Diabetic treatment in Ayurveda

Diabetes is a metabolism disorder that causes hyperglycaemia i.e. high blood sugar levels. It is a syndrome due to either deficiency of insulin secretion or insulin resistance. Most of diabetic patients have both problems of insulin deficiency as well as insulin resistance. According to Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study, diabetes affects 280 Australians every day and half of cases are undiagnosed.

Causes of diabetes:

Diabetes mellitus type 2 is considered a life-style related problem but diabetes mellitus type one is inherited and some infections may be responsible for it especially Coxsackie B4 virus. The main causes of diabetes are insufficient insulin production and inefficiency of utilization of insulin produced. It is due to insulin resistance in cells. Best diabetic treatment is to resolve both causes of diabetes.

Symptoms of diabetes:

Diabetes does not cause any symptom at its initial stages so sometimes person does not know about his disease. He comes to know when he undergoes some tests for his job or other purposes. However, high blood sugar causes some symptoms such as frequent urination, increased thirst or increased hunger. Sometimes, people ignore these symptoms considering normal. Therefore, it leads to undiagnosed, which may be dangerous.

Symptoms of diabetes are given below:

1.Polyuria – Frequent urination

2.Polydipsia – Increased thirst

3.Polyphagia – Increased hunger

Above three symptoms are called classical symptoms of diabetes. Therefore, if you experience any of above symptoms, you need to check fasting blood sugar level to diagnose the problem. Your doctor may ask for further test if you get abnormal blood sugar level.

Complications of diabetes mellitus:

Diabetic patient can suffer from following complications:

1.Diabetic ketoacidosis:It is the metabolic state and life-threatening complication, which is caused by production of ketone bodies. It is characterized by symptoms such as smell of acetone in breathing, nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness and abdominal pain.

2.Hyperglycemia hyperosmolar state: It occurs when blood sugar level exceeds from 300 mg/dl. In this water is drawn out of cells into the blood and kidneys starts to void glucose into the urine.

3.Hypoglycemia:It is due to sudden fall of blood glucose level due to effect of some diabetic medicines.

Ayurvedic treatment of diabetes mellitus:

Best diabetic treatmentis considered when we can solve both issues of insulin production as well as insulin resistance. Ayurveda has holistic approach towards diabetes so it can assist you to keep diabetes or blood glucose level under control.

There are mainly three types of body constitutions and bodily humours. Ayurvedic physician do diagnosis based on characteristics of these humours or defects. Ayurvedic treatment may be different for each individual as per his needs according to imbalances in three humours.

Bitter gourd, lemon jucie, Indian gooseberry, turmeric powder, terminalia arjuna, fenugreek, terminalia chebula are some organic herbs used in treatment of diabetes in ayurveda.

Pennington Biomedical Research Centre has conducted a clinical trial on fenugreek’s effects in diabetes. Fenugreek is used in ayurvedic and traditional medicines for lowering blood glucose level. In this study, it is found that fenugreek lowers blood glucose without affecting insulin levels.

Moreover, it inhibits intestinal disaccharidases  that aid to decrease absorption of glucose. 4-hydroxyisoleucine is main amino acid responsible for lowering blood glucose level.

If you intend to manage your diabetes effectively, you can choose ayurvedic medicines after consulting your ayurvedic expert. Ayurveda has great approach to treat diabetes with diet, lifestyle and with some herbal formulations.

There are many options in ayurveda as per body constitution and characteristics so it is always recommended to use herbs or ayurvedic products under supervision of ayurvedic physician to get better results.

Dr Gurnam Singh Saini

Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery

MD Alternative Medicine

Panchkarma Detox Expert