इ न टी एंड आयुर्वेद

Oto-rhino-laryngo-oro-ophthlmology and Ayurveda.
-Dr. Pranav Bhagwat.MD.

The following articles contains following paragraphs-
- What is Ayurveda?
- What is necessity of exploring Ayurveda for E N T diseases?
- Some basic concepts of E N T in Ayurveda-
- Fields of application-
- Future –

What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda is an ancient but not old medical science. This is the first ever medical science existed in the world, according to historians. The history dates back to pre-Vedic periods. The flow of constant up gradation of knowledge through series of experiments and observations continues till date. That’s how it is not an old science. The roots and basic principles of Ayurveda are so much embedded in nature that it is aptly called the science in tune with nature. The physio-pathology of Ayurveda revolves around 5 basic elements of nature:- prithvi , aapa, tejas, vayu, aakasha. Through the centuries, though opposed and oppressed by constant invasions on India by Arabs, Greeks, Muslims and Europeans, this science not only existed, it flourished by adding analogous facts from other medical sciences of the world. Ayurveda has eight specialities. Shalakya-tantra or oto-laryngo-rhino-oro-ophthalmology is one of the branches. It deals with diseases of ENT, Eye, Oral cavity, head and neck region.

What is necessity of exploring Ayurveda for ENT,eye or oral diseases?
ENT dept in allopathic system of medicine is expanding in leaps and bounds. With millions of dynamic, research oriented, genius minds including scientists from physics, chemistry and other life sciences working to resolve the mysteries of upper respiratory tract, the advent of this science is astonishing. But still something is missing. Even after the operation is successful, the patient is not happy.
There are a large varieties of patients who are on constant anti – allergic medicines , including steroids and that’s not the “treatment” because they are not being treated but they are suppressed. There are large number of patients who, even after getting the best antibiotics, fail to get rid of running ear. There are a large number of patients who feel the lump in the throat and without finding out the reason properly we are naming them as globus hystericus. There are a large number of patients who deal with difficulties even walking around due to their blindness due to degenerated macula.
Not to mention bothering nasal obstructions, chronic tonsillitis, trigeminal neuralgia, migraine, sinusitis, aphthous ulcers, chronic rhinitis, Menier’s and a number of degenerative conditions, they all need something special, something different form the conventional system of medicine and surgery.
These large number of unsolved queries need to be addressed from different viewpoint and Ayurveda provides that angle.

Some basic concepts of ENT and Eye in Ayurveda-
Ayurveda describes 96 eye conditions, 28 ear conditions, 31 nose conditions, 11 types of headache, 67 oral conditions. Eye is the place of agni or fire and ear of vaayu (air), oral cavity as jala(water) and prithvi (earth), and nose as akasha(space) and jala. The derangement of these basic elements cause the diseases. And restoration of the balance is the treatment.
Ayurveda is a holistic science. Thus while diagnosing a disease it gives paramount importance to the status of digestion, elimination, diet, surroundings, , pt’s age, strength, the time of increase or decrease of symptoms, along with examination of the part concerned. For example, in case of recurrent sinusitis, excessive drinking water can be a cause and when water is digested properly by medications, the sinusitis goes away.
So instead of directly intervening with sinuses, in this case we dealt with whole of the internal milieu and thus the patient is treated and not suppressed.
Ayurveda believes in increasing the resistance power of the part and the patient, rather than killing the micro-organisms. So ayurvedic treatments provide very efficient measures as far as immunomodulation is concerned.
Ayurveda describes various de-toxification procedures called as panchakarmas. The essence of these procedures lies in the fact that many of the modern day diseases occur due to excessive accumulation of unwanted material, can be called as free radicals or pathologies responsible for chronic, degenerative or allergic diseases. And these materials, called as mala are removed by those procedures. And panchakarmas can be employed for prevention as well as treatment of diseases.
The medicines used are purely herbomineral and hence are known for very few side effects. In addition when these are chosen, the constitution of patient is taken into consideration minimizing possibility of allergic reactions from patients’ tissues.

Fields of application-
Basically any chronic, degenerative, allergic or auto immune disorder or disorder of unknown etiology.


Future-
The immense potential of Ayurveda unfortunately is remaining limited to certain parts of the world and certain sections of society. To make it more popular ,so that many and many sections of society wil benefit from it, Ayurveda needs to be researched further. Though , the verses written in ayurvedic treatises are conclusions of years of experiments by the scientists of yore called as rishis and munis, somehow, they need to re-presented to modern society in modern language. And it asks for the collaboration between western and Indian scientist from both the fields.
- Dr. Pranav Bhagwat,
MD
Reader and HOD OF Shalakya,
Ayurveda College, Goa.
www.ayurgoa.com