost mental control” when she attacked
her brother’s wife and his son. She was sent to an allopathic psychiatrist, but
she changed to ayurvedic therapy because allopathic medications made her
feel sluggish and tired:
English medicines made me too tired. I couldn’t even respond when spoken to. I
felt less tired with ayurvedic medicine. I felt weight in my head during English
medicine which is now gone.We interviewed 26-year-old Mohammed Koya and several of his rela-
tives after they consulted with an ayurvedic psychiatrist about admitting
Mohammed to the GAMH. Mohammed had returned from working as a
waiter in the Persian Gulf because of his illness which has a variety of mani-
festations including laughing for no reason, anger toward his family and refus-
ing to leave home to go to work. Mohammed’s relatives told us that he had
been to an allopathic hospital and was taking allopathic medications. He could
function on these medications, but they made him tired and he did not want
to have to take pills all his life, which an allopathic psychiatrist said would
be necessary. Th e family decided to pursue ayurvedic treatment because they
had heard that through ayurveda one could get off pills. Th is perception does
refl ect the practices at the GAMH. Patients who are already taking allopathic