CONCEPT OF DISEASES GENESIS

In Ayurveda, the diseased person is not supposed to be a passive victim of some disease causing agents i.e. bacteria, virus, fungus, accidents etc but the person is responsible for one’s health status.  There are thousands of people living in locality or in a particular environment, a particular infective agent present in that particular area affecting all the people living there but some of them only get infected; not all.  Among those infected also not equally affected which should be according to western concept medicine.  Some persons caught infection in their lungs, some skin, some GIT, some UTI that too not equal virulence.  Why so, in modern view, the different in resistance power but it cannot explain all the aspect.  Secondly in a particular locality with the seasonal variations some particular types of infections get manifested but not through-out the year, which should be. Some interesting queries are as 1. why some persons get infected, not all 2. among infected why not the same system with equal virulence, 3. why not all the infected people get equal response from some antibiotic, 4. why some antibiotic, in same types of infection, in same person, get resistance to same antibiotic.  One antibiotic control one type of infection in one person not in all and also gets resistance to that infective organism.  All these answers are not available in modern pharmacology or medicine.  But in Ayurveda concept of status of diseased health/ disease these all can be answered.

Imbalance of doshas, not proper functioning of Agni, lose of integrity in structure and functions of Dhatus, not proper excretion of malas, unsoundness of senses, mind and soul. In short imbalance of doshas is disease.
The general symptoms of doshas are as follows

The balance and imbalance state of these basic elements in human being is diagnosed / studied by knowing the functions/ signs/ symptoms of activities of representative of these basic elements present in the form of Vata, Pitta and Kapha.  These three categories of doshas are building block of bodily elements right from the birth of child.  The concentration of these three doshas in gametes at time of fertilization form a particular biological traits & effects can be seen in the form developed phenotypes & physiological variations within the normal individuals, accordingly carryout the life of that person which reflect the basic constitution or Prakriti of that person & is one of the major factor in deciding the present and future health status of that person and deciding the life- style-dietary regimen & treatment modalities.
A person with Kapha Prakriti means more than 60% of the organs / body parts are developed with high concentration of Kapha element.  Because Kapha reflects the strength i.e. physical, mental- resistance power, and opposite gunas of Vata & Pitta, so Vata and Pitta doshas have less affects or less disorders due to Vata and Pitta but more Kapha categories diseases if taken the food and adopted life style which increase Kapha.

The diagnosis of quantum of doshas is judges from

1. Pattern of pulse
2. Virulence of signs and symptoms
3. Type of life style adopted
4. Food habits
5. Prakriti diagnosis[Genetic make up]
6. Bala [Digestive & Metabolic capacity, physical & mental strength]
7. Vyadhiksmatva bala [Immune status]
8. Desha [ Geographical condition ]
9. Kala [ Seasonal variations]
10. Age of the person

The quantum of doshas, bala i.e. physical- mental- resistance- power; digestive & metabolic-capacity& genetic- make-up are the main factors on the basis of which treatment modalities are decided.  If quantum of doshas is more in person of good bala than shodhana therapy is selected.
If quantum of doshas is less whatever the state of bala, and if state of bala is poor in spite of that the more quantum of doshas then Shamana therapy is selected.  In childhood, old age, pregnancy, lactating- mothers also Shamana treatment modality is selected.
SHODHANA THERAPY [Detoxification Process]
The complete purification of body or detoxification of body from disease causing agents is shodhana therapy.  It involves a series of treatment after complete examination of disease and diseased.  It is done for two purposes

1. To maintain and promote the health status
2. To alleviate the disorder

In healthy person who has no disease, due to age, seasonal variation, habitat some of the doshas get increased in their physiological range only.  To expel out these vitiated doshas so that these could not create any disease, effect the resistance power, accelerate the ageing the process in various organ systems.  After excreting out from the body some Rasayana therapy can be advised to slow down the ageing process and to remain disease free even in old age.

To expel out the disease causing vitiated dosha/ doshas with the help of one or more process of shodhana therapeutic measures this can be done.

DETOXIFICATION PROCESS [Shodhana Therapy-Panchakarma],it involves a series of processes-

To carry out Shodhana therapy the body is prepared so that all the toxins can be removed completely i.e. Deepana – Pachana – Snehana-Svedana are done.

Deepana – Pachana
These are the measures with help of them digestive and metabolic status of person is improved some herbal tea / recipes like ginger tea are prescribed along with advice on special diet.
Snehana (Oleation)
Internal and external uses of medicated oil/ ghee so that toxins accumulated here and there get dislodged [work like saponification]. This process takes 3, 5 or 7 days.
Svedana (Steam Therapy)
It is given with suitable herbal water after oleation to open all the channels& to expel the circulating toxins into gut.

Panchakarma Therapy

Post Panchakarma Therapy Care

SHAMANA THERAPY

The goal of Shamana therapy is to cure the manifested disorder; both any side effect is achieved through the help of four pillars, which are true in this era also
a) An ideal physician with clear grasp of theoretical knowledge, wide practical experience and skills, purity of mind and body.
b) An attendant or nurse with knowledge of nursing, skill, affection for the patient and cleanliness.
c) A patient shall be obedient, ability to describe his ailment and courageous
d) The drug should be to alleviate the disease without any side affects.

