siddha vaithiyam (5)

Concept of disease and cause of  Siddha Vaithiam    http://www.vaithiars.blogspot.com     

When the normal equilibrium of the three humors — Vaadham, Pittham and Kapam — is disturbed, disease is caused. The factors assumed to affect this equilibrium are environment, climatic conditions, diet, physical activities, and stress. Under normal conditions, the ratio between Vaadham, Pittham, and Kapam are 4:2:1, respectively.

According to the Siddha medicine system, diet and lifestyle play a major role in health and in curing diseases. This concept of the Siddha medicine is termed as pathiyam and apathiyam, which is essentially a rule based system with a list of "do's and don'ts".

Diagnosis 

In diagnosis, examination of eight items is required which is commonly known as "enn vakaith thervu". These are:

1. Na (tongue): black in Vaatham, yellow or red in pitham, white in kapam, ulcerated in anaemia.
2. Varnam (colour): dark in Vaatham, yellow or red in pitham, pale in kapam.
3. Kural (voice): normal in Vaatham, high-pitched in pitham, low-pitched in kapam, slurred in alcoholism.
4. Kan (eyes): muddy conjunctiva, yellowish or red in pitham, pale in kapam.
5. Thodal (touch): dry in Vaatham, warm in pitham, chill in kapam, sweating in different parts of the body.
6. Malam (stool): black stools indicate Vaatham, yellow pitham, pale in kapam, dark red in ulcer and shiny in terminal illness.
7. Neer (urine): early morning urine is examined; straw color indicates indigestion, reddish-yellow color in excessive heat, rose in blood pressure, saffron color in jaundice, and looks like meat washed water in renal disease.
8. Naadi (pulse): the confirmatory method recorded on the radial artery. to be continued (5)http://www.vaithiars.blogspot.com