The day you come to know about positive HLAB27. It starts fearing you about “fusion of joint” and “disability”. So-called modern-day, developed system of medicine gives up completely that you don’t have any hope. Here I am sharing with you how Ayurvedic treatment for ankylosing spondylitis can make sure a completely safe and free from pain and disability life.
Before discussing ayurvedic treatment for ankylosing spondylitis, we need to understand the disease from all aspects. About pathology, about doshas in the disease, and how AS can affect you. And how can Ayurvedic treatment help you in the treatment of Ankylosing spondylitis?
What is Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis is-
- An autoimmune condition.
- This is a type of arthritis.
- AS affects mostly the spine.
- AS is very much close to Rheumatoid Arthritis.
- This is associated with a Gene HLAB27 too
- It causes deformity in the spine and joints.
- Due to deformity, disability occurs in patients.
- The spine affected by Ankylosing is also referred to as Bamboo-Spine. Because of stiffness and lack of movement.
With this condition of no movement- disability appears in a patient. This condition starts with stiffness and leads to severity. Modern medicines have yet to find the treatment for this condition. The only solution is taking “certain medicines” and waiting for a disability. Ayurveda doesn’t provide a cure- surely. But Ayurveda is promising in ensuring the complete treatment of the condition.
Here we will discuss all aspects of the disease along with the approach of Ayurveda towards the disease and the Ayurvedic Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis.
How does Ayurvedic treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis can Help
AS is well treatable with Ayurveda. If you are suffering from Ankylosing spondylitis, you can achieve the following with Ayurvedic treatment for ankylosing spondylitis.
- Only Ayurveda can Stop the progress of the disease.
- You can surely get back your “movements” and “flexibility”.
- If you are worried about traveling down of AS in your family- Ayurveda can ensure you about this. Your kids won’t get this disease.
- The best suggestion for AS is- to stay away from cold and don’t apply oils to the affected region.
- The treatment of Ayurveda is lengthy but doesn’t continue like allopathy for the whole life.
These are promises after a commitment of many years. While giving ayurvedic treatment for ankylosing spondylitis for more than 15 years and doing more than 5000 plus cases with complete efficacy. These are comments are not just comments. These come from experience.
Facts on Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Ankylosing spondylitis belongs to a group of arthritis conditions that cause chronic inflammation of the spine.
- This condition mostly starts from the lower back, then spreads up to the neck, and damages the joints of other body parts.
- It is considered a type of rheumatic disease. The symptoms in the advanced stage involve muscles and joints.
- This condition affects all age groups, including children.
- It is more common in males in their twenties.
- It is mild in females and is hard to diagnose.
- There is a genetic angle of disease too. HLAB27 is the gene that is responsible for the occurrence of AS. But not the only cause.
- Ankylosing spondylitis, over time, makes the spine less flexible and results in a hunched forward posture.
- This condition can also affect the heart, eyes, lungs, and occasionally kidneys.
- As this condition advances, it affects the ribs and makes it difficult to breathe deeply.
- It is a lifelong condition and is also termed Bechterew disease.
- Ankylosing spondylitis sometimes becomes difficult to diagnose. However, it has a particular pattern of pain and other symptoms. In addition, the changes are visible in x-ray and MRI
- In children, this disease is termed juvenile ankylosing spondylitis.
- Western medicine has no cure for ankylosing spondylitis.
- Ayurveda has promising results to control the condition of AS and we can avoid the disability and deformity of the spine.
- Ayurvedic Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis can help you to come out of the deformity.
Symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis
Symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis vary. The characteristic feature is mild to moderate flare-ups of inflammation that alternate with a period of no symptoms. There is a pain in the back in the morning as well as at night. The patient experiences pain in the large joints such as the shoulders and hips.
Other symptoms include:
- Early morning stiffness
- Stooped shoulders
- Poor posture
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Tired
- Anemia
- Low-grade fever parts
- Reduced lung function
Ankylosing Spondylitis also includes the inflammation of other body parts. This is why the patient may also experience:
- Mild eye inflammation
- Inflammation of bowels
- Heart valves inflammation
Ayurvedic Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis not only helps in subsiding the symptoms of the AS.
