What do I mean by that? Western Medicine came to the rescue for me this week, and I chose to bring Ayurveda right along with me. I have had a couple of previous medical emergencies where I needed to combine western medicine and Ayurveda to promote my best recovery. Here is my most recent experience where east and west worked together to help me heal.
Yard Work Surprise
Mowing the lawn with a push mower is part of my regular summer and fall activity. I love the exercise and sense of accomplishment when I care for my yard. Lawn for me means a meadow rather than a mono-culture of grass. We used to keep sections wild, but now my husband and I mow to make the yard less tick friendly.
On this past Sunday, the weather invited me out to mow. I was enjoying myself. After about 30 minutes of mowing out of nowhere, I felt a sharp hot pain in my left calf about three inches above my ankle. I had been stung by a bug of some sort.
After 5 minutes, I decided to stop and check. It looked like a wasp sting. I had a three-inch welt. So I came in and washed it and treated it with meat tenderizer. Later I slathered my leg in jewelweed tincture, a mixture of rose and lavender essential oil, then called the doctor when it doubled in size to 6 inches. They suggested an antihistamine, so I took it, iced the welt to treat the heat and elevated my foot and leg.
My Emergency Called For Western Intervention
I continued to treat the sting with antihistamine and ice that evening. When I woke up the next morning, my whole foot and calf were hot and swollen. My ankle was the size of a softball, and I couldn’t move my toes. So my husband and I headed to urgent care. They put me on a steroid, antibiotics and gave me an Epi-pen script for ultimate protection against future stings. I started on the prescriptions right away but continued to get worse.
By morning two after the sting even with treatment, my whole calf and foot was the color purple, on fire, swollen and could bear no weight. I needed to bring Ayurveda in to help calm my system down and improve my recovery. I upped my water, massage and elevation to treat the gunas of my leg — hot, stagnant with sharp pain.
Bring Ayurveda To Bear
I began to think about how to best help myself using Ayurveda. My first step to bring Ayurveda to bear on this problem was to examine the gunas, the 10 pairs of opposites. The gunas are a great place to start because each pair tells you what to do. If heat is a problem like for me, I knew I need to cool things down.
Balance The Gunas
Balancing the gunas showing up in my response to the wasp sting could only help the situation and empower me to heal myself. I increased my alternate nostril breathing and meditation frequency to calm my nervous system. It was hard at first, because the steroid was making me really jittery so I was glad I had these habits in place already.
For the heat, I added aloe juice to my diet and continued the ice treatments. This way I was getting systemic and topical cooling to promote healing. Excessive cooling can sometimes slow down movement, so I did some light massage, legs up the wall and started simple smooth foot and toe range of motion exercises as soon as I could. I moved my foot to support skin healing and promote lymph (rasa) flow.
Balance The Dosha
“Classically, Ayurveda recognizes three types of skin disorders, which align with the doshas: pitta, vata, and kapha. Pitta skin diseases are characterized by swelling, redness, fever, infection, and irritability.”
http://www.ayurvedacollege.com/sites/ayurvedacollege.com/files/articles/Mosquito-Bites-KJohnson.pdf
When I looked at the gunas that flared in reaction to my sting and skin injury, it clearly shows disturbance of pitta dosha. So I started adjusting my practices and diet immediately to cool down pitta. I stopped hot soaks and sauna treatments, took all the pitta building spices out of my diet and started drinking fennel tea. I lightened and simplified my diet to support healthy digestion. The combination of all these medicines and self care has turned the tide.
At this point, my recovery is well underway. Pitta dosha is coming back into balance. The pain, heat and stagnation are retreating. I have begun to hobble around and am confident of continued recovery. My combined treatment plan with Western medicine and Ayurveda is working to help me heal.
Ayurselfcare’s purpose is to educate on the benefits of Ayurveda. This article is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment or advice. All the material here is for learning purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.