TREATMENT THROUGH AYURVEDA
Ayurveda is a well-established science that is non-harming to children.
FEVER
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian Science providing treatment with herbs and refined chemicals. Praval Bhasma- 50-60 mg (for children aged 1-2 years) with milk will quell general fever, but when fever is due to cough, cold and dyspepsia, give 15 mg with milk. Fever due to heat can be brought down by Paracetamol (¼-½ Tsp)—Paed dose—or 50- 100mg of aspirin (soluble). If 15-25 mg of Abhrak Bhasma is given ½-1 hour before the anticipated time of fever, it won’t let fever surface occur—it will also relieve cough symptoms. Septrin tablets of Baidyanath are also good.
COUGH
If the cough is dry and sputum is challenging to expel, mix 125 mg of dried and pulverised powder of Alum and Borax and mix with honey the child should lick ( give this 3-4 times daily). It will moisten and lose the phlegm and help it to expectorate, normalise respiration and relieve cough. It is also helpful in tonsillitis.
Give parched borax powder and Abhrak Bhasma 15-20 mg ( mixed with honey) 3-4 times daily if the phlegm is white. Anand Bhairava Rasa (15-20 mg) may also be given for the same purpose (2-3 times daily).
PAIN IN RIBS
Prepare a liniment/rubbing oil by mixing heeng ( Asafoetida) and garlic. Massage this oil over the affected rib area 2-3 times daily. In addition, also give Abhrak Bhasma (5-10 mg) with milk or honey. It will not only remove pain but also remove the swelling.
ABDOMINAL/STOMACH PAIN
This is also known as colic. Mix heeng, fried harar and table salt with milk or honey or apply Amritdhara locally over the navel and adjoining area. It can also be given in 2 drop doses with a lump of sugar or mixed with milk. As a supportive measure, the child should be laid on his stomach side and gently patted—it will also expel trapped wind and relieve the child.
PAIN IN THE EAR
Fry 4-5 cloves of garlic and 25-30 gms of heeng in mustard oil. Boil and let it cool down. Drop 2-3 drops in the painful ear. Alternatively, 3-4 drops of doctor’s brandy (slightly heated in winter) should be inserted into the painful ear. Even 2-3 drops of turpentine oil used as ear-drops or extracted juice of onion and some alum (red colour) should be mixed together to yield the relieving effect. But do not probe anything into the ear, as it (It is better to consult an ENT specialist) as may cause infection and aggravate pain.
STOMATITIS
This condition arises due to reddening mucus surface in the mouth when the child refuses to be fed and cries when any attempt is made to feed him. There may also be white patches on the sub-mucus portion. Mix parched alum, Papparia Kattha, and powder of cardamom with honey and apply over the infected site or else parched sugar, alum powder or kata and kabab cheeni should be mixed with honey or ghee ( pure) and applied locally, as indicated above.
PAIN IN EYES AND REDNESS
I am of the opinion that most children are quite sensitive to ayurvedic medicines if used as eye drops. Pure rose water is, by far, the best effective and harmless device—drop 1-2 drops into each eye 3-4 times daily and also wash the eyes with the weak lotion of boric acid. Some people suggest using alum with rose/plain water, but I will advise you to get in touch with a vaidya for proper and harmless treatment.
DIARRHOEA
Tyr Nar Kachoor—15-20 gms and mix it with mother’s/cow’s milk and serve thrice daily—will stop green loose motions or levy 125 mg Kamaraja Rasa with milk or substitute this Rasa with Pravala Bhasma (125 mg) with milk and honey (equal quantity of both) and give either of the combinations 6 hourly.
If the above-mentioned combinations fail to yield relief, give 15-25 mg of Anand Bhairava or Sanjeevani by mixing with honey and mother’s or cow’s milk. It will stop loose motions quite quickly. Consult your vaidya about Rasa Peepari for this disorder. In any case, try to maintain sodium-water balance in the body and give only boiled water (when it has cooled) or pomegranate juice ( 1-2 tsp thrice).
CONSTIPATION
It is considered as the chief causative of a host of other diseases. Constipation has a direct effect on metabolism. An unsuitable, stale, putrid diet is held to be responsible for this problem. Mix powders of Alua Usari Revand 6 gms each, fried heeng 2 gm and prepare a thick paste so that 10-15 mg pills can be processed. Give one such pill to the infant with mother’s milk—it will expel trapped milk and ease constipation or give powder of parched Suhaga 1 gm, Usari Revand 500 mg and serve with milk to regulate bowels or give 10-15 mg of Anand Bhairava Rasa with water or milk.
WORMS
Extracted juice of fresh onion ( 1 gm) + 10-15 mg of heeng should be given with water in the morning and evening—it will expel worms. Apply local paste of roots of Indrayan and Bakayan over the stomach to derive the desired benefit, or prepare a paste of roots of Vaya Vidang and Kabela, adding some amount of fried heeng. Before giving this compound, give jaggery ( Gur) first. It will also expel worms. Some people suggest taking two half-cut pieces of ripe tomato and sprinkling powder of black pepper for being taken in the morning on an empty stomach.
