Ayurvedic treatment for diabetes

The essence of Ayurvedic intervention for diabetes is Complementary lifestyle modification therapy , it cannot replace modern medicine's anti-diabetic drugs, insulin treatment and routine blood sugar monitoring. It can only improve sugar metabolism by adjusting physical imbalances, help stabilize blood sugar and reduce the probability of complications under the premise of following doctor's instructions.

A few years ago, I spent half a year in an Ayurveda clinic in southern Sri Lanka. I met many diabetic patients with local veteran therapists. The one who impressed me the most was a 62-year-old Tamil man with a 12-year history of type 2 diabetes. When he came here, he took 12 units of insulin aspart every day. His fasting blood sugar hovered around 8-10mmol/L all year round. He also suffered from fatigue and itchy skin. With the help of herbal medicine, dietary adjustments and daily oil therapy, he was tested again three months later. The insulin dosage was reduced to 8 units, and the fasting blood sugar was stable between 6.2-6.7. Even he himself said that he felt much lighter.

In fact, the modern disease name "diabetes" does not exist in the Ayurveda system at all. The symptoms of polydipsia, polyuria, and sweet urine are called "Madhumeha," which literally translates as "honeyuria." It has similar clinical manifestations to diabetes in traditional Chinese medicine, but the underlying logic is completely different. Ayurveda believes that the root cause of all diseases is physical imbalance, and different schools have different judgments on the causes of diabetes: South Indian traditional schools generally believe that more than 80% of type 2 diabetes belongs to Kapha (earth and water type) imbalance. To put it bluntly, it is the accumulation of phlegm and dampness, insufficient metabolic firepower, and the food eaten cannot be fully converted into energy, which will accumulate in the blood and raise blood sugar. ； However, many modern Ayurveda researchers in North India do not agree with this single judgment. They believe that many young people with diabetes today are not fat at all. They are usually stressed, stay up late, have big mood swings, and have high and low blood sugar. The essence is that Pitta (fire type) disorder and vata (wind type) disturbance burn out the digestive fire "Agni" in the body, leading to metabolic disorder.

I encountered such a case at that time, a 58-year-old local female teacher, who was very impatient, suffered from oral ulcers and constipation at every turn, and her blood sugar was like a roller coaster. In the morning, it was 6.3 on an empty stomach, and in the afternoon it went up to 11 after a quarrel at home. At first, an old healer from South India prescribed neem leaf juice for her because of Kapha imbalance. After drinking it for three days, she complained of stomachache and acid reflux. Later, a traveling doctor from North India happened to be communicating with the clinic and he replaced the neem with warm aloe vera juice and a small amount of dendrobium. He also added 10 minutes of coconut oil foot massage every day. In less than two weeks, her blood sugar fluctuation range dropped to less than 2mmol/L.

To put it bluntly, Ayurveda has never had a unified prescription for treating diabetes. It all depends on the constitution: Kapha-type obese people with diabetes must never touch cold and sweet things such as iced milk tea and iced watermelon. Drink a spoonful of warm water soaked in fenugreek powder every morning on an empty stomach, and do a dry herbal powder massage once a week. Metabolism will naturally stabilize blood sugar.； People with pitta type sugar should avoid spicy food, be less angry, and drink more unsweetened fresh coconut water, which can also be eaten with amla powder. ； People with Vata-type skinny diabetes cannot eat bitter cold herbs. Mix a small spoonful of pure ghee with their meals every day and eat more warm, soft and easy-to-digest foods. This will stabilize the "wind" that causes the blood sugar to jump.

Of course, controversies have never stopped, and I have also seen people get into trouble. A former domestic tourist heard that Ayurveda can "radically cure" diabetes, so he stopped taking metformin and drank the herbal water provided by the clinic every day. As a result, he became dizzy and nauseated on the fourth day and could not stand up. His blood sugar level was measured at 18.7mmol/L, and he was rushed to the doctor to recover. This is why many modern medical scholars have reservations about Ayurveda’s diabetes intervention: firstly, most herbal prescriptions have not undergone large-scale double-blind clinical verification, and the active ingredients and mechanisms of action are unclear. Secondly, some herbal preparations prepared by informal clinics may contain excessive amounts of heavy metals such as lead and mercury, which may harm the liver and kidneys if consumed for a long time.

I have been doing natural healing for so many years, and I have always felt that sugar control is never the only way to "take medicine and press the target". The benefit of Ayurveda is that it actually breaks down the matter of "sugar control" from a cold numerical value to a specific life of what you eat every day, what time you go to bed, and whether you get angry over trivial things. If you come to it with the idea of ​​​​"cure", you will most likely be disappointed. However, if you have been taking medicine and insulin as prescribed by your doctor, but you still feel fatigue, itchy skin, and blood sugar fluctuations. If you want to make your life more comfortable, there is no harm in trying compliant Ayurveda conditioning after asking your attending doctor. After all, the most practical thing is to feel comfortable in your own body.