Alzheimer’s disease

Mild severity cases – very well managed and immediate memory loss can be cured

Moderate severity – restlessness can be managed effectively

Severe cases – no change can be brought to the memory status but associated symptoms can be well controlled and subsided

Bed ridden case – no hope

Dementia

Multi infarct vascular dementia and subcortical vascular dementia – no hope – generally poor response

If Parkinsonism is the etiology – response to treatments is mixed with half the patients responding well the remaining half not responding

Immediate memory loss responds very well to treatments but remote memory loss has not so encouraging results

Duration of the therapies – 3 weeks to 5 weeks – but varies from case to case

This is characterized by delusions (thought, emotions and behaviour) and hallucinations

Halucinations that too auditory respond in the first 5 days itself very quickly to dhoomapana and dhoopana

But delusions are difficult to be cured off

Paranoid variety – very good improvement is observed

Hebephrenic, Catatonic variety – appreciatable improvement

Residual variety with negative thoughts – very difficult to cure

Persistent delusion disorders – much improvement is noted but it will be a bit unrealistic to claim cure for this

Schizo affective disorder – good improvement is noted

Duration of treatments – minimum forty days

This is related much to the emotional state of a person and has seasonal variations

Manic episode – responds very effectively

Bipolar – very good improvement noted

Depressive episodes are generally tough to respond

Persistent mood disorders respond very quickly to treatments

Its noteworthy that if the treatments are repeated next year also before any major triggering factor of the disease happens, a lasting impact of the treatments (performed the previous year) is observed

Its observed that the treatments have a definite strong positive impact on the patient and the recurrence of the ailment is delayed very effectively

Phobic anxiety disorder – treatments alone are not enough , psychotherapy is also needed

Generalised anxiety disorder – good response to treatments

Obsessive compulsive – treatment and counseling make a greater impact than mere medicines

Two weeks of thalapodichil gives good relief in mild to moderate cases

Adjustment disorders and reaction to severe stress – treatment response is tough as the temperament and mental strength threshold varies just like the intensity of the physical or mental trauma

Anxiety can be well controlled by medicines but counseling is also required

It’s a common incidence in many wars and battles and also specialized trainings of many elite training programs of the special forces all over the world to have such incidences. Indian armed forces is no exception to this

Disassociative disorders – very good improvement in one month duration

Disassociative Multiple personality disorder – good improvement is noted

Somatoform pain disorder – is found in general practice also – mild cases respond very well in two weeks treatments like thalapodichil

Eating disorders – Anorexia responds well but no comments are available about Bulimia as no cases have been reported yet

Non Organic sleep disorders – somnambulism, nightmares,hypersomnia are very well manged at the OPD level itself

Sexual dysfunction – (that not caused by organic lesion) – lack of sexual desire, premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, orgasmic dysfunction, non organic dysparenunia, excessive desire are encountered separately and some of them along with an established psychic ailment too

Bark of araghwadha administered in decoction form for 2 – 3 weeks is found to be very effective in diminishing the excessive desire

Most of these are treatable at OPD level and results are evident in 2 – 3 weeks time along with counseling

Mental disorders associated with purperium

Mild cases respond very quickly to OPD level treatments and severe cases do so to IPD level treatments

Generally 3 – 4 weeks is the maximum duration of recovery

Acute onset features usually show good prognosis

Rarely some patients have slipped into the phase of psychotic disturbance which is generally tough to respond

Duration of treatment 4 – 5 weeks

Specific personality disorders – very tough prognosis as the patient simply refuses to undergo treatment modalities

Borderline personality disorder – very good results in two to three weeks by thalapodichil itself. They can continue with OPD level management

Paranoid personality disorder – only partial relief is observed

Habit and impulse disorders like Trichotillomania respond well to OPD level medications. But some other patients are not available for proper follow up

Gender identity disorder – poor prognosis

Some male patients who show feminine features during the course of stay in the hospital get rid of such clinical features

This compels to make a statement that temporary isolated events of such opposite gender identity are resolved well

Disorders of sexual preference

Varied response, cases of fetichism also respond if it happens to be a temporary isolated event

There is no cure in Ayurveda

Salivation will come down and associated signs and symptoms would also come down but overall prognosis is poor

Generally tough prognosis and medications are required for months at OPD level

Developmental disorders of speech and language – slight improvement is observed but not satisfactory enough

Specific disorders of scholastic skill – some parents report an improvement in writing function of the children

Autism and cerebral palsy – very appreciative improvements are observed and treatments of the duration of 3 weeks are required once in every six months for three years and profound improvement in the physical and emotional functions are clearly noted

Speech becomes much clear and the higher mental functions slowly but surely become better and better

Interestingly enough, such is the positive impact of treatments to the child that parents of Cerebral palsy and Autism patients make sure of their half yearly visits to hospital of their own without being reminded of it

Kerala Ayurveda physicians witness lot of such patients from other parts of India and abroad

ADHD – Attention deficit hyperactive disorder

Responds very well to 3 weeks of treatments and medication- followed by medications for months or even years depending upon the co existence of cerebral palsy or autism in the child

It has been found very regularly that clinical features of ADHD, autism and cerebral palsy co exist in the same patient at a given time

The response is very good results keeping in mind that other system of medicine do not seem to have any cure for this

Conduct disorder – tough prognosis

Emotional disorders – treatable with high success rate

Non organic aneurosis – can be controlled by medicines to a good extent

Pica tendency – can be controlled by 2 – 4 weeks of medication

Its noteworthy that mental healthcare of poulation is significant