Ayurvedic Herbal Treatment for Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy is a medical condition in which the heart muscles get adversely affected and are unable to perform the function of pumping blood efficiently to the entire body. This causes symptoms like breathlessness, edema of the lower extremities, fatigue, palpitations, and giddiness. This condition is caused due to coronary artery disease, disease of the valves of the heart, excessively high blood pressure, metabolic disorders, and prolonged intake of alcohol and drugs. The complications from this condition include heart failure, thrombosis, and cardiac arrest. The modern management of this condition includes medication to strengthen the heart, treat associated conditions, control the symptoms, improve the quality of life, prevent complications, and prolong survival. Affected individuals need to adopt appropriate lifestyle changes such as avoiding alcohol and smoking, losing excess of weight, reducing salt intake, and doing regular exercise in moderation.
Cardiomyopathy is mainly of three types and includes dilated, hypertrophic, and restrictive cardiomyopathy. Each of these types needs a completely different management so that the specific pathology of the disease can be controlled and possibly reversed, symptoms can be controlled, associated conditions can be treated, and mortality from this disease can be reduced. Ayurvedic treatment can be given independently or in combination with modern medicines so as to provide maximum possible therapeutic benefit to the affected individual.
Dilated cardiomyopathy requires Ayurvedic medicines to strengthen the heart and musculature of the heart so that it is able to pump blood into the body efficiently and without strain. Ayurvedic medication needs to provide a gradual strengthening of the cardiac muscles so that there is improvement of tone, while excessive dilatation is reduced. This prevents fatigue of the muscles and loss of strength and efficiency. Associated causes for this condition also need to be treated aggressively so as to provide maximum benefit from treatment. Most individuals with dilated cardiomyopathy require treatment for about nine to twelve months in order to benefit significantly from treatment, which can definitely reduce symptoms and help affected individuals to lead a near-normal life.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is usually related to valvular heart disorders in which the muscles of the heart increase considerably in size due to insufficient pumping against obstructed or leaking valves. The increased muscle size reduces the actual chamber size of the heart because of which insufficient amount of blood is pumped out. The hypertrophic muscles also gradually lose strength and efficiency, leading to fatigue of the heart muscles and long-term heart failure. While giving Ayurvedic treatment, it is important to treat the basic cause of the condition and address valvular insufficiency in the heart. Treatment is usually required for about six to nine months in order to provide maximum therapeutic benefit and prevent heart failure.
Restrictive cardiomyopathy is usually related to infection with or without fluid or pus collection in the covering layer of the heart, which gets inflamed and later on constricts and sticks to the heart muscles. This constriction causes a restriction to the appropriate functioning of the heart, since the heart is unable to dilate and contract so as to allow proper filling and emptying of blood from the heart chambers. If treated early during the stage of infection and inflammation, this type of cardiomyopathy is most amenable to medication. A full and complete constriction of the pericardium causing a full-blown restrictive cardiomyopathy may respond partly to Ayurvedic medication which can be given on a long-term basis to maintain proper blood circulation in the affected individual. Surgery may be of more benefit in individuals affected with restrictive cardiomyopathy, in order to bring about a curative effect.
Ayurvedic herbal treatment thus has a definite role to play either in full or in part in the successful management of all the three different types of cardiomyopathies.