Parkinson’s Disease and Ayurveda

Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disorder. It is a disease of elderly and its prevalence increases from 1% in people over the age of 65 years to 5% in people over the age of 80 years and affects men and women equally. The disease has insidious onset and is slowly progressive leading to severe morbidity in advanced age. Parkinsonism is a neurological disorder affecting 1% population after the age of 65 years.

According to Ayurveda, Parkinsonism or Parkinson disease is known Characteristic Way, as “kampavata” which occurs due to exaggeration of Vata Dosha. Kampa means tremor and Vata is one of the humor which regulate air and all the movements in the body. The principle of the Ayurveda is to achieve balance of all three doshas in the body. This disorder is caused by the aggravated Vata Dosha, which is the presence of aggravated air in the brain. The aggravated vata is formed as a result of pure digestion, increased vata dosha in the stomach and then it moves to the brain.

As the vitiation of Vata dosha is pre-dominant in old age, Parkinson tremors generally occur in old age. Over the time, the aggravated air effects the area of the brain that control involuntary movements hence it leads to Parkinsonism. Parkinson disease is a neuro-degenerative disorder. Hence, Ayurvedic treatment for Parkinson focuses on balancing Vata dosha to naturally control the body movements.

The potential cause for Parkinson is believed to be a faulty lifestyle which aggravates the Vata dosha in the body, for instance, improper Aahar and Vihar regimen. This excess Vata travels in the body through vata channels and occupies available free spaces. Gradually, after some time such unhealthy accumulations of Vata dosha in the body lead to the development of the symptoms of Parkinson (Kampavata).

This is one of the most common extra-pyramidal crippling disease affecting the older adults. It is a syndrome consisting of classical triad of resting tremor, bradykinesia and rigidity. This triad does not include the equally important gait and postural stability problems which also constitutes the syndrome

Sign and symptoms of the Parkinson

Resting tremor an involuntary quivering movement.

Akinesia Loss or impairment of the voluntary movement.

Dementia: – a chronic or mental disorder of the mental processes caused by brain disease or injury marked by memory disorders, personality disorders and impaired reasoning.

The voice becomes monotone and expressionless and mask face, sometime mistakenly taken as a depression

Rigidity

Stooped posture

Masked face

Pill rolling movements

Lack of postural adjustment

Fascinating gait

Drooping of saliva due to infrequent swallowing movements. Drop saliva uncontrollably from the mouth.

Monotonous soft voice

Absence of arm swing while walking

Aches and pain in body

Sleepiness or drowsiness.

Stiffness or inflexibility

Reduced blinking

Complications

Frequent falls

Incapacitation

Depressions and dementia

Postural hypo tension

Urinary incontinence

Constipation

Aspiration

Management approaches

Preventive

1. Use shali (old rice), godhuma (wheat), citrus fruit, vegetable, nuts, milk and milk products, dadima (pomegranate), nimbu (lemon), mango, orange, guava, apple,peach, garlic, asafoetida, sprout etc.
2. Practice regular yogasan and pranayam
3. Take balance diet
4. Consume anti-psychotics or any other medication under close supervision of doctor
5. Be as active as possible
6. Avoid yava (barley), peas, puga (areca nut), jambu (jamun), excess protein diet, hot spicy food and incompatible food article.
7. Eat high fiber-rich foods whole grain cereals, brown rice, green leafy vegetables.
8. Limit sugary foods & avoid saturated foods like butter.
9. Avoid fried greasy foods, carbonated beverages, & limit salt intake.

Medical management

1. Nidana parivarjana (avoidance of aetiological factors) – Modifiable causative factors like environmental toxins, drugs, head injuries, infections should be avoided. The natural treatment for Parkinson’s deals with the treatment of the etiological factors responsible for Parkinson’s tremors. In the treatment of Parkinson, patients are guided to avoid such type of Aahar and Vihar (diet and lifestyle) which increases the Vata in an unhealthy manner. The food having Rookshaya (dry), Laghu (light), Sheet (cold), Daruna (unstable), Khara(rough) and Vishada (clear) is generally not recommended for the Parkinson’s patients.
2. Shodhana chikitsa (Bio-cleansing therapies) followed by shamana chikitsa (Palliative therapy) should be advocated.

· Snehana (Oleation)

· Sarvanga sveda (Steam bath) / Patrapinda sveda

· Matra Vasti

· Nasya karma

· Shirovasti

· Shirodhara

3. Shaman Chikitsa

In shaman chikitsa the Vata Dosha is balanced with the help of natural Ayurvedic herbs, medicines for Parkinson Treatment according to body constitution

4. Yogasan & Pranayama

Bhujangasana, Setu bandhasana, Anulom Vilom

Dr.Harshal Nemade

Vedacare Ayurveda

9175069155