IIH( Idiopathic Intra-cranial hypertension) in my life

I can never forget the date. It was 7th January 2011. It was Friday and in the evening I had gone out with some of my friends for Friday night party. We had few bottles of beer and food. I was the only person in the group to have mutton. In the night at around 2am I felt excruciating pain in my stomach right below the naval. It seemed as if someone was piercing it with a knife. The pain was so high it knocked me out and lay unconscious in my bed for 2 days. When I woke up, it was Sunday evening and my pain was a little better and on Monday morning it was bearable. I ignored the pain and went to the office thinking that it was one off thing. I had normal spicy food for lunch and dinner. Finally the pain returned again on Monday night. Finally I went to see a doctor. He did an endoscopy and diagnosed my pain as deudonal ulcer. He prescribed me some medicines and sent me home. I came back from the doctor and continued with my normal routine. My pain got better with medication. But it did not go away completely. Again I felt the same pain two months later in March. I went to the same doctor again and to the same hospital. He again prescribed me the same medicines. Again the pain went away. The stomach pain went away but I got strangest kind of headaches.

This time I was fed up with the doctor I was visiting so decided to visit the best hospital in the city. My headache my diagnosed as a normal problem. The doctor gave me some acidity medicines but asked me to visit her again in 2 days if my pain did not go away. But I started taking pain killers and completely ignored advise of the doctor. 

Six months later in the month of August I noticed double vision. My vision deteriorated and I noticed some blurredness too. I went to an opthalmalogist and she suggested an MRI. The MRI diagnosed my problem as IIH(Idiopathic intra cranial hypertension). It scared my like hell. I took a long leave from work and went home for proper care and treatment.

Unfortunately, my family is the most quarrelsome and most uncooperative one. I did not get any kind of help from my family. Instead of helping me my family was eyeing my savings and looking for means to extract it from me. 

Anyway I started jogging, weight lifting, yoga, dieting in hope of improving my health. And it helped. My headaches went away. My vision improved. My double vision went away. But fogginess remained. 

It was November 2011 and I was taking dinner with some close friends and suddenly I realized my vision was foggy. I was not able to focus on faces. Faces looked blurred.

Again I went to a neuro-opthalmologist. He diagnosed my problem as optic atrophy due to IIH and gave me medicines. Medicine included diamox and wysolon steroid. It took me 11 months to start proper treatment and realise that I was in deep shit.

I was lonely, scared, stressed due to work, angry because I cheated of my money, grieving due to deaths in the family and finally this disease. It was too much to take. I said goodbye to my job and headed to Delhi.

My life took a downturn. I used to be a highly paid software professional. I lost my health, my job, my eyes. Till 2010 I was perfectly healthy. I did not even catch cold easily. And suddenly I got IIH, a disease as deadly as cancer. I think those who get cancer are lucky. At least they die and it is quick. They do not have to suffer as badly as those suffering from IIH do.

But that was past....... I think IIH was the best thing that happened to me. IIH forced me to take a hard look at my life and to make dramatic changes to it. Thanks to IIH I learnt yoga and Ayurveda and I am far more calmer and happier than ever. Though I still have a long pay to travel on the path of healing but I believe I'll be able to cure myself completely.

My journey on the path of healing

It 

What to do and what not to do if you have IIH ?

Do more of following -

• Lose weight.This is the single most important thing to watch.
• Maintain a regular and healthy life style
• Control stress and negative emotions
• Pray. Prayer is the biggest healer.
• Smile all the time. Ultimately everyone dies. So why not to die with a smile on face instead of tears in eyes.
• Maintain a peaceful mind. Try it. Keep trying it.
• Learn yoga, meditation, pranayam and most importantly practice yog nidra.

Do not do following -

 Some food items that are good for normal people might prove to be poison for those suffering from IIH.

