ROLE OF AYURVEDA IN THE MANAGEMENT OF MYASTHENIA GRAVIS: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is a neuromuscular junction disease that leads to varying degrees of skeletal muscle weakness with fatigue. The underlying defect in diseases is a decrease in the number of available acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) at postsynaptic neuromuscular junctions due to the binding of autoantibody at acetylcholine receptors. The most commonly and firstly affected muscles are those of the eyes, i.e., ocular muscles leading to drooping of eyelids because of more availability of receptors in less surface area of muscle, later leads to symptoms like difficulty in swallowing leading to (dysphagia), Difficulty to speak (dysarthria), other skeletal muscles fatigability etc. In Ayurveda, we cannot correlate to any particular diseases, but it can be understood in view of upahata dhatu ushma, srotas and marutha, respectively, leading to avarana to the normal functioning of vata. The present study was conducted to determine the efficacy of Ayurvedic management in Myasthenia gravis. In this paper, a case of 47 years old female who was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) with autoimmune hypothyroidism for 13 years was reported to complain of drooping of eyelids, pain and stiffness at the nape of the neck and bilateral shoulder joints, disturbed sleep, reduced appetite, with occasional diplopia, dysphagia, which got aggravated for six months, hence she approached OPD of SKAMCH&RC, Bengaluru. Considering the signs and symptoms patient was treated on the line of kaphavruta vata, and by considering urdwajatrugata lakshana shirodhara, greevabasti along with nasya line of treatment was adopted, and when a patient got relief in her symptoms, and she was wanted to continue her treatment hence virechana was adopted for sroto shodhanartha. Treatment shows significant improvement in her symptoms without any side effects.