Allergies are an overreaction of the body's immune system to specific substances that it misidentifies as harmful. This overreaction of the body's immune system is known as an "allergic reaction" and the substances that cause it are called "allergens".
Causes
According to Ayurvedic philosophy allergies appear due to malfunctioning of ojas. Ojas is the essence of all dhatus and is compared to the immune system (defense system) of the body. In an allergy, the immune system is unable to combat with a particular object and the person becomes sensitive to it.
Pathology
Each time a person comes in contact with an allergen, the doshas are imbalanced, and toxins are released according to the imbalanced doshas, leading to symptoms according to the imbalanced dosha.
For example, if pitta dosha is imbalanced. (Pitta is an Ayurvedic humour, which symbolizes heat or fire. It is warm, hot, intense, oily and acidic in nature). Aggravated pitta releases specific heating toxins. These toxins accumulate in deep tissues like rasa (nutrient plasma), rakta, (blood), mamsa (muscles) and lasika (lymphatic). These toxins cause contamination of deeper tissues leading to a host of symptoms of various skin allergies.
Secondly, if kapha is imbalanced (Kapha is a mucus like substance, which is dense, heavy, firm, stable, slow, thick, sticky, wet, clear and cold in nature.) This kapha accumulates in the respiratory channels, causes blockage, and leads to respiratory allergies.
Symptoms
The symptoms of allergies vary. The main symptoms are:
- asthma
- itchy, watery eyes
- itchy, runny nose
- allergic salute - pushing up on the nose, causing a white crease to appear across the bridge of the nose
- itching, eczema and/ or hives
- dark circles under and around the eyes
- recurring headache
- shortness of breath
- wheeze and cough
- diarrhea
- stomach cramps
Ayurvedic Products
- Jiva Sattva Asthma Health Care Pack
- Jiva Sattva E.N.T. Health Care Pack
- E.N.T. Tea
- Kasna Tablets
