Mrs. Karnik was concerned about the health of her 7-year-old son, Tanmay. The thick file of Tanmay’s case papers and prescriptions was narrating the cause of her anxiety. 

As a three months old infant, Tanmay had a first attack of cough, associated with wheezing in the chest and fever. Tanmay was prescribed a course of antibiotic and a cough syrup by his pediatrician. The symptoms were relieved, but reappeared after about six months. This time a bronchodilator was added to his prescription. And the story continued.

When Tanmay was four years old, he was recommended a course of prednisolone (a potent steroid) and inhalers, as his symptoms did not heed to usual cough syrups and bronchodialators.  This too proved to be of little help as the relief was only temporary. An attack of cough would keep Tanmay crouching in his bed, coughing relentlessly, leaving him breathless throughout the night and exhausting him to sleep in the wee hours of the day. Quite often, he threw up whatever food he ate. On number of occasions, Tanmay had to skip school and even a few exams, because of these annoying coughing episodes.

What is Childhood Asthma?

Childhood asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood and is the most common cause of school absenteeism. It is an inflammatory condition of the bronchial airways, which causes airway obstruction, chest tightness, coughing and wheezing. Each individual suffers a different level of severity. All children with asthma, however, do enjoy a reversal of symptoms until something triggers the next episode.

What are the Signs and Symptoms?

• Difficulty in breathing with a whistling sound (wheezing) in the chest is the characteristic of asthma.
• Recurrent night cough is common, chest tightness and shortness of breath is common.
• The child, who coughs after running or crying, may have asthma.
• Infants, who have asthma often have a rattly cough, rapid breathing and may have an excessive number of "pneumonias," episodes of "bronchitis" or "chest colds."
• In a young child, the discomfort of chest tightness may lead to unexplained irritability.

The Triggers:   

•  Exercise, like running, cycling, etc. can trigger an episode in over 80 percent of children with asthma.

•  Respiratory infections frequently trigger severe episodes of asthma.

• Allergy may be the cause of unrecognized or hidden asthma. In children allergic to ordinarily harmless materials like pollen, mold, food, dust, animals, etc.; exposure to these (allergens) can provoke an asthma episode.

• Irritants like cigarette smoke, air pollution, strong odors, aerosol sprays, paint fumes, etc., irritate the lung tissues and precipitate asthma.  

• A number of climatic conditions, especially change in the season, may trigger asthma.

The Ayurvedic Treatment:

Ayurved believes that while the symptoms of asthma are observed in the chest, the root lies in the stomach! Obviously, medicines’ acting on stomach - to take care of proper digestion - forms a major part of treatment, apart from those providing symptomatic relief from cough and breathlessness. 

Tanmay, as evident, was a victim of childhood asthma. To control the symptoms, he was advised a mixture of yashimadhu powder 100 mg., somakandi powder 100 mg. and sitopaladi churna 200 mg mixed with honey to be taken three times in a day. He was also recommended a course of laghumalini vasanta rasa – a well-known classical medicine, useful in a number of childhood diseases - in a one-is-one -dosage, before meals. The symptoms gradually receded in the first month of treatment. However, he was advised to continue this regimen for one year. Thereafter, as a prophylaxis, he was advised to continue one tablet of laghumalini vasanta rasa every day.  Now, Tanmay enjoys goodnight’s sleep and never miss his school!   

Do’s and Don’ts

• Breast-feed your child – it is absolutely essential to develop immunity.
• Avoid over feeding your child
• Avoid curd, cold beverages, chocolates, bananas, over sweet and over salty food.
• Avoid polluted areas, dust, smoke, etc.
• Avoid overcrowded places like theatres, parks, etc.
• Make habit of drinking hot water.

Useful Tips:

• Apply warm Sesame oil mixed with saindhava salt over chest and massage gently. Thereafter, give hot fomentation by using hot water bag or a towel made warm on a hot frying pan. This will help remove obstruction of airway by facilitating removal of thick, sticky, cough.
• Give 1 teaspoon of tulsi (basil leaves) juice mixed with 1 teaspoon of honey added with 5-6 drops of ginger juice.
• Give ½ cup of milk boiled with ¼ teaspoon of dry ginger powder or powder of 2-3 cardamoms.
• Give gruel cooked with the decoction of dashmoola and panchakola (powder of pimpali, pimpali moola, chavya, chitrak and sunthi).
• Rasayana treatment, which improves the immunity, is helpful. e.g. vardhaman pippali rasayan, chyavanprash, aamalaki rasayana, etc.
• Some ayurvedic medicines recommended for childhood asthma are, vasadya ghrita, kantakari ghrita, laxmivilas rasa, vasavaleha, kanakasava, etc. However, these should be taken strictly under medical supervision.

