Tretment for Right Coronary Artery Blockage Disease in Ayurveda

Abstract

In today’s era of modernization and industrialization, we are making ourselves more prone towards cardiovascular diseases. This is happening as we are using a fat rich diet in excess amounts in the form of junk food. Along with that due to busy working schedules we are not able to perform regular physical exercises, as a result of that episode of heart disease has got raised, one such popular ailment is right coronary artery blockage. Right coronary artery blockage is the commonest form of heart disease and is the main reason of premature death in the developed world. So it is very important for every individual to know about the health benefits of adding ayurveda to their life, as by doing so you can surely decrease the prevalence rate of such ailments.

Introduction

Right coronary artery is an artery originating from the aortic valve of the heart, near the right aortic sinus. It supplies oxygenated blood to the right atrium; right ventricle, atrioventricular node (AV) and sinoatrial node (SA).These two nodes play a major role in regulating heart rhythm. Blockage of the coronary arteries is the main reason to generate coronary heart disease. There are two coronary arteries in our body- left coronary artery and right coronary artery. These are the main arteries that supply oxygenated blood to the heart muscles, as heart muscles require continuous supply of oxygen to function properly. Reduced function of the right coronary artery means there will be decreased flow of oxygen and nutrients to the heart and it will lead to myocardial infarction (heart attack). So it is very important to know about this ailment in detail.

As per ayurveda we can correlate this disease with “sanga type sroto dushti of rasavaha srotas”

(Charka. viman 5/8)

Rasa vaha srotas have their main seat in: haridya (heart) and dasa dhamaniya (10 important blood vessels). As right coronary artery blockage occurs due to formation of pathology in the lumen of artery and in most of the cases the cause is formation of atheroma (atherosclerosis) in artery internal layer. We can say that there is formation of ‘sanga’ type of sroto dushti in rasa vaha srotas (obstruction in the coronary artery lumen).

Sroto dushti is generally of four types:

(Charka.viman 5/23)

• Ati pravriti (enhanced flow/secretion of different body channels/vessels)
• Sanga (obstruction in the flow/secretion of channels/vessels)
• Siranam granthi (formation of nodules)
• Vimargaman (flow of content in wrong direction)

So among these four types of sroto dushti we can correlate right coronary artery blockage with “sanga type of sroto dushti”

Etiological Factors

These are the main causes (nidan as per ayurveda) that results in formation of an ailment. The common causes of it are as follow:

• Atherosclerosis is the main culprit behind right coronary artery blockage.
• Overconsumption of a fat rich diet that includes unsaturated fatty acids in high proportion.
• Congenital anomalies such as malformation of the coronary artery.
• Connective tissue disorders.
• Polyarteritis (inflammation of arteries)
• Age – old age is more prone to blockage of the coronary artery.
• Underlying disease:
  • Hypertension (high blood pressure)
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Obesity
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Rheumatic heart disease
• Unhealthy dietary habits
• Excessive stress
• Lack of physical exercises.

According to ayurveda srotas dushti occurs due to:

(Charka.viman 5/22)

This verse states that Consumption of food and behaviour that are similar to doshas and dissimilar to dhatus in properties leads to generation of morbidity in srotas.

Clinical Features

It includes the signs and symptoms. A symptom m    eans the general complaints along with patients present in front of the physician. They are as follow:

• Chest pain
• Fatigue and malaise
• Weakness
• Dyspnoea (difficulty in breathing)
• Nausea
• Pain or discomfort in arms and shoulders.
• Collapse
• Tightness over chest region
• Dizziness

Signs

It means what a physician notices himself by observing the patient’s condition. In this particular disease following below listed signs are noticed by a physician:

• Pallor
• Sweating
• Tachycardia (increased heart rate over 100 beats per minutes)
• Vomiting
• Hypotension (low blood pressure)
• Oliguria (decreased urination)
• Cold peripheries of the body such as fingers and toes.
• Lung crepitation
• Fever
• Leukocytosis (increased WBC)
• High ESR (Erythrocytes sedimentation rate)
• Raised JVP (Jugular vein pressure)
• Narrow pulse pressure

