AUG-A-2
THE TIBETAN SYSTEM OF MEDICINE,
DISCUSSED BY THE LOCAL CHIEF “AMCHI”
THE REGROUPING AND
RE-PACKING IN LEH,
WITH FAREWELL
CELEBRATIONS FOR THE TEAM
PARTICIPANTS OF
“LADAKH-02”
July 30—31, 2002
I may have been able to email the messages of Tangste and Tso Morari medical camps in the emails I had sent out, (I hope) from Shangri-La Expeditions while making the arrangements for what may yet turn out to be a summit climb on the tallest peaks in Ladakh, the 3,500 meter elevation of Leh, to the top of Stok Khangri, 6,200 meters or 20,460 feet. I had tried to arrange this in advance, and now there is a four-day gap before taking the next expedition, that is “Lingshed-02” of which one member is already here, Sean Vaino. So, I brought him over to see Tsespol also and we are tentatively signed up to begin a three or four day climb to the summit in crampons and ice axes tomorrow morning as the rest of this gamg disperses—if they can find their misplaced tickets, etc.
I have then made a brief shopping foray to send home to Kacie Elizabeth a birthday present from her far away grandfather. I had tried to principally regroup, re-pack and get ready for what is still unconfirmed as the interval series of Aug-A-series in the gap between “Ladakh-02” and “Lingshed-02”, while the others were completely pre-occupied in a shopping frenzy, spending more on souvenirs than on the trip itself.
THE SYSTEM OF
TIBETAN MEDICINE
At afternoon we reconvened to hear TSERING PHUNTSEG, the chief Amchi of Ladakh, the only area where the Health Department recognizes this ancient Tibetan form of medical arts as legitimate. Patients admitted to the hospital in Leh can choose either Amchi medicine or allopathic medicine, but not both.
There is an Institute for training Amchi here at Ladakh, and they wanted to avoid the elite of the cities coming for four years of practical instructions in how to carry on this old system of healing, so they took 40 barely literate village folk from places as scattered as the villages we will be visiting along the trek to Lingshed, a particular stronghold of Amchi medicine. There are 250 plants in the area of Ladakh about 2% endangered and growing nowhere else, and one of the things they attempt to do is to preserve them and get from them their food value and also their medicinal potential. There is also a bit of the theory of the Amchi taught in the Tibetan School in Dharamsala, but that course does not lead to a diploma allowing the Amchi graduates to go out and practice their unique brand of medicine.
The philosophy is to treat the disease without disturbing the rest of the organs’ functioning, defined as a flow of energy along predictable patterns called Chakras. This part seems to have in common with the homeopathy the reduction in the toxicity of invasive medical procedures. With respect to the potions and unguents and other things applied to the body in mystic and often magic circumstances like shampoos or herbs (the majority of the concoctions involve such stuff) the amchis have this in common with the Ayurvedic medicine practices, which are growing in popularity in the West, thanks to disappointment with the overpromised health care expectations. It seems that nearly fifty percent of pharmacies in Vancouver, for example, as reported by Fern from the UBC are now Ayurvedic.
“Health through Balance” it may be called, in common with Ayurvedic medicine. There are a number of eclectic gurus in the US adopting many of the rituals and incantations as well as the meditative pieces of the mix, like Andrew Weil, and getting rich and famous in the process, tapping into the nerves that this set of buzz words has come to represent from the mysteries of the orient imported into Western medicine
The four forms of treatment are: 1) dietary advice, 2) behavioral counseling, 3) herbal medicines (70%) with some semi-precious stones and other metals used as well, and 4) the traditional means of Tibetan “Therapies” = Moxabustion (counter irritation burning moss for scarring—particularly used in treatment of the lungs) and meditation and several other forms of uniquely Tibetan practices, like massage, healing wands, aromas and crystals according to the “Chakras “ of energy (“Chi”) flows in the body. In other words, all the rage among the Western “wannabes” seeking magic as an antidote to the shortcomings of scientific medicine.
I asked a couple of softball questions such as what is the role of the pulse in the diagnosis of disease, (Pulsology”)—a favorite topic of theirs, and is the third of the trio of the color of the urine, eyes and feces and then Pulsology. To be effective in diagnosis, the practitioner must him or herself get to be mystically prepared to receive the subtle messages sent by the flow of blood in the pulse. Western medicine, the Amchi said, relies on the sounds that the blood flow makes in the stethoscope hearing the heart sounds and taking the blood pressure, but the Amchi can feel the differences---as we would call them, a cardiac “heave” or “thrill.” The accuracy of the diagnosis is depending on the purification of the examiner who must first achieve near-Tantric powers to ascertain illness.
These are the gimmickry parts of the practice, which, of course, appeal mightily to the imaginative charlatans of Western fringe medicine, who like the idea of Tantric Powers—flying through space and time being just one of these.
