Docyard | Cut down the inflammation

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), amavata in Ayurveda, is an autoimmune disease causing chronic inflammation of the joints and tissues around the joints, and in other organs. Auto-immune diseases are illnesses that occur when the body’s tissues are mistakenly attacked by their own immune system. Because it can affect multiple other organs of the body, RA is referred to as a systemic illness. The 2016 market research report classifies RA under inflammatory arthritis. About one of every five people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis get lumps on their skin called rheumatoid nodules. This occurs in four stages and can be diagnosed with blood tests, medical history and imaging. There is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis, but there are treatments available to reduce the pain like drugs, physical exercise or surgery.

Types of Arthiritis

• Inflammatory arthritis: Damages affected joints, resulting in pain, stiffness and swelling.
• Degenerative or mechanical arthritis: A group of conditions damaging the cartilage that covers the bones.
• Soft tissue musculoskeletal pain: Pain in tissues other than the joints and bones. This often affects a part of the body following injury or over-use, such as tennis elbow, and originates in the muscles or soft tissues supporting the joints.
• Back pain: Back pain may have a specific cause, such as osteoarthritis — often called spondylosis when it occurs in the spine. A ‘slipped’ disc is another cause of back pain, as is osteoporosis (thinning of the bones).

Causes

Most people affected by arthritis don’t even seek help from a healthcare professional and instead manage pain with pain-killers. Increased intake of indigestible, heavy and incompatible foods, having food at improper times, indigestion, intake of milk and milk products, especially yogurt, intake of meat of aquatic animals, lack of physical activity or doing exercise after having fatty foods are some of the common causes of RA.

Symptoms

Thirst, swelling, indigestion, lethargy, pain and stiffness in the body, heaviness in the body, lack of appetite and pain and stiffness in the joints of the hands.

Ayurvedic View

The ayurvedic treatment is focused on uprooting the disease in its entirety and providing a long-term solution, unlike modern medicine, which only suppresses the symptoms. In ayurveda, every patient is recommended a personalised treatment plan, which consists of herbal medicines, diet and lifestyle advice.

Improper food habits and sedentary lifestyle lead to impairment of digestive fire, formation of ama (toxin) and vitiation of vata (air). When a person indulges in vata-aggravating diet and lifestyle, then this aggravated vata circulates ama in the channels of the body and deposits it in the joints, causing Amavata.

Ayurvedic treatment of RA starts with pacification of vata and elimination of toxins from the body. Herbal medicines are administered to improve the digestive fire and prevent further formation of ama. Panchakarma massage therapies are useful.

Diet & lifestyle

• Increase intake of barley flour, horse gram, split green gram, honey, celery seeds, cumin seeds, dried ginger root powder, garlic, bitter gourd and castor oil.
• Avoid fish & milk together & milk & jaggery together.
• Avoid incompatible, heavy and oily foods.
• Avoid an improper diet and lifestyle, such as waking up late in the night, suppressing natural urges of the body, and getting direct exposure to cold winds.

Home Remedies

Go for fasting or rely on a liquid or semi-solid diet for an entire day, depending on your strength. You can follow this with hot fomentation. This can be done by soaking cloth in warm water and giving a compress over the affected parts or steam bath or taking a bath with lukewarm water.  The right approach for the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis will determine the relief you get. Ayurvedic treatment slows down degeneration.

(The writer is Director , Jiva Ayurveda)