EAR

What is hearing defects ?

Hearing loss in any degree is termed as Badhirya in Ayurvedic science. This unfortunate condition trouble the patient’s daily routine. In olden days, hearing loss was considered as a disease of old age, but now it is affecting the young and middle age group also. Noise trauma, change in lifestyle and diet alteration are various factors that may lead to hearing defects.

Symptoms of hearing loss

• Asking others to speak more loudly and slowly
• Problem in understanding words
• Needing to turn up the volume of the television or radio
• Avoiding of some social meetings
• Step back from conversations

According to Ayurveda hearing loss is considered as disturbances of Prana vata. With advancing age, prana vata tends to get injured, leading to conductive or nerve deafness. The person loses hearing ability due to weakening of the nerves.

What causes ear infections ?

Ear infection is the condition in which the ear experiences inflammation that leads to severe pain. The infection is caused when water is trapped inside the water. The trapped water can cause bacteria and fungi to breed.

Symptoms like inflammation of the ear, bleeding in the middle ear, tugging or pulling at one or both ears, hearing loss in the affected ear, chills, drainage from the ear, fever and difficulty sleeping are shown during the ailment.

Ayurveda recommends various herbal oils to treat ear infections. Garlic oil is widely used herbal oil to treat these infections. The procedure involves pouring aged garlic oil into the affected ear before bedtime, then inserting a cotton ball to keep the oil from running out.

 Nose

Sinusitis

Sinusitis causes the cavities around your nasal passages to become inflamed or swollen. The sinus may be be acute or chronic nature. The condition may be caused by an infection or due to an allergy. It begins with inflammation of the mucous membrane of the sinus, which causes fluid build-up and eventually blocks the sinus cavity, hampering normal mucus drainage.

Headaches, constant sneezing, pressure around the head, blockage of one or both nostrils and running nose are major symtoms of sinusitis.

In Ayurveda sinusitis is compared to “Dushta Pratishtaya” or “Peenasa”. Patient suffering with sinusitis is treated with snehanam(oleation), swedanam (suddation), Vamanam (stimulated Emesis/vomiting), Dhumapanam (Medicated cigarettes), Virechanam(Purgation) etc. together with Shamana Chikitsa using natural and organic drugs.

Anosmia

 Anosmia is the loss of the senses of smell. The partial loss of smell is called hyposmia. More or less people are anosmic for one particular oder; this is called specific anosmia. Specific anosmia is mostly genetically based. These patients may lose the sense of taste ( ageusia) and find it hard to enjoy the food.

Hormonal disturbances, medications, diseases and certain chemicals can disrupt the sense of smell, sometimes permanently. The senses of smell may be lost due to the disorders like tumors, or surgery of the brain. Involuntary exposure to to tobacco smoke weaken the ability to identify odours. The disease can also be caused as a part of other loss of function of the brain. Radiation treatment of the head and neck cancer can also result in anosmia.

People are less sensitive to smell at their older age and usually women tend to have a more acute sense of smell than men. Some recent studies have proved that smell sensitivity is inherited to a certain degree.

Tongue

Vocal cord paralysis

Vocal cord paralysis is a voice disorder which occurs from a dysfunction of the muscles of the vocal cords. Vocal cord paralysis adversely affects your speaking ability and can also cause breathing problems. The disorder is also accompanied by swallowing disability and a weak cough. Vocal cord paralysis is the common cause of neurogenic hoarseness. The parlaysis may cause food materials and fluids to be inhaled into the windpipe and lungs. The voice becomes horse and breathy when either of the vocal cord is paralyed.
There are a number of causes of vocal cord paralysis including injury to the head, neck, or chest; lung or thyroid cancer, tumors of the skull base, neck, or chest or viral infection. Certain neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis or stroke can end up in vocal cord paralysis.

Symptoms of Vocal cord paralysis

• A breathy voice
• Hoarseness
• Abnormal breathing sounds
• Loss of vocal pitch
• Frequent breaths while speaking
• Coughing while swallowing food
• Loss of vocal pitch
• trouble swallowing
• Frequent throat clearing

Ayurvedic treatment for vocal cord paralysis is globally appreciated. It identifies the root cause of the Vocal cord paralysis and heal it. Ayurvedic medicine utilize e therapies like Nasyam, Snehanam, Abhyanga swedam, virechanam, Shiro Vasti, Pizhichil, Navarakizi and Vasti for the treatment of vocal cord paralysis.

Voice defect

Voice defect can be defined as a condition that interferes with the mental formation of speech or their physical output. Voice defect is mostly due to weakness in the muscles of articulation, the tongue, the palate and lips. Our tongue is composed of multiple muscles and they are mainly responsible for forming the sounds that we make into words. So, if your voice is not clear, it can be concluded that your tongue is no longer moving as effectively as it once did.A voice defect may be caused due to the cancer of the throat or a nerve damage. Over of the vocal cords can also lead to voice defect.

Symptoms for voice defect

• Hoarseness to the voice
• Too loud or too soft voice
• Voice may break in or out
• Sudden change in the pitch of the voice
• No clarity in the speech as air escapes through the nose
• May run out of air during sentence

According to Ayurveda voice defects are categorised under vata dosha. “Kalyana churna” has shown promising results in treating voice defects..