But then I asked a couple of hard ones. “Does the Amchi medicine have to be believed in as a part of a religious faith (like some forms of traditional Chinese medicine) for it to work, and the best way to control for that, is—what is the role of Amchi veterinary medicine?”
At first he did not understand the question, and then said there was a rare set of the amchi who were able to treat gastric conditions in cows, but only those sacred cows in India. It turns out that it is necessary to believe in the Amchi and the whole system for it to work, as it seems that behavior modification involves the eight fold path of the Buddhist’s “right thinking, right this and that” which are taken out of the field of religion more than that of public health. If acupuncture of the Chinese might work in an individual who does not believe it will work, it seems that in the Lei Hospital, the patient first has to believe in the system to choose the Amchi over the allopathic Western medicine practitioner, and that choice is either/or, and not both/and.
Historically, he said, a Tibetan king had had a mitral valve rheumatic valvular problem, and despite the treatments of the Amchi, he was dwindling. In desperation and rather late, he underwent an operation, which failed, and the decree went out from the Tibetan royalty banning surgery for all time. That is why the Lama who came to us with an esophageal obstruction in Tangste, most likely malignant, said that as a Lama he could not undertake any operation, but just needed some medicines to clear up his problem. I suggested that there were quite a few conditions for which medicine--from the Amchi or Western pharmaceuticals, could not resolve some problems, and how were those treated?
The second hardball question directed to him was, “What would you do if you had appendicitis, a strangulated hernia, or a rheumatic heart valve, in which we agree medicines of amchi or allopathic origin do not work—and there is no surgery in Amchi medicine?” He first waffled saying he would have great faith in the powers of amchi medicine to take care of the appendicitis. And if that did not work? Well, I would ask for a referral to someone else. And if he recommended an operation as the only way to stave off death? Well, that question was put to many of the amchi and 40% had said they might have an operation if it was recommended by another branch of the healing arts, but the remainder would die in good faith.
Like many other belief systems, it seems to be all or nothing in one or the other, in a totalitarian system, much like the faiths or the governments that seem to be also popular among such practitioners of single minded healing arts.
AND THE WAFFLING
OUT OF THE WANNABE CLIMBERS
After all the arrangements were made for those folk who were flying out in the morning and the few who would be remaining were making plans for the interval—of the now only two of us scheduled to go on both trips, with a couple dropping out—I had confirmed with Tsespol that Sean and I would start out for the four day summit climb of Stok Khangri tomorrow morning early, after the other group had set out for the return to Delhi and either further points of travel or home. The dinner we had at the Terrace was moved indoors, when it seemed that the setting sun had left a chill for which not everyone was prepared. The dinner was late in coming and consisted of some pasta but mostly beer. When I had gone downstairs to see Tsespol to learn when we were taking off in the morning, I learned that Sean had come down and had waffled out. He wanted to remain in Leh “with a larger group.” I explained to him, that the “larger group” he referred to now consisted of Matt, who really wanted to climb the mountain but would have to be working for a week in the local hospital to satisfy the requirements of the group that had sponsored him with the money of this trip. Sean had been all gung-ho about the climb and other events, but had got close to the time of the commitment on each and backed off. So, I really do no t know what this withdrawal does for the plans for the climb, originally booked for four or more climbers, and now back down to only me, I will wake up in the morning and see the “Ladakh-02” team off, and be left for the interval between “Ladakh-02” and “Lingshed-02” with nothing but a bunch of decimated plans, and a laptop that is still acting up and freezing periodically, losing the stuff I might otherwise be engaged in typing up during this interval in Leh if it turns out that I don to climb Stok Khangri for which I am now acclimatized, under the assumption that mounting a team and gear for the summit climb based in one climber and a crew would be expensive and less than desirable. I have more of my thesis outline to be worked on and a few other typing projects, but they depend on a reliable laptop and a dependable electrical supply, neither of which are in evidence.
So, for the Aug-A interval series before
the start of the “Lingshed-02” trek, I have no idea
what comes next.
You can check with the emails—if they are,
in fact, being transmitted at all—to find out what
I am doing—whether at the 12,000 foot level of Leh
or the 20,000 foot level of Stok Khangri in the
snow (for which I am also just now equipped) I do
not know now and will probably not know a good deal
ahead of you! But, for the interval,
the team for Ladakh-02 has been sent back on its
way home with the birthday cards and packages and
at least the incompletely exposed Photo Works film
for failure of the Panoramic camera to advance the
film (it seems about fifty exposures have been made
on the 20+ exposure film, and when rewound, it was
completed rather quickly, so it may be altogether
blank!) so I am still not beyond bedevilment with
technoglitches, and will try to make the best of
whatever I have for equipment, support, and fellow
travelers in whatever comes next!