Down syndrome is a genetic disorder which has characteristic physical diagnostic features. This medical condition is not inherited, but is caused by genetic variations involving the 21st chromosome and is of 3 types which include the Trisomy 21, the Mosaic Down syndrome, and the translocation Down syndrome. The distinctive features of Down syndrome include flattened facial features, a protruding tongue, a small head, upward slanting eyes, unusual shaped ears, broad and short hands with relatively short fingers, and poor muscle tone which causes excessive flexibility. Down syndrome can cause severe learning disability as well as complications like heart defects, leukemia, susceptibility to infection, dementia in later life, and other structural and functional problems.
The Ayurvedic herbal treatment for Down syndrome is aimed at treating the known structural and functional defects in the affected individual as well as giving medicines to strengthen the nerves and muscles of the body so as to prevent long-term complications. Ayurvedic herbal medicines are given to strengthen the brain as well as the nervous system in order to prevent or minimize learning disability and neuromuscular incoordination, and also prevent or minimize the chances for dementia in later life. Immunomodulatory herbal agents are also given on a long-term basis in order to improve the immune status of the body and minimize the susceptibility to infection as well as to the possibility of diseases like leukemia.
If the affected individual presents for treatment as a young infant, it is not possible to diagnose at that stage how Down syndrome is going to affect the individual in the long run. In such a situation, Ayurvedic herbal medicines which act on the different tissues of the body and improve and normalize the metabolism of the tissues are used in minute doses on a long-term basis, so as to possibly prevent structural complications like heart defects and dysfunction of different organs in the future.
Ayurvedic herbal medicines can also be given to expectant mothers who have pregnancies late in life, where the possibility for Down syndrome in the child increases. Similarly, mothers who have a history of children with Down syndrome can also be given medicines during future pregnancies, in order to possibly reduce the chances for having a child again with Down syndrome.
Ayurvedic herbal treatment can thus be judiciously utilised in the management and treatment of Down syndrome.
The writer, Dr. A. A. Mundewadi, is available as an online Ayurvedic Consultant at www.ayurvedaphysician.com