What Causes Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis has no specific cause. The genetic factor seems to be involved. People having a gene called HLA-B27 are at the greatest risk of developing it. However, not all people with this gene develop this condition.
In most of the patients suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, the HLA-B27 gene is detected in their blood. The majority of people suffering from the disease are born with this gene.
However, some additional environmental factors are also required for the genes to express themselves. Heredity increases the risk of developing this condition. If you have parents or relatives suffering from ankylosing spondylitis, then your chances to develop this disease increase by 12%. Other genes that are associated with this condition include ARTS1 and IL23R. These genes play a role in influencing the immune system of the body.
Risk Factors for Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Sex – Men are more likely to develop ankylosing spondylitis.
- Age – This condition usually occurs in early adulthood and early adolescence.
- Heredity – If you have a family member suffering from ankylosing spondylitis you are more likely to develop it. BUT NOT ALWAYS.
Complications of Ankylosing Spondylitis
As ankylosing spondylitis advances, the body in an attempt to heal itself forms new bones. The new bones bridge the gap between the vertebrae and eventually fuse. The spine becomes less flexible and stiff. The fusion also stiffens the rib cage and affects the function and capacity of the lungs.
Heart problems
Ankylosing spondylitis leads to inflammation of the aorta. The inflamed aorta enlarges to the point that it distorts the shape of the aortic valve and impairs its function. The blood leaks back to the heart. The heart is unable to pump well. As a result, the patient is short of breath and tired.
Compression fractures
During the early stages of the disease, the bones in some people are thin. Weak vertebra crumbles and leads to a stooped posture. Vertebral fractures put pressure on the spinal cord and possibly injure it and the nerves that pass through the spine.
Other complications include:
Uveitis or eye inflammation – The inflammation of the eye or uveitis is the most common complication of ankylosing spondylitis. It causes rapid onset of eye pain. The eyes become sensitive to light, and vision is blurred.
Ayurvedic Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis can surely help you to get avoid all these complications.
How does Ankylosing Spondylitis Occur
Ankylosing spondylitis starts with the inflammation due to the activation of the body’s immune system that precedes bacterial infection or a combination of microbial infections.
The immune system is activated but is unable to turn off even after the initial bacterial infection subsides. The chronic inflammation that continues because of the activated body immune system in the absence of active infection starts attacking the body’s tissues. This is the hallmark of autoimmune diseases.
As a response to inflammation, the body starts producing extra calcium around the bones of the spine for healing. This extra bone grows and results in pain and stiffness in the back and neck. As the disease advances, the bones in the spine fuse together because of extra calcium and, in severe cases, the spine curves.
Types of Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of spondylitis arthritis. Some other examples of spondylitis arthritis are:
- Non-radiographic Spondyloarthritis – The main symptom of this condition is stiffness and pain around the neck. No physical changes are observed in an x-ray. However, some people suffering from this condition are later on diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis.
- Psoriatic spondyloarthritis – It is a form of arthritis that happens along with the skin condition psoriasis.
- Enteropathic arthritis – It is spondyloarthritis associated with inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.
- Reactive arthritis – It is diagnosed when arthritis is a reaction to any infection.
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis – It is the type of arthritis in children and teenagers. It develops at the site where the tendons and ligaments attach to the bone.
Ayurveda about Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ayurvedic ideology is multidimensional. Ayurveda looks at a condition or disease from different perspectives. This multidimensional approach works well with complicated conditions like- Ankylosing spondylitis. To understand the condition we need to look at the different aspects, here-
Aggravated Dosha in AS
When it comes to Ayurvedic Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis, Doshas are the first to consider. According to the symptoms of AS, the main involved doshas are- Kapha and Vata.
Kapha in Ankylosing spondylitis causes-
- Stiffness
- Lack of mobility
- Blockage of the channels
- Collection of toxins and
- Formation of the “unnecessary” and “unwanted” tissues.
Vata leads to-
- Destruction of the tissues.
- Muscular spasm and
- Problem with the movements.
