Headache (Ayurvedic Name – Shir Shool)

Headache (Ayurvedic Name – Shir Shool) — Headache is the most common health related problem in today’s life style and environment. Whenever a person is having headache he directly approaches analgesic without consulting doctors due to the influence of their attractive marketing and advertisement. However, in most of the developed countries using analgesics without doctor’s prescriptions has already been banned and is only advisable in extreme conditions.

Ayurveda is a traditional holistic medicinal system from India which tells us about the natural ways for permanent solution without giving any adverse affect by balancing doshas in body and treating the root cause of illness.

Pain in head and in upper areas of neck is known as headache. Headache is not a disease in itself but is just a symptom of a number of different conditions and pain of in the head and neck. Around 44 million Americans suffer from headaches, 27 millions and of them suffer from migraines. In Ayurveda headache is known as ‘Shir Shool’ and described in ‘shiro roga’.

Responsible Dosha – Vata, Pitta, Kapha

Causes

Headache is caused by several factor, it can be caused by physical body dosha’s imbalance or may be by psychic factors. According to Ayurveda all three body dosha’s and mental status are responsible for headache. There are some other factors for headaches.

• Migraine
• Tension or mental stress
• Head injury
• Hypertension
• Abdominal disturbance (indigestion, constipation, acidity etc.)
• Fever
• Medication overdoses
• Medication or drug withdrawal
• Hang over
• Poor vision
• Meningitis
• Psychiatric disorder
• Sinusitis

Symptoms and Signs

• Stiff neck
• Fever
• Convulsions
• Loss of consciousness
• Heaviness or Pain in the eye or ear
• Nausea
• Restlessness
• Insomnia

Home Remedies

• Paste of fresh ground clay or fresh ground sandalwood to the forehead, let dry and wash
• Paste of amla and milk on forehead
• Make a paste of coriander apply it on forehead
• Pure ghee is useful in sinusitis, use as a nasal drops
• Massage forehead, temples, neck and shoulder muscles to relax and release body and mind stress
• Inhale eucalyptus oil steam is helpful headache
• Boil ginger in water, take its steam
• Lemon leaves with lemon juice for steam inhalation

Useful Herbs

Betel leaves, Bishop’s Weed, Clove, Garlic, Ginger, Henna and Indian hemp

Therapeutic remedies

• Arogyavardhini vati
• Kamdudha ras
• Giloy satva
• Triphala churna
• Mahavat Vidhwansa rasa
• Shatavari
• Anu tailam