•  No tea, coffee, cold drinks, ice cream, soda
• No eggs, poultry products, meat, dairy
• Keep protein consumption low
• No nuts - peanut, cashew, almond
• No chillies - red, green or black
• No alcohol
• Leafy vegetable

If you are practising yoga/pranayam avoid following -

• Yoga poses that generate heat inside body and cause increased pressure on eyes like downward dog, shoulder stand, head stand, chakrasana
• Kapalbhati pranayam
• Long sessions of anulom vilom pranayam
• Lesser forward bending and more backward bending

Early morning walks are the best for those suffering from IIH.

What caused IIH

IIH is an extremely hard disorder to treat. When I look back and think what caused IIH, I think it was stress and no outlet of stress caused my nervous system to go out of order. I had been a smoker for a long time. I had smoked continuously for 15 years. Initially it was 1-2 cigarettes per day then increased to 5-6 cigarettes per day. In yr 2010 I also started drinking. I was under extreme stress. I felt frustrated all the time. There was no outlet of frustration. All the negative emotions were bottling up inside me.

I am listing some events just to give you an idea of what happened in my life in the year 2009 that caused so much stress and frustration -

1. Death of a nephew
2. Loss of my most of savings due to cheating by greedy relatives
3. Death of first cousin and aunt
4. Change of job
5. Change of Country
6. Broken engagement
7. Cheating by bank insurance agent
8. Extreme pressure from family to give my savings to them
9. Working for a company which paid better than rest but was a horrible employer

Probably it was too much to take in a short period and I fell sick.

Patanjali yog gram, Haridwar

I went to Patanjali Yog Gram, Haridwar for treatment and I am writing my experience. Hopefully it helps you in deciding whether you should go there or not.

1. About yog gram

The yog gram was established by swami Ramdev and its head doctor is Nagendra Neeraj. Unlike various medicinal systems, nature care cures using proper diet, exercise, air, water, color etc. It is free from side effects. If there are any side effects then they are not as sever as modern medicines.
At the yog gram your medicines are stopped slowly and your body heals itself. Though personally I did not experience any dramatic changes in my health, it gave me a solid foundation in healthy living.

They teach you how to eat, what to eat, how much to eat, how to sleep, how to drink water, how to use naturopathy to cure yourself. They teach you how to live in sync with the nature. It is a life changing experience for everyone and I recommend everyone should experience it once. There two lectures every morning and evening. If you are at the yog gram then you must attend these lectures.

 I learnt how to fast properly at the yog gram. I did a water fasting for 7 days and by the end of 7 days my brittle nails became very strong. I witnessed people going on water fast, juice fast for 15 days, 21 days and 30 days and even more. There was a man who had sexual problems and by fasting for 3 weeks on water his problem was cured. There was a woman who was not able to conceive but after fasting for 30 days on water she became pregnant.

They have beautifully integrated the best of alternative medicines. They teach you bhajan therapy, laughter therapy, gratitude, thankfulness, yog nidra, natural cooking.

It is important to realise that disease is a manifestation of your mind. First your mind becomes sick then your physical body falls sick. If you have to get your health back then you must work on your diet, thoughts, posture, environment. It has to be an integrated approach.

2. How to get admission to patanjali yog gram -

You have to drop a mail to onlineyoggram@divyayog.com. Describe you current medical problems, past medical history, medicines you are taking and attach the relevant reports. It'll be reviewed by the doctors at the yog gram and they'll revert back to you.

You can not just drive to the yog gram and expect to get admitted to it. You have to book your seat in advance by paying one week's charges in advance.

3. Treatment charges

For details about treatment charges please visit http://yoggram.divyayoga.com/how-to-get-registration.html

4. What should you bring with you 

Bring clothes according to the season. Please do not go by the weather report mentioned on the website. Winter starts from October and lasts till late Feb/March. Winter is really chilly. It is best to avoid visiting the yog gram during winters as it gets really cold.

Must bring necessary medicines as the yog gram is situated in a very remote location. There is no market near about. There is small shop inside that sells soaps, inner wears, sandals, towels, some ayurvedic medicines, patanjali biscuits etc.

