Saturday, May 07, 2011

Ayurveda Cleanse Complete - A Major Bust

I am thrilled to say, my four days of misery are over. And I'm not thrilled to say it was a major bust!

These past four days have been terrible for me. I really struggled with every single aspect of the cleanse. I found it all a chore and I felt pretty miserable for at least 3 of the 4 days. I had a constant headache, was much more light-headed than usual, and every time I ate I got terrible stomach cramps. Add to that, the fact that the supplement pills made me completely constipated. Seems very counter productive for something called a 'cleanse.'

I got through the last day doing just about everything I was supposed to (minus the bath and oil) and the only thing I ate that I wasn't supposed to was a raw piece of fruit. My appetite had been dwindling for two days due to the stomach cramps so the fasting wasn't that big of a deal. It was the cravings for sweets that were killing me. I positively could not wait for this ordeal to end and, believe it or not, I was looking forward to downing that prune juice.

I waited until 9 PM to drink the ever-so disgusting prune juice and then I went to bed, anxious for it to kick in. My stomach was doing major flip flops all night. I couldn't wait to wake up and have it all be over with. I was dreaming about chocolate,, and ice cream, and any other darn thing that I might want to munch on.

Well, I woke up and the very first thing I did was drink some warm water. I figured that would help get things started, but no, it didn't. My stomach was bloated and hard and big. How is this possible after starving myself for 4 days? I went to the bathroom and positively NOTHING happened . . . nada, zilch, zipppo. I am quite curious to know if I'm the only person on Earth that went through a 4 day cleanse only to be completely constipated and have absolutely no effect. What an enormous waste of my effort and my money. I paid nearly $90 to be uncomfortable, inconvenienced, and worse yet, have my digestion track completely flipped out of whack. I would say by this point I have moved from disappointment to anger. Never again!

4 comments:

tina said...

well, you have answered many of my questions about going thru a clense and i officially will not do one. i don't understand how they can help. thanks for being so willing to share.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear ladies...cleansing is a very important part of staying healthy. Just because this four day so-called ayurvedic cleanse didn't work out for you...doesn't mean you should give up. There are sooooo many other great ways to cleanse and many that make you feel great! Just sayin'...
Sarah

Anonymous said...

Don't lose hope so soon. If you are a yoga practitioner you must also have faith in ayurveda as yoga and ayurveda are sister sciences.I am a vata type person and I suffered from chronic
sinusutis for four long years. I went in for coventional treatment which prescribed antibiotics that used to make me feel drowsy all the time. Still, in the hope of getting cured, I continued the treatment with stronger antibiotics that sadly did nothing to improve my condition. On the contrary I had to deal with the harmful side-effects of the treatment that included serious hairfall that resulted in balding and digestion problems. Imagine
going in for the treatment of one disease and ending up with another!!! This finally woke me
up to the fact that far from doing any good the allopathic medications were only worsening
my overall health. I new I had to go for some alternative form of medicine. Being from India i had a fair idea about ayurveda but was skeptical. As a last resort I went to an ayurvedic practioner who diagnosed me with having a vata-type sinustis problem. He prescribed kashayams(tonics that tasted like puke) and pills(to be had with hot water) to cleanse my
system along with major diet and lifestyle changes.I started seeing results after just ten days!!!My nasal passage started clearing up and the headaches were less frequent and bearable unlike before. It only got better from then. Now after four months of starting the treatment,I am happy to say that I NO LONGER have any symptoms of sinusitis. Although I am supposed to have those kashayams and pills for some more time, the diet change is for a
lifetime. Whats more as a result of the amazing side-effects of the treatment, my acne has completely cleared up! Apparantely it was all a result of balancing the doshas that resulted in my getting cured.
Although,your four day cleanse has not given results you had hoped for, I would advise you to not be dissapointed that ayurveda did not work for you. It works for everyone as it is custom-made to suit each individual person. I feel that you may not have had enough motivation to go through some unpleasant lifestyle changes. In my case, I was so desperate for a cure that I was ready to drink kashayams that tasted horrible and forego some of my favorite food. But in the end it was all worth it. I also feel that four days is not enough for a cleanse (I may be wrong). Whatever the reason, you should have a chat with your practioner and approach it with an open mind. Yoga and ayurveda together is the best way of living a disease-free, stress free and fulfilling life. Don't wait for some illness to strike you before you go in for ayurvedic treatment as a last resort like I did.
Prevention is better than cure.
Anju

Unknown said...

Anju, thank you so much for your wonderful comment. Don't worry. Although I was very disappointed in my cleanse I am a FIRM believer in Ayurveda. I don't think I've ever come across anything that made more sense to me. I even convinced my husband to change his diet (which I didn't think was possible). I will likely not try a cleanse again, but I have made some small lifestyle changes that have already made a difference. I will be blogging about them soon.