The Mechanisms of Ayurveda Therapeutic Models

a. Roganashini - alleviation of disease
b. Prakritisthapini - regain of health status and maintenance
c. Urajaskara therapy – Promotion of health status & augmentation of immune status

This is achieved by selection of proper drug, diet regimen depending upon the type of disease and nature of diseased from major six ways
a. Hetuviparita [Antagonist to the nature of etiological factors to neutralize them]
b. Vyadhiviparita [To reverse the pathogenesis of disease]
c. Hetu-vyadhiviparita [combination of 1 + 2]
d. Hetutadarthakari [Agonist to the nature of etiological factors]
e. Vyadhitadarthakari [The medicine that can produce the similar type of disease.
f. Hetuvyadhitadarthabari [Combination of 4 + 5]

It is interesting that one/ other lines of treatments are used to treat various disorders in various systems of medicine but in ayurveda theses are used in an integral way.  Following these principles (Hetutadarthakari) develops a lot of vaccines. 
In Ayurveda the drugs are not from synthetic source or having single molecule which affect a particular system in a positive way and other in negative way and secondly disease are not produced in laboratories but from our surroundings and life style and hence mechanism of manifestation of any disease is a complex phenomenon ; whereas in Ayurveda natural elements are involved which are part and partial of normal physiological functions are also involved in pathogenesis and effect or mechanism of drug action is described on the basis of affects on these factors, and this natural complex phenomenon are understood on the basis of same fundamentals and hence the drug are more effective and safe in more complex diseases or disease which have multisystemic effects.  Means when a drug from a natural source is ingested, if Rasa first of all get manifested and its Rasa acts on target tissues and during the process its Vipaka process takes place and this portion of drug also works on the target tissues.  During this process the most potent active principles also available for action to check the disease process thus any drug may have these three functional entities and combined affect of these three or may have cure the disease through prabhava.  Thus, the mechanism of action of natural drug a very complex and multi component actions hence combat the disease without any side affects.  During the selection of drug following factors related to drugs are taken into consideration.

1. Prakriti - Composition of drugs (nature of drug)
2. Guna - Properties
3. Prabhava - Specific activity
4. Ritu - The season of collection [phytochemistry]
5. Samskara - Processing
6. Matra - Dose
7. Samyoga - Combination with other herbs while formulating

This is not the case that the actions of these natural products can only be understood in terms of rasa, guna and virya etc but these activities described in Ayurvedic texts are hold true on modern parameters also e.g.  Curcumin (Haridra) is recommenced in Ayurveda to decrease swellings and pain, curcumin isolated from it in inhibit prostaglandin synthesis (anti-inflammatory effect), kauncha (Mucuna puriens) used in Parkinsonism contains L-dopa which is a neurotransmitter; the deficiency of it causes the same disorder.

RASAYANA THERAPY

This is a more specialized branch of medicine, the parallel approach of this typical therapy not available in modern medicine.  According to this the inherent physiological –psychological- immune- status of body or particular system is enhanced so that minor use of disease causing factors or outbrack of any communicable disease (Janpadodwansa) could not create any disease; not only that, it is capable to create positivity of mind, physical status or working capability of body can also be improved.  This process is also known as kayakalpa –creation of new capability inside the body and mind.
During this process after alleviation of minor disease and improving the status of digestion and metabolism Panchakarma therapy, completely or partially is given and Rasayana drug is given to induce kayakalpa. 

VAZIKARNA THERAPY

Vajikarana means to infuse the power like horse in a person.  The main aim of this therapeutic measure is to improve the Health status of reproductive system & regenerative mechanisms
a. To improve the quality of performance
b. To infuse positive approach towards sexuality
c. To improve health of cells related to reproduction
d. To improve the quality of gametes
e. To eradicate the disorders related to reproductive system
f. To regenerate the damaged cells of any particular organ/ system 
After complete purification of body some Vajikarana diet and drug regimen is described to improve the status of functioning of reproductive system both in male and female e.g shatavari, ashoka, lodra, kauncha, pipali for females and ashavagandha, shilajatu, kauncha, mushali, akarkara, bhalalaka etc for male reproductive system. For regeneration Ropana & Brihana Panchakarma therapeutics & drugs are advised that might stimulate the stem cell related to that particular system/ organ.

Diseases
Osteo-arthritis, Rheumatoid-arthritis, Gout, Ankolysing- spondylitis, Slip disc, Osteoporosis, Muscular dystrophy, Myasthenia gravis, Coronary artery disease, Hypertension, Valvular diseases, Hypercholesterolemia, Paralysis, Thyroid problem, Diabetes, Diabetic-retinopathy, Diabetic-neuropathy, Diabetic-myopathy, Diabetic-nephropathy, Obesity, Chronic renal failure, Nephrotic-Syndrome, Renal Stones, IBS [Inflammatory bowl disease], Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Cancer, Infertility, Impotency, Psoriasis, Vitilago, Asthma, Depression, Migraine, Menopausal syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, BPH [Benign Prostrate Hypertrophy]