5. What you should not bring

• Food
• Salt
• Sugar
• Biscuits

6. Facilities at the yog gram

• A small shop
• A small ayurvedic dispensary
• Library

 7. Cons of Yog Gram

Yoga is taught in large group. So personal attention is missing. I witnessed few cases where some people with back pain, cervical spondolysis, sciatica etc did forward bends and after that their problems aggravated and they had to leave ultimately. They have a few yoga helpers but they are not very knowleageable. So it is best to avoid yoga sessions.

AIIMs neurology center

I am writing down procedure to get treated at AIIMS neurology center. It can be frustrating experience for you if you do not know the procedure. Though this is an old post and will be updated soon, you should read it. Now appointments to AIIMS neurology is available through online patient portal too. Its link is http://14.139.245.36/esp/. You need Adhar card to login to the portal. Appointments are not easily available for next six months through the portal, so going through online route might not be helpful. At the moment of writing this portal, appointments are available for the month of August and its February. Dept. of neurology takes 50 cases (new and old every day) and 25 of that is reserved for online portal.

If you are a neurology patient and visiting neuro center for the first time then you must have been referred for it. You can't just walk in get and treated at AIIMS speciality centers. To get treated at AIIMS specialty centers you need a reference. You can get referral from any other hospital or any other department of AIIMS.

If  you have some existing medical problem and you are visiting AIIMS for better treatment then no problem about that. Just ask your referring doctor to write down "Referred to AIIMS neurology".

If you are new to AIIMS and do not have any references then you should first visit Department of Medicines. Describe your problem to the doctor and ask him for a reference. Usually the doctor himself would direct you to the right department but if he is not sure he'll ask for some initial tests. Again procedure of visiting a doctor in OPD in neurology is same as General Medicine. You've to come to the AIIMS at 5 in the morning and stand in the queue.

 The general medicines department at AIIMS is situated at the northern side of AIIMS. You enter the main gate and take left. To consult a doctor at General Medicines, you must reach AIIMS latest by 6 am. Yes, it is very early in the morning and quite difficult to reach there. But believe me, once you reach there you'll find almost 30-40 people already in queue. By 8 am there are 300 people in queue. Some people even sleep for the whole night in the queue. Only 50 new cases are registered at every AIIMS department everyday. So if you are 51st in the queue then there are good chances that you'll not be able to make it. A guard would come and distribute tokens to the first 50 persons in the queue. You must have this token to go to the registration counter. There you pay a nominal fee of Rs 10 and get your card. After that, you'll be directed to a physician, Tell him your medical problems and request him to refer you to neurology.

If you have headaches then it is better to visit Rajendra Prasad Eye center. It is less crowded and you can request doctor there to refer you to neurology. Try whatever works to get the referral.

Once you have the referral again you must queue in front of the Neurology center . Again you must reach by 7 am. As it is a speciality clinic you can arrive a bit late but try to reach at max by 7 am. Even you have OPD card from any other department, you must queue for new card at neurology center. You'll get one more card at neurology center. Only 50 new cases are registered here so try to reach as early as possible.

Once you have queue token you can expect to get registered by 10:30 am. After that counter for registration of new cases closes down. At the registration counter you'll be directed to a room. You'll have to wait outside this room for your turn. For new cases you must wait for 2-3 hours before you turn comes. If you are new to AIIMS then a senior resident will see you. If your cases is not very complicated he'll handle it. If it is something he can't handle it, he'll refer you to a senior doctor who is at least assistant professor at AIIMS.

Once you have the OPD card of neurology future visits are easier. You can even try for appointments at room number 29 ( ground floor of neurology center ). You can even call by phone and make an appointment. The number for appointment at AIIMS is 01126593252.

My personal experience with AIIMS has been good so far. It is very crowded but the treatment is world class and almost free. Management is a bit chaotic though and all the processes could be made smoother. It would be helpful if you have a company otherwise it gets tough standing all by yourself in the queue. And please carry some snacks and water with you as you;ll need them. AIIMS has public canteen but I did not like it. It is crowded and unhygienic.