Diagnosis

Through physical examination of the patient by using:

• Inspection : patient will appear lethargic and weak
• Palpation : extremities appears cold on touch
  • Profuse sweating will be present
• Auscultation: lung crepitation is present
  • Abnormal Heart rhythm (arrhythmia)
• Past history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus
• Presence of family history.
• Electrocardiography: it records the electrical signals as it passes through different chambers of heart.
• Exercise stress test
• Echocardiogram: this test uses sound waves to produce images of the heart that tells us about the pathology present inside the right coronary artery lumen.
• Cardiac CT Scan
• Angiography

According to Ayurveda

The two most preferred diagnostic procedures used by a physician are as follow:

Trividh pariksha (Group of 3 diagnostic procedures)

• Darsha- Diagnosis is made by visual examination of the symptoms
• Sparshan- Physician uses tactile examination to evaluate whether skin is cold/hot
• Prashan– Physicians ask direct questions from the patient, to evaluate the root cause of the disease i.e. history taking

Asthavidh pariksha (set of 8 examination procedure)

• Nadi pariksha– By palpating the pulse rate of the patient
• Mutra pariksha– By examining the urine of the patient
• Mal pariksha– By stool examination
• Jivha pariksha– By examining the tongue whether coated or not
• Shabad pariksha– By listening to the natural sounds within the body like intestinal sound (peristalsis) sounds of moving body fluids
• Sparsh pariksha– By observing the patient skin texture whether it is cool, wet or dry
• Drik pariksha– When a physician inspects patient symptoms through his/her eyes
• Akriti pariksha– When a physician evaluates the general appearance of a patient whether he/she looks dull, lethargic or fatigued etc

Risk Factors

It includes the factors responsible for increasing the chance of developing an ailment in the body. In right coronary artery blockage the common risk factors are:

• Hypertension
• Diabetes mellitus
• Obesity
• High blood cholesterol level
• Inactivity/lack of exercises
• Unhealthy dietary habits
• Excessive alcohol intake.
• Smoking in excess amounts

Management

Preventive Measures

• Avoid consumption of processed and junk food
• Do not smoke
• Indulge yourself in regular exercises- perform exercise to certain extent not beyond your strength
• Avoid severe unaccustomed exertion and harsh exercises after heavy meals or in cold weather
• Eat a healthy diet rich with good antioxidants and other important nutrients

Medications

• Statin therapy– This is the first line of treatment of medication in patients suffering from high cholesterol problems. Common medications are atorvastatin, lovastatin etc
• Aspirin therapy– oral administration of aspirin daily, as it will enhance the activity of thrombolytic therapy
• Thrombolytic drugs: Thrombolysis of the coronary artery by using thrombolytic drugs as they help in restoring patency of the coronary artery
• Analgesics drugs: to provide relief from the problem of chest and muscular pain

Surgical Intervention

• Angioplasty: Coronary balloon angioplasty is the most common surgical procedure used to treat the blockage of the right coronary artery
• Stenting: In this we use an artificial device called ‘stent’ to restore the normal blood flow inside the right coronary artery
• Coronary bypass surgery: in this surgical intervention we restore the normal blood flow of the coronary artery by diverting the blood flow around the blocked section of artery in your heart

As Per Ayurveda

We use two treatment modalities in right coronary artery blockage to sustainably manage the disease further growth. The first one is sanshodhan chikitsa (detoxification procedure) and san shaman chikitsa (alleviating treatment)

(a) Sanshodhan chikitsa (detoxification procedure)

As right coronary artery is a life threatening condition if not treated initially so we need to use ‘mridu sanshodhan’ (mild detoxification procedures)

• Snehana karma (oleation therapy) – Smoothing the body dosha’s by using herbal   ghrit/oil
• Mridu svedan (gentle fomentation)- fomentation is done with herbs that possess mild action
• Mridu vaman (inducing emesis with mridu dravya (herb that are not very strong/harsh in action)

(b) San shaman chikitsa (alleviating treatment)

In this treatment modality we use the herbal medicines by oral route to balance   vitiated doshas within the body itself. Classical herbs mentioned in our ancient text are as follow:

1. Rasa/Bhasma/ Pishti

• • • Haridyavran rasa
    • Mukta pishti
    • Makardhvaj

  Dosage:125-250mg with lukewarm water after meal.

