EPILEPSY (APASMAR) & ROLE OF AYURVEDA IN ITS MANAGEMENT

Abstract

In prevalence, about 1% of people worldwide (65 million) have epilepsy and nearly 80% of cases occur in developing countries. Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent, episodic, paroxysmal, involuntary clinical events associated with alternation of cerebral function. An epileptic attack is an abrupt and excessive electric discharge of cerebral neurons. Ayurveda explains imbalance in the three doshas vata, pitta and kapha singly or all of them together can cause Apasmar. Aggravated doshas get accumulated in hridaya and produce the features based upon Doshic predominance, which cause illusion of the mind and visual hallucination and seizures (tonic spasms and clonic jerks). Often it is presented with outwarding tongue, deviation of the eyes, dribbling of saliva with froth, tonic and clonic movements of limbs. Modern antiepileptic drugs suppress the seizure, but do not cure the disorder and having ad-verse effects ,contraindications and sometimes requires lifetime treatment. Ayurveda believes in balancing humours (dosha) to remove the root causes of the disorders and normalize the brain activity. It is achieved by multifactorial approach of Ayurveda that includes shaman, tikshna sanshodhan, rasayan chikitsa, sattvavajaya chikitsa.