The effectiveness of the ferula asafoetida in the treatment of dyspeptic disorders

Abstract

Background and Objective: Dyspepsia is a common condition observed in daily clinical practice. Traditionally, for many centuries, Ferula Asafoetida has been used for various gastric disturbances in physiological doses. This study is an effort to understand its effectiveness in Dyspeptic disorders on a homoeopathic basis. Methods: A prospective, observational, non-randomised, and non-controlled study was conducted at Government Homoeopathic Medical College, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, from 2018 to 2019. A purposive sampling technique was used to enroll 30 patients (15 males and 15 females) complaining of heartburn and regurgitation of food of all age groups by the Esophagogastroduodenoscopy diagnosis and differentiating the other causes of illness to fit in the study. Ferula Asafoetida was prescribed in 30cH and 200cH high dilution in repeated doses according to the Homoeopathic posology. The assessment was done by establishing the Dyspepsia questionnaire and Global Overall Symptom (GOS) scale before and after the intervention at baseline and after the one year. Results: At 29 degrees of freedom, the 5% significant limit of ‘t’ is 2.05. The observed‘t’ value is 14.62. Hence, Asafoetida yielded a significant effect in the treatment of Dyspeptic disorders. Limitations: It includes that we could not perform the urea breath test, stool and biopsy of the stomach tissue to diagnose the H.pylori infection, a lack of control arm and used purposive sampling method for enrolling patients to prescribe Asafoetida. Conclusion: This study has shown optimistic results regarding the usefulness of Ferula Asafoetida in the treatment of Dyspeptic disorders. However, further randomised controlled trials with long-term follow-ups need to be conducted for definite conclusions.