As an Ayurvedic Physician, whenever a patient comes for consultation, irrespective of age, gender, religion and the place, I will always be curious to know not only the complaints of the patient rather their lifestyle as well as dietary habits which ultimately had led to the presenting symptoms or rather the disease condition in them. These all factors are very important in the context of successful execution of Ayurvedic treatments, especially in skin diseases. So, here is a case of a college going boy who was treated successfully using oral medications clubbed with panchakarma therapies and modifications in lifestyle as well as dietary habits.
On One Fine Monday Morning,
a young college going boy came to the consultation room, well dressed along with his grandmother. He was visibly tense and slowly started talking when I asked him “what happened”? ‘‘Sir, I have such lesions even in my upper back and sometimes even in my legs, he said showing the lesions over both of his hands” Further he added “there will be severe itching & discharge whenever the lesion comes, and I will not be getting sleep the whole night”. ‘‘I have seen so many doctors and tried so many medications till now, but the lesions will reappear after some time. So, please do something sir I feel embarrassed even to go to college and feel like this will not go away”. To this, his grandmother added, ‘‘because of this he doesn’t eat food, doesn’t read properly and always will be stressed about these lesions and will be staring at them every now and then”.
Whenever any patient comes for my consultation, before even performing clinical examination the first thing I enquire about is the lifestyle and food habits of the patient. In almost all skin diseases, the main culprit is faulty food habits along with other factors like stress, lack of sleep and rarely even hormonal variations. This patient of mine, being a young boy, obviously used to have junk foods multiple times in a week with friends along with which he had a habit of eating non – vegetarian food daily which was an important factor in the development of his skin lesions.
According to Ayurveda, food that is wrong in combination, which has undergone incorrect processing, consumed in the wrong dose, consumed at the wrong time of the day and lousy season, interrupts the metabolism, inhibits the process of formation of tissues and which have the opposite property to the tissues are called as Viruddha ahara or incompatible foods. These incompatible food habits lead to the development of different types of skin diseases which are collectively known as Kushta Roga. There are different types of kushta depending upon the symptoms & appearance of the lesions. The above patient of mine was diagnosed as a case of Vicharchika (wet eczema) which comes under Kshudra Kushta in Ayurveda based on the presented symptoms like itching, watery discharge & reddish black skin eruptions. Coming to the treatment of any type of Kushta, the treatment should include multifactorial approach:
- Correction of Faulty Diet & Lifestyle of the Patient
- Panchakarma Therapies for Detoxifying the Body
- Tridoshahara Chikitsa using proper Oral as well as Topical Medications
- Correction of Faulty Diet & Lifestyle of the Patient
Correction of faulty diet & lifestyle includes encouraging the patients to reduce use of junk foods, to reduce the use of oily, deep fried & non – vegetarian foods and to maintain proper timing of eating food daily. Lifestyle alterations include a minimum of 30 to 40 minutes of exercise daily combined with meditation or any other mental strength improving practices to reduce stress.
- Panchakarma Therapies for Detoxifying the Body
Panchakarma therapies are important in skin cases since majority of the skin manifestations will be chronic in nature and to correct it the detoxification of the body is very much important as it enhances the action of medications given as well as reduces the chances of recurrence of symptoms and improves overall health of the patient. There are different methods in Ayurveda for detoxification of the body, which are included under Panchakarma like therapeutic purgation, therapeutic emesis etc. which will be selected based on several factors both of disease as well as the patient.
- Tridoshahara Chikitsa using proper Oral as well as Topical Medications
Ayurvedic texts explain that Tridosha’s are equally responsible for the manifestation of all the skin diseases and hence to treat it successfully, the medications should possess tridoshhara properties. Those medications can be selected according to the severity of symptoms as well as the qualities of both patients as well as the medications. Based on symptoms, creams or ointments suitable can even be used in patients with skin diseases.
The above-mentioned patient was treated successfully by addressing all the multiple factors of his disease and by planning proper treatments clubbed with lifestyle alterations and proper medications. After a course of treatment for 3 months including panchakarma therapies (Virechana) and dietary modifications, the symptoms of the patient were reduced, as a result of which his mental tensions reduced and is now well concentrated on his studies and is living a healthy life.
As We Conclude
For an Ayurvedic Physician to be able to treat skin cases effectively, the cooperation of the patient is as equally important as the knowledge of the doctor and quality of the medications prescribed by him. Cooperation in terms of following proper diet plans and lifestyle changes explained, properly following do’s & dont’s during panchakarma therapies, timely intake of food and medications and having sufficient sleep. So, to get a successful cure for skin cases, medicine alone won’t help; rather it should be a careful combination of treatments, medications, diet and lifestyle modifications.