ASTHMA AYURVEDIC VIEW

Asthma - The Ayurvedic concept :- The allergic substances which are primarily responsible for the causation of Asthma are floating in the air but not all persons who inhale these substances suffer from Asthma. It is only a few among them who are the sufferers. Why this selectivity then ? Why is it that only a few people in a given community suffer from bronchial Asthma when are equally exposed to the same type of air, food ingredients and other regimens ? According to Ayurveda, an individuals body is composed of seven categories of tissue elements and the function of the entire body are regulated by three factors called vayu, pitta and kapha. These three factors taken together are called tri dosas or simply dosas. In a healthy person all three should be in a state of equilibrium. During different parts of the day and night, during different stages, during different stages of the digestive process in different seasons, these three dosas undergo some change; but such changes should be within limits. If confined to these limits, the body has the power to bring them back to their normal state of functioning. It is only when they exceed that limit because of various reasons such as wrong diet, regimens, medicine and psychic factors, that diseases are caused.

In order to transport nourishment from the intestines to the tissues and the excretion of waste products from these tissues to different exterior opening such as the rectum, the urinary bladder and sweat glands, there are millions of channels. These channels are called srotas. A disease may be manifested in a particular organ of the body but it is not necessary for it to originate from the same organ.

Ayurveda distinctively conceives of three different parts of the pathogenic process namely (1) the site origin, (2) the channel of circulation, and (3) the site of manifestation of the disease. In the case of bronchial Asthma, the site of origin is the stomach and the intestines. The root cause of the disease is basically located there. The pathogenic substances for the manifestation of the diseases originates from these places. How do these pathogenic substances travel from the site of origin to the site of manifestation? They are carried, according to Ayurveda, through a group of channels called rasavaha srotas. Why do these channels carry these pathogenic substances to the lungs and not to any other part of the body?. It is the weakest point in the body which has the affinity to the type of morbidity already created in the stomach that is affected by this process. If the tissues of the lungs, musculature of the bronchial tube and the mucous membrane lining these tubes are weak. then they get affected. 

Thus, according to Ayurveda. the site of origin of bronchial Asthma is the stomach and the intestines. The channels of circulation of the waste products of the body are rasavaha srotas, that is, channels carrying plasma, and the site of manifestation of the disease are the lungs. It is only because of wrong diet, mental strain and unusual climatic conditions that these three factors are affected and the person suffers from bronchial Asthma. According to Ayurveda, allergy is not the primary cause of the disease : the primary causes are wrong food habits, mental strain and bad weather. Allergic factors are only secondary causes which precipitate the disease.