Ayurveda Treatment For Anaemia

 

 

In ayurveda anaemia is known as pandu. The term  anaemia means quantitative and qualitative lack or RBC resulting in the decreased level of haemoglobin in the body. It may be caused by the following categories of factors:

• Haemorrhage from the body by injury, bleeding piles or bleeding from nose, mouth, lungs, anus, genital tract.etc.
• Inadequate supply of blood forming components through the food.i.e. nutritional deficiency.
• Destruction of the blood corpuscles inside the body after they are formed.
• Deficiency in the production of blood because of defective functioning of some organs of the body like stomach, liver and bone marrow.
• Due to chronic diseases which disturb in the formation of red blood cells.

 

Oxygen gas is very important for the maintenance and functioning of body cells, and this oxygen is carried from the lungs to different parts of body through red blood cells. When blood is deficient, the patient suffers from weakness even  after a little work and there is palpitation and paleness in the face as well as other parts of the body.

Treatment
There are different causes for the bleeding from different parts of the body, and if the anaemia is due to any one of these, then the cause of the bleeding is to be treated first. For nutritional deficiency, food ingredients containing iron should be taken.  If the pandu or anaemia is caused by the malfunction of any of the organs or viscera of the body like  liver, stomach and bone-marrow, then the choice of medicine commonly used by the expert ayurveda physicians is punarnavadi mandura or punarnava mandura which contains about 22 ingredients. The most important constituent of this formula is mandura which is the bi-product of iron ore and is considered to be rich in an assimilable form of iron. Various pharmaceutical processes have been prescribed for preparing it in powder or bhasma form and also to make it more assimilable.
Punarnava, which is next important drug in this formula is botanically known as Boerhaavia diffusa. This herb as its name, possesses rejuvinating properties. The viscera which produces anaemia therefore gets rejuvenated by using this drug.Normally 15 grains of this drug is given, four times a day. This should be well mixed with honey or any other suitable syrup and made to the consistency of linctus and taken. For children the dose may be reduced.
Today, there are various iron preparation available in the market for the treatment of anaemia. The iron preparations administered have to have some side effects like irritation of the gastro intestinal tract, constipation, lower rate of absorption.etc. In ayurveda the substitute of iron is lauha bhasma. Lauha bhasma is simply the oxidized form of iron which passed through the various procedure as explained in the text of ayurveda to form ash. The preparation of lauha bhasma and amalaki is called as dhatri lauha. The word dhatri refers to mother means it cures the body as if mother cure her child. The rich source of vitamin c is amalaki. Hence by the administration of dhatri lauha, the iron gets absorbed more in presence of amalaki resulting in the quick fulfilling the iron level in the blood. Dhatri lauha is used by the ayurveda physicians for the ayurveda treatment of anaemia or pandu.

Diet
In pandu roga, sour things especially curd and fried things, which come in the way of the normal functioning of the liver are prohibited. Green vegetables are considered to be useful. Sweets prepared by adding til(sesamum) seeds in a syrup base of gur(sugar candy) is considered to be very useful. This is specifically given when the liver function is affected. The outer husk of til seed contains a lot of iron, and therefore, it shouldnot be removed while preparing sweets.

Other regimens
Pandu roga, according to ayurveda is considered to be caused by the vitiation of pitta. Purgation is considered to be the best therapy for correcting pitta. Therefore, while treating the case of anaemia or pandu roga, constipation is corrected in the first instance. In a constipated patient, the medicines mentioned above do not work well.  Punarnava mandura, itself, works as a mild laxative when administered in a large dose. But if the patient remains constipated even thereafter, triphala water is prescribed to be taken every day in the morning on an empty stomach. Haritaki, bibhitaki and amalaki taken together are known as triphala. Powders of all these three fruits one teaspoonful each are kept in a glass of water overnight. Early in the morning, this should be filtered and filtrate, that is the water only and not the powder, should be taken. It produces a cooling effect in the body and keeps the bowels clean.

Apart from the medicines described above, there are many other medicines mentioned in ayurveda, which are to given in specific type of anaemia. Some of these medicines may become a little toxic if not used in the proper dose. In serious cases of anaemia, these drugs are to be used under the proper supervision of ayurveda physicians.