ABSTRACT
A 58-year-old non-diabetic, non-hypertensive, non-dyslipidemic, euthyroid lady with a known case of migraine for last 10 years approached our hospital complaining of a severe right-sided throbbing headache in the temple area and behind the right ear for three days. She approached our hospital as she did not get any relief from painkillers. An intensity of 10 was recorded on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and 8 on the Global Assessment of Migraine Severity (GAMS) Scale. The case was diagnosed to be vatika shirashula on ardhavabhedaka, with no pitta-rakta association. She was posted for Agnikarma therapy [AGT]. Immediately, within 2 min of application of AGT on her right temple, her intense pain reduced, and within 5 min she had no pain [zero on VAS scale and one on GAMS scale]. Samyak mamsa dagdha lakshana was achieved. AGT was tolerable and did not produce any major discomforts. No adverse effects were reported. Patient experienced a mild burning sensation over the AGT, and the blackish discoloration due to AGT faded off within 41 days. AGT could be used as a potent, cheap, fast-acting, adverse effect free emergency treatment for acute attacks of migraine headache.
ABSTRACT
A 23 year old young lady was admitted for Ayurveda treatments of her refractive error coupled with migraine. She was put on Shadbindu Taila Nasya, 24 drops in both her nostrils immediately the next day. Within 6 h of performing Nasya, the patient started developing pyrexia which was initially of low grade, and later, within 6 h, went on to high-grade. Nasya was suspended, and rescue Ayurveda medicines were started but had no improvement. The patient later self-medicated an antipyretic drug, and with a single dose, the high-grade pyrexia came down to normal. Naranjo adverse drug reaction probability scale recording gave a score of six, which shows that the AE could be probably due to Nasya with Shadbindu Taila. This case report adds evidence to the medical database of under-reported/poorly reported adverse effects (AE) cases of Nasya therapy. It shows that Nasya is not a 100 % complication and adverse effect free treatment, but rather has to be done with extreme caution. This case report highlights that effective Ayurveda principle based preparatory treatments are also to be done before initiating Nasya to minimize the chances of adverse effects. This case report also suggests practicing a test dose of Nasya, before initiating a high dose, so as to detect adverse events and prevent severe complications.
