When one goes back in time, it is always with a sense of nostalgia about the good old days when good health was in abundance and there was that feeling of contentment and well being. Why is that nowadays we have all these dreaded illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, cancer etc. taking their toll on an already stressed out populace?

Is it to do with our present food habits, lack of physical activity, high pollution levels etc.? Eating homemade nutritious simple food was the norm in the distant past. Exercise was a part of lifestyle with cycling and walking for small errands like shopping, visiting close friends and relatives etc., doing household work like cleaning and mopping the house, gardening etc. No joining fancy gyms or partaking of elaborate exercise routines. No eating junk food in those fancy restaurants as is happening nowadays. With few vehicles and 2 wheelers on the roads and less polluting industries etc. air pollution was bare minimal sending surges of pure oxygen seeping through our blood vessels leaving us with that energetic fresh feel, unlike the present when we are perpetually fatigued and stressed out.

Your friendly family physician was the back bone of the providers of the family good health. Most of these doctors with the Portugese medical degree of ”Medico Cirurgiao” [MC] could cure your illness by the sheer strength of their personalities. Their clinic was simple with only minimal instruments like blood pressure monitor, torch, few emergency injections etc. But they would welcome you with a smile, take your detailed history and counsel you before a thorough physical examination. Just the doctor’s gentle touch and you could feel your ailment magically ebbing away. Hardly any blood or fancy tests were advised. Nowadays in spite of so many doctors and specialists, illnesses seem to be on the rise. Even the glass syringes used for injections during the good old days had a more reassuring look then the modern disposable syringes. Many of these ”Medico Cirurgiaos” are still practicing with the patient’s faith in them unshakeable.

So many of the good old medicines are still effective but a new phenomenon called ”drug resistance” has facilitated entry of new and expensive drugs, whether they are better than the old, no one has proved. Makes one wonder how much of this drug resistance really exists or it is just a hype created by the pharmaceutical and medical field to promote new and exorbitant medicines. Good old ‘avil’ still gives the best result in allergy, ‘Brufen’ for pain, ‘Flagyl’ for amoebic dysentery, ‘chloroquine’ for malaria etc etc. But these are hardly prescribed these days. May be it is like upgrading your car from the basic Maruti 800 to a flashier Maruti Swift, Celerio or Ignis etc. Basic purpose is served by any of these cars but then the ”status factor” comes into play!!!

As we are enjoying the festive month of December with all its social events, tendency to hog on rich calorie high food and of course the cup that cheers will increase. The common excuse heard is ”I drink only occasionally or socially never mind that the occasion or social function comes daily during these turbulent months of December and January!!! All this contributes in adding further insult to our declining health.

All said and done, have a great festive season but take care!!!

Dr Edgar Menezes