Ayurveda May Cure Migraine

Sumitra Deb Roy

Published November 23, 2008 in DNA

With the Ministry of Science and Technology backing Ayurveda as a recognised treatment for migraine, the world might finally have an answer to this 300.year-oldneurological disease. If not cure, the Ayurvedic Treatment Protocol (AYTP) comprising aahar (diet), vihaar (lifestyle) and aushadh (herbomineral formulation), promises conditions 'close to cure'. Dehradun-based Ayurvedic physician Vaidya Balendu Prakash, the pioneer of AYTP, believes that migraine has been treated as a neurological disease for ages, and was therefore dealt with only through painkillers. After a close analysis of the disease, I found that it was more of a gastroenterological disorder rather than a neurological one," he said. "Most of those suffering from migraine had issues like acidity and stomach problems. But modern medicine ignored this aspect," he said. "So we altered the lifestyle and diet of those getting migraine attacks. And it worked within 120days," said Prakash. On Thursday, Dr Laxman Prasad, advisor to the department of scientific and industrial research, Ministry of Science-and Technology, announced that Ayurveda's claim of providing a near cure should be scientifically tested and presented to the world. "The government will fund 70per cent of the costs of research for this purpose," he said. The AYTPformulations have also been studied in rat and mice at the Bombay College of Pharmacy, Kalina. "Toxicological studies have shown that the formulations are absolutely safe," said Dr MN Saraf, principal, Bombay College of Pharmacy. Pune-based teacher, Radhika Khandelwal,31,had tried out the AYTP in Dehradun about two years ago. "I've lived a migraine. free life since then," she said.