A brief insight into the pathogenesis and management of Alzheimer’s disease in Ayurvedic parlance

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most important of all the degenerative diseases of the nervous system comprising about 50-70% of dementias characterized by progressive impairment of the cognitive functions. It is clearly an age-related disorder more frequent after middle age. More than 90% of cases of AD are sporadic and occur in individuals older than 60 years. Insidious and subtle onset of the disease is presented by disturbances of the higher cortical functions with memory impairment. The situation gradually worse, and finally, the patient becomes totally department. Ayurveda has explained three methods for understanding specific characteristic of a disease through authoritative instruction, direct observation, and inference, which can be employed to analyze AD. In Ayurveda, disease involving mental faculties has been broadly classified into two through, those affecting intellectual capacities (buddhinasa) and those affecting consciousness (sanja nasa) under the headings of Unmada and Apasmara. By utilizing the classical versions of Unmada and Atatwabhinivesa, a probable pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s can be formulated by Ayurveda methodology. An attempt is made in the current paper to explore the pathogenesis of AD in ayurvedic parlance and to modulate an effective line of management.