Top

Stomach On ‘Fire’

By - Dr. Prashant Sawant, M.D (Ayu.)  

Article Published in “The Times Of India” on Saturday, September 27, 2003 

Mrs. Karuna, a housewife in her early thirties, come to our center with a lot of hope. Her friend had suggested trying ayurvedic medicines for the severe pain in the upper abdomen, which she was suffering for more than three years.    

Mrs. Karuna had a pain, burning sensation and discomfort right under her rib cage that persisted throughout the day. She also had a lot of belching and bloating that used to worsen after meals. Her gastroenterologist had diagnosed her as a case of chronic severe gastritis.   

Gastritis is an inflammation of the stomach lining. Quite often, people describe the symptoms of gastritis as “acidity” or “hyperacidity”. Drinking too much alcohol, indiscriminate use of painkillers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), or infection with bacteria such as Helicobacter pylori may cause gastritis. Sometimes, gastritis develops after major surgery, traumatic injury, burns, severe stress or severe infections. Certain diseases, such as pernicious anemia, autoimmune disorders, and chronic bile reflux, can cause gastritis as well.

The Signs and Symptoms:

• Abdominal upset or pain is most common.
• Belching, abdominal bloating, nausea, and vomiting.
• Feeling of fullness or burning in the upper abdomen.
• Blood in vomit or black stools may be a sign of bleeding in the stomach, which may indicate a serious problem requiring immediate medical attention.

The Ayurvedic Management:

The symptoms of acidity appear to be similar to a disease termed as “amlapitta” in ayurvedic scriptures.

The disease process of this ailment begins right from the intra-uterine life (in the mother’s womb). As the detail of this disease process is out of scope of this article, it is sufficient to note that this disease is a consequence of one’s ‘prakruti’ (constitution).

In this disease, due to the inherent weakness in the specific form of agni (digestive fire) that assimilates ‘pitta’  (digestive juices), the pitta remains in a semi-processed form. Unlike the properly processed pitta, which is bitter, this semi-processed pitta is acidic in taste. Therefore, the ailment is termed as ‘amlapitta’ (amla = acidic). This ‘acidic’ pitta is responsible for all symptoms like discomfort, pain, burning in the abdomen, burning in the food pipe, eructation, etc.

The key to successful treatment therefore, lies in evacuating this semi-processed pitta and improving the ability to process the digestive pitta properly.

Mrs. Karuna was advised virechana (therapeutic purgation, one of the panchakarma), as it is the best way to evacuate accumulated and vitiated pitta from the system. She was then advised to take Avipattikar Churna on a regular basis. This classical formulation contains nishottar (Operculina turpethum) and select spices. Nishottar is an ideal laxative that helps in easy evacuation of the acidic pitta and the spices help is proper processing of the subsequent digestive pitta.

Further, the processing of proper pitta is aided by the ‘samana vayu’, which is one of the five types of ‘vata dosha’ (body humor) and an essential component of digestion. The best time to give medicines when this particular type of vata is involved is half way through major meals. Therefore, Mrs. Karuna was advised to take 1 gm. of the above mentioned avipattikar churna, half way through lunch and dinner.

She continued this regime for a month and was completely relieved. However, she was advised to continue the same medicine as a prophylaxis.     

Dos and Don’ts:

• Avoid alcohol, fatty food such as red meat, pork, etc.
• Avoid too much of tea and other beverages
• Avoid very spicy and salty food
• Eat only after the food eaten earlier is digested (roughly after four hours)
• Eat in small quantities and at a regular time
• Have old rice, chapattis made of wheat / millets / jawar
• Have moongdal (green-gram) / masurdal (lentil) and avoid other pulses.
• Eat plenty of green vegetables
• Have fruits such as Indian gooseberry (amla), pomegranate, pineapple, lemon, fig, grapefruit, apple, papaya, etc.
• Avoid mental stress, over exertion, sleeping during day and awakening till late nights.

Useful Tips:

• Take buttermilk sprinkled with a pinch of cumin seeds and a quarter spoon of pure ghee, it will soothe your gastric lining.
• Add proper spices and herbs, such as cumin seeds, coriander, fenugreek seeds, ginger, turmeric, mint, cardamom and cinnamon, nutmeg, etc., in you food.
• Soak a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger in a cup of boiling water and drink after it cools down.
• Have half a teaspoon of mild laxatives like triphala choorna or haritaki choorna with warm water before dinner.
• Other drugs such as shankha vati,sootashekhar rasa,  hingvashtak churna, aamapachak vati, vaishwanar churna, panchkolasava can be taken under medical supervision

Top

Back to Articles