CASE HISTORY 19
NAME: Veronique
Date of Birth: 1976.
Aged 15 in 1991.
SEX: Female
COMPLAINTS & DURATION:
Rheumatic Heart Disease since the age of four.
TREATMENT HISTORY:
Monthly antibiotic injections (Penadur), for the past 11 years.
INVESTIGATIONS:
ECG
Chest X-ray.
Monthly Echography done at government hospital.
DIAGNOSIS:
Severe Rheumatic Disease with Mitral Stenosis.
PROGNOSIS:
The prognosis was not good because of the mitral stenosis. She had been affected at the age of four. Since, she had been following treatment at government hospital. She used to suffer from recurrent bouts of weakness, breathlessness. She also was frail, weak looking and had low body weight. She had frequent bouts of fever and was on monthly penadur injection to prevent further complications.
Her mother was a qualified staff nurse and took good care of her. Otherwise her condition could have further deteriorated. Still, the disease being what it is, her prognosis was not good at all with the complications she was subject to, on and off, despite her mother taking all precautions.
How a patient feels or fares over time depends on how the right and left ventricles function. They have to handle an increased workload because of the stenotic and/or insufficient valve/s.
The probable outcome would have been increase severity in signs and symptoms leading to some cardiac valve surgery or replacement. These were delicate and advanced procedures with significant morbidity and/or complications.
DISCUSSION
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the long-term consequence of acute rheumatic fever during childhood. Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) damages one or more valves within the heart, subsequent to initial severe inflammation. As the inflammation subsides, scar tissue forms leaving the valve or valves either too narrow (stenosis) or too ‘leaky’ (valve insufficiency). Rheumatic heart disease refers to this permanent scarring of the heart valves.
There are four heart valves, two on each side of the heart. The two on the right side are called the tricuspid and pulmonary valves and the two on the left are the mitral and aortic valves. Acute rheumatic fever usually affects right-sided valves less often and with less serious consequences.
Incidence and Prevalence: With better health services both ARF and RHD have decreased. RHD was once the leading cause of death in those aged 5 to 20 even in developed countries. It remains high especially in third world and developing countries, with mortality rate of 1% to 10%.
Treatment
Arrhythmias and congestive heart failure due to RHD are treated with medications, if possible. The medication(s) may need to be continued for life. If medications fail to control arrhythmias and/or congestive heart failure, surgery may be performed. Sometimes valve replacement by an artificial (prosthetic) valve may have to be done.
In young individuals preventive doses of antibiotics such as oral penicillin or erythromycin are recommended to prevent recurrences of ARF. This may have to be continued for years, sometimes up to 35 years age or even more depending on signs and symptoms.
Complications
The two most frequent complications of RHD are atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure. Sometimes valve replacement may become necessary. Complications related to an artificial valve, such as blood clots or bleeding, may however occur. Congestive heart failure and valve failure may persist even after surgery.
EFFECT OF MEDITATION AND YOGA
The patient came together with her mother for meditation in 1991. She was not willing to join meditation. Later on out of curiosity she came along with her mother and received initiation. The mother, a nursing officer, has written the following in her article:
“It was 1978. I was then a young mother, full of dreams for my two children. I loved them more than anything in the world. Suddenly my whole world crumbled! My daughter of four, my eldest child, was diagnosed with a serious condition, ‘Rheumatic heart disease with mitral stenosis’. My faith was going to be put to severe test.”
“I was dumbfounded! My heart was literally torn apart as I kept asking myself what would be her future. When I realised that she would have to receive a monthly injection of Penadur antibiotic, I was faced with another terrible truth: I was going to be the one to administer the painful injection. I was a nursing officer and was therefore ‘qualified’ to make my own child go through this ordeal. The situation was heart-rending.”
“I would have to gather the strength to administer the injection to my child, knowing full well that it hurts a lot. I knew that the syringe would hurt my daughter each time I had to do the injection. I tried my best to find the right, soothing words to appease her suffering. But how was I to appease my own suffering? Each month, with an aching heart, I had to pick up courage and convince myself I was doing the right thing and that there was no other option.”
“According to some doctors, she was likely to be given those injections up to the age of 19 perhaps; otherwise it could be up to 25 or even 35! My daughter got used to the injections. But I could never reconcile myself to this cruel act. I was all alone by myself and had no one to confide in. I would turn to God imploring him for mercy.”