2. Kwath

• • • Dashmool kwath
    • Katphalaadi kwath

  Dosage: 20-30ml with plain water after meals.

3. Ghrit

• • • Arjuna ghrit
    • Baladya ghrit
    • savdanshtradi ghrit

  Dosage: 20-30ml with warm water after meals.

Certain herbs are mentioned in our classical texts that works beneficiary in normal heart functioning known as “hridaya herbs” [efficacious for circulatory system (heart and blood vessels) functioning]

1. Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna)
2. Karpoor (Cinnamomum camphora)
3. Haritpatri (Digitalis purpurea)
4. Vanpalanadu (Urginea indica)
5. Tambool (Piper betle)
6. Rudraksha (Elaeocarpus ganitrus)

Along with these classical herbs, we can also use herbal medicines of planet Ayurveda, as their products are made up of pure and standardized extract of herbs. Their products are also 100% organic and free from harmful chemicals and preservatives.

Herbal Remedies for Right Coronary Artery Blockage by Planet Ayurveda

Planet Ayurveda is a leading herbal manufacturing unit serving people worldwide with their holistic approach of healing by using principle of Ayurveda. They offers various herbal formulations that will work very efficacious in preventing right coronary artery blockage. So planet Ayurveda provides best Heart Care Pack for this disease. The  pack includes  following Herbal Remedies

Products List

1. Arjuna Capsules
2. Arjuna tea
3. Total Heart Support

Products Description

1. Arjuna Capsules

This herbal formulation contains pure and standardized extract of arjuna (Terminalia arjuna). Arjuna is known for its numerous health benefits on the heart and circulatory system of our body. It contains Kashaya rasa (taste) due to this it acts very well in detoxifying the blood. It also shows great results in lowering the level of bad cholesterol, thus works efficiently in the right coronary artery blockage as cholesterol (leads to formation of atheroma in the coronary artery) is the main culprit to generate this ailment.

Dosage: 2 Capsules, twice daily with plain water.

2. Arjun Tea

This herbal tea contains arjuna (Terminalia arjuna) and some other herbs such as punarnava (Boerhavia diffusa), pipal tvak (Ficus religiosa), chhoti elaichi (Elettaria cardamomum) etc. This herbal tea contains a rich amount of antioxidants that helps in reducing harmful free radicals from the body. It will also help in clearing blood channels of the body and thus work very effectively in right coronary artery blockage.

Dosage: 2 Cups, twice daily.

3. Total Heart Support

This herbal capsule is a very potent blend of herbs such as ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), arjuna (Terminalia arjuna), brahmi (Bacopa monnieri) and shankhpushpi (Convolvulus pluricaulis). This formulation is very effective in strengthening heart muscles as herbs present in this formulation have sheet virya (cold potency) so it will have cooling effects on the nervous system of the body as well.

Dosage: 2 Capsules, twice daily with plain water.

Conclusion

Now we can conclude that ayurvedic herbs are very effective in managing as well as preventing diseases like right coronary artery blockage, as it believes in the principle of ‘nidan parivar jan chikitsa’ (avoiding the root cause of disease). In coronary artery blockage the most common cause is intake of unhealthy fats that results in rise of bad cholesterol level. So with ayurveda, we can sustainably save ourselves from such ailments by following the ideal dietary and lifestyle regime of “dinacharya and ritucharya”. If you are considering ayurvedic treatment, make planet Ayurveda as your utmost choice as their ayurveda experts are serving mankind from the many years.