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Rheumatoid Arthritis
What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?
In Ayurveda, this disease is called ‘Aamvaat’. ‘Ama’ + ‘Vaat’. Ama means the toxins that are produced due to indigestion and Vaat indicates swelling, inflammation which is related to pain in the joints.
This is an upshot of indigestion that causes vitiation in the blood. As a result, people experience pains, swelling or constriction in the finger joints, elbow and knee joints etc. In modern medical science this is called Rheumatoid Arthritis. The blood test indicates excessive rise in the factors like RA, CRP. Modern science however, deals with this problem through steroids and pain killers in a bid to manage or suppress the pains. Ayurveda on the other hand, focuses to get rid of this disease completely. In order to do away with this disease the blood reports of the patient must be normal. However, certain patients, despite having normal blood reports, still have pain in their joints. That means they need to have healthy blood production system so that healthy blood can provide proper nutrition to their joints. Ayurveda therefore, insists on effective functioning of healthy blood generation system.
WHY ME?
It is necessary to remove the ‘ama’ (toxins) from the body in order to get rid of rheumatoid arthritis (aamvaat) completely. Ayurveda prescribes the panchabhoutik chikitsa. This extensive clinical assessment is all about checking of proper balance of the panchamahabhutas (five basic/natural elements) i.e., Prithvi (Earth), Aap (Water), Tej (Fire), Vayu (Air) & Aakash (space/ether) in patient’s body. This helps in total elimination of the toxins from the body. Our comprehensive approach includes finding out the cause of generation of the toxins and further investigations include patient’s mind and body constitution according to his date of birth. In case of women, we also take into consideration their issues related to menstruation, psychological attributes and stress factors in order to arrive at the root cause. We counsel the patient on this and initiate appropriate treatment plan in order to eliminate the rheumatoid arthritis completely.
How can you get rid of it?
We come across many patients who have different lifestyles and who are different in terms of their nature of work. So, the generation of toxins in their body may be because of their nature of work vis-à-vis lifestyle. For example, a farmer may need to go back to his work quickly after finishing his meals and engage in a laborious agricultural activity, whereas an executive in the corporate world with a sedentary lifestyle may have to return to his workplace in the air-conditioned cabin. A lady on the other hand, may have rheumatoid arthritis due to the issues connected with menstruation. This disease is basically related to the immune system that is affected because of stress, lifestyle, psychological attributes, diet and digestion of the patient. Therefore, with a holistic view, we arrive at the root cause in order to treat this disease completely. The food we consume turns into blood and further nourishes the joints. Therefore, we concentrate on purification of blood and subsequently initiate proper medication, panchakarma treatment and meditation etc. It is a big process and may consume a long time of about one year. But in the end the rheumatoid arthritis can be completely eliminated.
A journey towards a healthy life
Salient features of Residential Panchakarma camp
Treatment for every patient is exclusively designed and individualized after a thorough study of his or her birth month and season in which he or she was born. Accordingly, his genetic attributes/body constitution are studied.
The treatment involves approximately 13 – 15 types of panchakarma treatment, pranayam, yoga, meditation consultation and counselling by the doctors as well as adravya chikitsa (holistic non-pharmacological assessment) that includes study of physical and psychological attributes of the patient based on his birth date, nature and chronic intensity of the disease etc. Accordingly, the panchakarma treatment is given.
The toxins that are generated reflect in our body, in various ways. It involves formation of white coating or layer on the tongue due indigestion, gas trouble, constipation, acidity, stress and anxiety etc. After taking into consideration all these factors, we design the panchakarma treatment plan for an individual.
In our residential panchakarma treatment we administer about 13-15 panchakarmas from 6.30 am. To 9.30 p.m. and about 6 to 8 adravya chikitsas e.g., niruha basti / vaitaran basti / kafanashak / sthoulyahar etc. While designing this treatment we take into consideration the mind & body constitution of the patient according to his date of birth, intensity of the disease. Proper diet plan is given which will not allow generation of toxins after consumption of food. Other treatments such as nasya, gandusha, anjan, dhoompan, yog, exercise, liniment massage, are also given. Similarly, joints are fomented by administration of patra-potli, churna-potli, valuka potli, saindhav potli etc. Medicated coat is applied on the joints where the patient is having swelling and inflammation. Another special treatment involves ‘jentak-swed’. This is a dry fomentation. For mental peace, we administer treatments like talam, shirodhara, takradhara, shirobasti, taildhara and head massage and also teach the meditation techniques, pranayam and necessary yogasanas.
The chronic pain in the joints have to be treated with the help of the virechana (laxative treatment) and mutra-virechana to remove the toxins through the urine discharge. This helps in reducing the pains and swelling in the joints. For this purpose, we use medicated water that consists suntha (dry ginger), jeera (cumin seeds), pippali (long pepper), dhana (coriander seeds). Since, the castor oil and suntha are the two important constituents of this treatment, they are used in various ways. For the people with acidic attributes other medication is used instead of suntha. In the night, before retiring to bed the patients are given treatments like matra-basti, karnapooran and anjan. This is given in order to establish the effect of various panchakarma treatments administered throughout the day and the patient gets relief from the pains which leads to sound sleep. The residential panchakarma treatment for rheumatoid arthritis patients is for about 15 to 21 days. Necessary changes, if required, are made in the treatment plan depending on the clinical assessment of the patient, during this period, which helps in complete cure of rheumatoid arthritis.