TO RESTORE THE FREE FLOW OF URINE
This is a dangerous condition and must not be handled by a layman but by a vaidya only. The medicines suggested should serve as a guideline only and not be used without proper guidance and monitoring of a vaidya. When no urine is passed, it is still a graver situation and calls for immediate hospitalisation. Parents who are syphilitic or have been so but had not been declared ‘Negative’ should be extra careful. Generally, urine retention is attributed to some obstructive pathology like stones in the urinary tract or some urinary infections. Without going into clinical details, using a catheter is the only possible alternative or consult some surgeon but do not leave anything to chance. If the urinary flow is not free and urine is expelled in drops, with much pain and tenesmus or blood/pus is also passed, it points to some sort of obstruction in the urinary passage. Scanty urine in summer or during diarrhoea, or when water intake is insufficient to meet even the body’s normal demands, such situations may surface.
BAL ROGA JANAM GHUTTI
Take an equal quantity of Zahar Mohra Salai, Hajrul Yahood, Dariyai Narial, Yellow Harar, Banshlolchan, Peepal, Ilayachi, Jaiphal, Kesar, Gulab ke phool and finely pound all the ingredients. Process pills to the weight of 10-15 mg. Dissolve a pill in mother’s milk and give evening and morning. It is said to be beneficial in fever, ( intense) thirst, loose motions, vomiting of milk, and other diseases attributed explicitly to the infancy stage. This formulation is said to be quite useful.
FORMULATIONS TO CURE MARASMUS
Majeeth 60 gms, Chaleera Sugandh wala and Nagarmotha (each 22-25 gm), Haldi 25 gms, Laung, Saunth Taj, Jaiphal, Daru Haldi, Sliced pieces of ginger, Peepal—6 gms each, Kachoor 50 gms, Sandalwood powder, Lal Chandan 12 gms each, Kapur (Camphor) 3 gms— boil all the mentioned ingredients in water (in 1.25 litres), When the water content is reduced to 1 Kg, mix ½ litre Til oil to it and boil until entire quantity of water evaporates, and only oil is left behind. After this, mix Lal Ratanjyot in the oil and remove it from the fire. After removing from the fire, put in 4-6 tablets of Camphor, and when the liquid cools down, bottle the contents and tighten securely with a cork or stopper. Finally, prepared oil is said to remove fever, pains and aches in the body, shrivelling of skin, and weakness and will make muscles and bones healthy, tough and full of strength.
Mulethi 6 gms, Ilayachi, Dalchini, Tulsi leaves (2 gms each), Banshloachan 3 gms, Kesar 250 gms, sugar candy equivalent to half the weight of above-mentioned ingredients—all the ingredients may be levied and reduced to paste form in the juice of Tulsi leaves and prepare pills of 125 mg each. A pill may be dissolved with the mother’s milk and given to the infant 3-4 times daily to eliminate infantile marasmus.
The root of Patharchata 500 mg may be rubbed in the mother’s milk, and 300 mg of black pepper powder added. It should be served to a child for 3 days ( one dose daily) and is said to cure marasmus.
Note: Quantities mentioned above and below or in other cases are simply indications only and may be adjusted in consultation with a vaidya, as well as the frequency of dosage.
BAL SANJEEVAN ARK
Saunf, Ajwain, Vaiviranta (2 gms each), Peepal, Parched borax, Nausadar, Marorh Phali, Munakka—12 gms each, Makoy 125 mg, Indra Jau 250 mg, Sanai Mulethi, Harar, kachori, Laung, Mangore, Amaltas—60 gms each. Boil all the said ingredients (after reducing all of them into a powder form) in 10 kgs water. When the contents are reduced to 1¼ kgs, put in Kesar 400 mg and sugar candy 400 gms and boil again. Remove from the fire and let it cool, after which the contents should be bottled and corked. The resultant product, so procured, is said to make weak and marasmic children stronger, and remove fever, cough, stomach and digestion-related disorders, including green or yellow loose stools.
KASTURI VATI
Jaiphal, Sheetal Cheeni, Taj, Laung, Ilayachi, Banshlochan, Peepal or Peepar—6 gms each. Reduce all the ingredients to powder form, add 3 gms and Kasturi (Musk) 1 gm, and prepare a suitable thick paste to process of 125 mg each. Give a pill with mother’s milk 2-3 times daily to cure fever, cough, cold, curdling and vomiting of milk, greenish loose stools, flu etc. It should preferably be used in winter and cold but rarely in summer and hot conditions.
RAS PEEPARI
Process kajal from purified mercury and purified sulphur (6 gms) each, adding 3 gms each of powdered Heeng (fried). Peepal, Saunth, Taj, Jaiphal, Kesar (fried), Suhaga, rock (red) Salt, fried laung, Ateesa, Ajwain, Vaivaringa, Kakkarsinghi and mix with Kajali and process pills of 125 mg each. It is useful when the child suffers from a cold, fever, cough, nasal discharge, flu, milk vomiting, green and loose motions, and other stomach and digestion-related disorders. One pill should be dissolved in the mother’s or cow’s milk and given 2-3 times daily. This preparation is said to serve both as a preventive and curative device. It will also benefit during fever ( due to cold conditions, coryza and catarrh.).