So the treatment of the AS goes according to these two doshas. Because many of the things are not common in these two. Therefore this disease becomes challenging for everyone.
Vata is dry and Kapha is unctuous. When we want to control one of these, things go opposite.
It is not simple for western medicines to find out the cause of the “incurable” nature of the disease. But Ayurveda understands this well. So what is the line of treatment for this condition? We need to understand it better. So treatment of AS focuses on the two Doshas.
Ayurvedic Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis
When it is complicated. It becomes more important to treat the condition. The same thing applies to Ankylosing Spondylitis Ayurveda treatment. The treatment of the AS in Ayurveda is based on three things.
- Slowing down the progress of the disease- by removing toxins.
- Reducing the inflammation of the joints.
- Stopping the fusion of the joints.
These three things are simple in listening. But it takes a lot of effort in doing all these steps. Here are the details of these procedures-
Removing the toxins
Genes need a proper environment to express themselves. And this environment comes from toxins. These toxins are not something really poisonous. Something which interferes with the normal biological process. Therefore leads to problems in the body.
Panchakarma is the tool, which helps in removing these toxins. We do especially two types of processes in this condition, as per the condition of the patient-
Virechana or Basti- these two help in bringing back the normal process of the body, along with the removal of the toxins.
Besides this, some external procedures are also done to remove the local toxins from the body. Therefore we need to work externally and internally.
The duration of the process takes 14 to 21 days and this might vary from case to case.
Reducing the inflammation of Joints
This is blood, which works two ways.
- Bringing fresh nutrition
- Removing the wastes from the place.
At Sukhayu we use these two skills of the blood wisely. We just need to route the blood to the right destination. When this blood moves properly, it helps in both works.
This we achieve with help of medicines. These Ayurveda medicines we prepare by ourselves at Sukhayu. And these medicines patient needs to continue for a longer period.
Stopping the fusion of the Joints
Once we can achieve the above two steps. It becomes easy to stop the fusion of the joints. Because this is the condition that is fearing one in the case of AS.
Ankylosing spondylitis endangers all the joints. This is not only the spine, any joint can impact this condition. Therefore we need to save the body, properly.
The dryness of the ligaments is also important to cover for this.
Process of Ayurvedic Treatment for Ankylosing Spondylitis
At Sukhayu Ayurved we follow the treatment in two ways.
But before anything, we make sure that whether we can do the case or not. Where complete fusion has occurred, we cannot take the case.
We do the assessment of the patient first.
For primary assessment, you can do a VIDEO CONSULTATION with Dr. Pardeep.
After consultation
When the case is not complicated. You can start the medicines. And these you can start after the consultation too.
And where the case is in the advanced stage. We need to go for the Intensive Panchakarma Care.
So this all about the requirement of the patient.
When a patient needs Panchakarma- you will need to admit at Sukhayu Ayurved for 16 or 21 days first sitting and 8-8 days subsequent sittings- if required.
How long does it take to show the results of ayurvedic treatment for ankylosing spondylitis?
There are two types of the patients:
The patients who don’t have any fusion and are in starting phase of the AS, start seeing the difference with medicines alone within a month.
The foremost change you have is- change is stiffness and easiness in movement. Because we don’t use pain killers for the ayurvedic treatment for ankylosing spondylitis therefore it takes time to show the results in pain.
For patients where Panchakarma is required- patients with complications can take a long time like 2 to 3 months in showing the results.
End of the day, the timeline can differ but the results will be there and you can easily lead a normal life.
Can I continue allopathy medicines for Ankylosing spondylitis along with Ayurvedic treatment?
No doctor gives you medicines with- ill intention. And we do regard science and every science has its own limitations.
We don’t have any issue in continuing your allopathy medicines while treating you with Ayurveda. Still, if we find something which is not useful in the process of the treatment- we will let you know about that in advance. So nothing to bother about this, at any point in time.
Generally, within starting months your symptoms start disappearing and you never need any painkillers again for your problem of the Ankylosing spondylitis.
The main focus of the ayurvedic treatment for ankylosing spondylitis is to make sure your body will start responding to the natural processes.