“More than a decade would lapse before I got an answer to my prayers. In 1990 I learned about the amazing and unique meditation called Siddha Kundalini Maha Yoga Meditation. I started going regularly go to the ashram for meditation. At first my daughter was not willing to join me. One day out curiosity she came along and received initiation. She was then 15 years.”
“Shortly after, she had to go for her routine tests at hospital. An echocardiogram done by a qualified physician confirmed that my child was completely cured from her illness. Through the grace of Yoginiji, at the age of 15, my daughter got a miracle cure. For me to it was as if a heavy burden had been taken off my shoulders. I felt myself rid of the terrible sorrow that had plagued me all these years.”*
(Excerpts from Magazine 4, 2011, page 71)
The patient was cured soon after she had started meditation. Tests (Echocardiogram) performed at hospital when she went for a routine check some two weeks after her initiation showed that there was no longer any pathology.
The mother and the daughter had both given another testimony in the 1991 annual magazine in French.
“….quant a ma fille aînée,…., le medecin la déclara catégoriquement guérie de son problem cardiaque après onze ans de suspense (guérison confirmée par un échocardiogramme)”
English translation: “….concerning my elder daughter, the doctor has declared her cured from her cardiac problem after eleven years of suspense. (Cure confirmed by an echocardiogram)”
(Excerpt from Annual Magazine 2, 1991, page 111)
(“je voudrais préciser qu’avant de connaître cette meditation merveilleuse, je souffrais de maladie cardiaque depuis mon enfance. Dès l’âge de quatre ans, il fallait faire une injection chaque mois et cela durait depuis onze ans. J’en avais marre. J’implorais Dieu dans mes priers de me guerir mais en vain. Tant pis, j’étais contrainte à faire des injections pour toute ma vie.”)
English translation: “I should mention that before I came to know about this marvellous meditation, I had been suffering from a heart problem since early infancy. Since the age of four, I had to have a monthly injection. This had been going on for the past eleven years. I was fed up. In vain, I would implore God mercy for a possible cure! I had resigned myself to have the injections for a lifetime.”
(“..après mon initiation par Yoginiji,…chose formidable, le miracle se fit: après peu de temps, je me suis rendu a l’hôpital pour mon injection mensuelle mais le médecin traitant constata qu’il ne restait aucune trace de mon affection dite incurable. Je fus soumise à une nouvelle échocardiographie et le médecin affirma que j’étais guérie. Alors je compris tout de suite que cette guérison était arrive par la meditation. Adieu les injections! Quelle supplice efface de ma vie à jamais!”)
English translation: “..after my initiation by Yoginiji,… an extraordinary miracle occurred: a short time after, I went to hospital for my monthly injection. But the treating doctor found that that there was no longer any trace of my so called incurable disease. I had to undergo another echocardiography. The doctor confirmed that I was cured. Then I understood that this cure happened through meditation. No more injections! What an ordeal eliminated from my life for ever!
(Excerpt from Annual Magazine 2, 1991, page 43)
CONCLUSION
The patient had been on monthly antibiotic injections for 11 years. Previous echocardiograms had clearly shown that there were stenotic changes in the mitral valve. During initiation and meditation there is an influx of vital energy ‘prana’ into the whole system. This ‘prana’ does its work on its own. Wherever there are pathologies the ‘prana’ will stabilize the organ. In some cases it may even lead to complete cure.
The ‘prana’ which was increased by yogic breathing and meditation was instrumental in stabilizing the heart valve damaged by the years of rheumatic heart disease. From then on there was no further deterioration of the system. The patient was not aware of her cure. She attributed her new found feeling of well-being to the beneficial effects of meditation.
However, the whole degenerative process in the heart had been blocked by the energies created, released or increased by yogic breathing and meditation. Instead of further deterioration, there was an improvement. As the patient was quite young, the prana could go one step further. It was able to completely heal the diseased mitral valve.
As is usual in such cases the patient could have ended up with severely compromised heart function. Instead, it was seen that her condition in fact improved. This would be confirmed by an Echocardiography shortly after her initiation during routine checkup. This examination showed a perfectly normal heart. The ‘prana’ had been able not only to stop further damage in this particular organ system but had reversed the degenerative process. What medication could not, meditation was able to do. It was able to completely cure the pathology in the previously diseased heart valve.
The treating doctor also confirmed that her cardiac system was in perfect condition. He was perplexed by these findings. The patient and more so, her mother who is a nursing officer, were relieved. She no longer needed to go through the monthly ordeal of the painful penadur injections. Meditation and yoga worked a miracle cure for her heart pathology and her general health.