Interplanetary
travel may become a sudden reality sometime in the near future. Just as the
early explorers who dared to journey across oceans and continents to discover
new places we can foresee a lot of people traveling to explore the unknown
frontier in search of another habitable planet. Few enterprising organization
and individuals have already started accepting bookings for interplanetary
travel.
Studies
conducted so far indicate that interplanetary travel lowers the immunity of
humans to the point that we could fall prey to infections that will kill us. Research
has shown that a special fly – Drosophila born and raised in space, which share
many fundamentals of the immune system with mammals such as mice and human—had
their immune system seriously weakened by microgravity in space, just as seen
in astronauts traveling into space.
Among astronauts
space and extraterrestrial environment is known to have caused many symptoms/disorders.
Disruption of gastrointestinal (GI)
function and physiology, changes in liver function, fluid and electrolyte
imbalances, alterations in circulatory dynamics and organ blood flow, and
hormonal and metabolic perturbations are some of the prominent disorders. Any
of these changes can influence the pharmacokinetic behavior and
pharmacodynamic consequences of medications administered to crew members during
space flight.
There are other danger which could be categorized as
occupational hazard like acute radiation syndrome, lunar dust induced problems
(silicosis and lung cancer).
If we manage to protect
and preserve our ecosystem and nature is kind then interplanetary vacation
could be the next happening thing. If nature decides to express its wrath and a
catastrophe strikes then the need to escape to another planet may become an
inevitable necessity in which case our hopes will then rest on the evolutionary
forces that helped us adapt, survive and evolve through the centuries, but not
before we lose scores of lives and generations of mutational engineering to
achieve adaptability to a new environment. Survival may mean humans donning protective
survival suits 24x7 to protect themselves both on earth as well during travel
and as a refugee on a distant planet.
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Whether by
choice or force, the challenge faced during interplanetary travel and visit is
not just to ensure ways to negate the ill-effects of micro-gravity on the
physiological changes and compromising immunity but also find an approach to combat
real-time with unknown strains of virus and bacteria which are beyond the
purview of the drugs and therapies available to us.
Homeopathy and
Ayurveda are two medical systems that work on ensuring health by stimulating bodily
forces to maintain stable immunity. While both these systems believe that
illnesses expressions in the form of dyscrasia created by imbalance in immunity
or vital force, the scope of homeopathy seems wider as it is based on the
principle of ‘Similia Similibus Curentur’ or ‘like cures like’. This principle allows this system of medicine
to work anywhere in our universe. and certainly qualifies to be considered as a
universal medicinal system. To explain
this lets get a little background on homeopathy. Homeopathic remedies are made
from extracts obtained from plant kingdom, animal kingdom and minerals. When a remedy is repeatedly ingested by a
healthy person in potentized (ultra-high dilution) it produces disturbances
recognized in the form of symptoms (this process is called ‘Proving’ and the
symptoms abates after a period of time on discontinuation of the remedy). When *set of symptoms exhibited by a sick
person, uncommon to the diagnosis or disease name matches with those produced
and recorded during a homeopathic proving of a remedy in healthy person that
remedy is said to be a similia. This Similimum when
administered in ultra high dilution to the sick, the symptoms are annihilated
resulting in restoration in the health (cure) of the sick. [*A set of symptoms
manifested or occurring together are often recognized and labeled by the
conventional medical system with a Disease Name or a Diagnosis Malaria, AIDS, Dengue, Osteo-Arthritis…etc.]
During
interplanetary space travel when the immunity is low and one is likely to encounter
virus and bacteria different from the ones on earth one can easily zero-in to a
homeopathic remedy that matches the symptoms produced after getting infected by
them. As homeopathic remedies are effectively administered in its minutest dose
in the form of pills- the size of a pin head or through method of olfaction and
does not carry an expiry it is an ideal medicine to be carried aboard a space
flight.
And what happens
if you land on a planet conducive for human habitation and your medical kit is
destroyed? You still have hope. The
plant and animal kingdom and the minerals from the alien planet will provide
you with the remedies. The genus could
be different from those found on earth yet you will find an analogous remedy
that corresponds to the remedy found on earth. For example we have a plant
remedy called Pulsatilla or Bryonia; there could be another plant available on
the new planet that is similar to Pulsatilla or Bryonia; similarly we can find
a corresponding remedy with proving symptoms that of Natrum Mur, Calcarea
Carb or those from the animal kingdom.
This should be
the right time for organizations like NASA and other space research agencies
to form a panel of homeopaths, and under its supervision start using
homeopathic remedies on astronauts during their pre-flight simulated training,
during the space journey and on their return to earth. This will help them
study its efficacy on the most suitable remedies for known conditions and by
the time we are ready for commercial interplanetary travel an established
treatment protocol would be in place.
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