DR. SHIKHA: The stats show that our readership is gradually growing. For greater impact, we still have a long way to go. Besides, our postings are not tied in with the sale of any products, which would tremendously boost the number of visitors. This is an information site only. Plus the articles that we are putting up are not always an easy read, which is due to the nature of the themes that we are covering, and the way in which we want to cover them. I would say that we are doing fine because we are doing a good service to the community of physicians who are using ozone and chelation therapy, or any doctor interested in therapies that work for the benefit of the client, especially here in India. This is what I get from the overall response that we receive.
HH-BLOG: How are you benefiting from the involvement with the blog?
DR. SHIKHA: Not through a rise in the number of clients at my clinic which would be directly proportional to the efforts that are needed to keep up with regular postings, if that is what you are hinting at.
HH-BLOG: So, what ARE you getting from it?
DR. SHIKHA: A good sense of how well researched and how widely practiced chelation and ozone therapies are worldwide. Together with colon hydrotherapy and nutritional supplementation, these approaches are definitely NOT at the fringes of medical practice. They are leading edge science. The more material I give to the writer of the blog for him to consider for publication, the more additional material and research papers I discover. Definitely, leading edge stuff. Mind you, on ozone and hydrogen peroxide, or the bio-oxidative approach alone, 50 to 100 articles are published worldwide, every month of the year, not all of them in English of course. And the numbers are increasing.
HH-BLOG: Not if you believe what certain other sites have to say.
DR. SHIKHA: I am not concerned about what the typical detractors and critics of chelation and ozone therapy have to say, because the opinions they voice in most cases demonstrate that they have not in the least studied what they are talking about and thus have no clue. Myself, as a general practitioner specializing in integrative medicine with a particular focus on detoxification and rejuvenation, I would not be so presumptuous as to claim that I know more about brain surgery than a brain surgeon. Therefore, I would first listen before I speak, if I decide to speak at all. Even if I use a particular medication, which I sometimes do,that I am not so familiar with, I first call and ask a colleague before I prescribe it. I need to make sure that I am doing the right thing. Likewise, when I speak I need to know what I am speaking about. Otherwise, my point may be pointless. So, why make it?
HH-BLOG What basis can you offer for your claim that the therapeutic techniques within your integrative approach that you use are, indeed, leading edge science?
DR. SHIKHA: Fact is, many institutions and individuals worldwide are currently engaged in researching, and have been engaged in it for over forty years. For example you have Professor Bocci, in Siena in Italy, you have scientists at the universities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in Israel, you have heads of departments and university poly-clinics in Germany, you have the continuous research going on in Cuba and Russia, you have extensive research even in the US on heavy metal detoxification, so what more proof do you need for the validity of chelation and ozone therapy? We were actually discussing a different article for today, on three separate studies done in various hospitals in Cuba on the benefit of ozone in cases of senile dementia, but then decided to do this interview instead. Abstracts of research papers are not everyone’s cup of tea. You can post only so many of them per month. But what is revealing in our context is that such research papers exist, and in abundance.
HH-BLOG: But no papers from Harvard Medical School or Stanford Medical School.
DR. SHIKHA: Actually even some from Harvard. Although overall, look into what entities are funding these and similar institutions? There you have your answer. But the world is a big place, fortunately. And there are many countries that have better, more diversified and more affordable health care than the US. For example, infant mortality is lower in Cuba than in the US, and life expectancy is higher! So I don’t think that it makes a difference, if certain institutions are not represented in the list of authentic chelation and ozone research. I am focusing on what is available and that is more than I can ever read in its entirety.
HH-BLOG: What future do you foresee for the therapies that you practice?
DR. SHIKHA: As a practicing physician, I am mostly concerned about the progress in my patients, which rarely happens automatically but through working on it, together with the patient. In genuine healing, that is the way it has always been, and the way it will be. Overall, I find it encouraging that there are more and more physicians in India working with these same approaches. This actually bodes well for the future. Since 2005 I have been attending a number of conferences on ozone in medicine, on medical detoxification, on anti-aging medicine. Really, many people are interested. Many doctors are practicing, and many patients are benefiting. Because, if they don’t benefit they don’t come. They will come back to a conventional doctor even if a medication doesn’t work, because they are used to that. But they will not come back to me when my approach doesn’t work. It is something new that they are trying and therefore they expect results for their efforts. Taking a pill doesn’t take any efforts.