Anaemia

Causes and Symptoms:

Anaemia is a condition in which there is lack of blood in the body. Shortage of red blood corpuscles and inadequate quantity of haemoglobin is the chief defect which gives rise to anaemia. The malady may also be caused by loss of blood through excessive bleeding through menstruation, injury, child birth, haemorrhage from the gastro intestinal tract in such diseases as tuberculosis or ulcers, defective blood formation. on account of infections, toxins and intake of certain types of drugs, inadequate quantity of iron in the food ingested or defective absorption of the nutrition in the food taken.

Diseases like TB, diabetes, nephritis and syphilis and insanitary and unhygienic surroundings also produce anaemia. A person suffering from anaemia becomes pale and weak, his face looks oedematous, the lips and gums become discoloured, the nails lose their healthy colour. There is weakness and giddiness, the breathing is shallow, the pulse rapid and the blood pressure low. When the disease has advanced without being treated, the tongue becomes sore and the nails of the fingers become brittle and concave. There is loss of appetite and constipation. Among women anaemia leads to amenorrhoea; the menstrual flow is scanty, watery and pale.

Remedies:

In severe cases where anaemia follows massive loss of blood as in an injury, blood transfusion is the only remedy. But in persistent anaemia, the exact cause of the malady should be found. Anaemias of diabetes, syphillis, nephritis etc. cannot be cured without curing the disease first. If it is of a mild nature and is suspected to have been caused by malnutrition, it is easily cured but if malfunctioning of the liver is the villain of the piece, calx of iron is the only way out. A diet rich in iron and vitamins is of the vital importance in cases of anaemia: liver of goat, bone marrow and half boiled eggs should be taken. Proteins should be taken in larger quantities, but fats should be avoided as they tend to burden the liver.

The following medicines are specially useful in cases of persistent anaemia:

Ten grams of Iron Filings, three grams of Cardamom, and three grams of Indian Hemp should be put in a bottle of Vinegar made from Jumbolina Fruit (Jamun) and placed in the sun for two weeks. It should be shaken daily and the strained liquid taken in ten grams doses twice daily after meals.

Alternatively, 250 grams each of Iron Rust (cleaned and washed with water), rind of large Harad, rind of Bahera and stoneless Amla should be powdered together and placed in an iron pan. It should be covered with curdled milk of cow (four fingers in height) and allowed to stand for a week. It should be stirred daily with a wooden spoon till the powder absorbs all the curd and the whole mixture dries up. It should be ground into powder and the powder of Long Pepper, Sonth (dried Ginger), and Pepper (each 30 grams) mixed with it. Two to three grams of it should be taken for three weeks with whey every morning.