Natural Remedy for Jaundice

Natural remedy for jaundice in simple cases involves proper diet and exercise. However in serious cases, recovery is slow. The patient should take rest until the acute symptoms of the disease subside. With reasonable care in the diet and life style, and regular, restrained exercise and frequent exposure to sunshine and fresh air, a recurrence of liver trouble can be prevented.

The patient should be put on a fruit juice fast for a week. The juice of lemon, grapes, pear, carrot, beet and sugarcane can be taken. A hot enema should be taken daily during the fast to ensure regular bowel elimination, thereby preventing the absorption of decomposed, poisonous material into the blood stream. The fruit juice fast may be discontinued after the severity of the disease is over and a simple diet may be resumed on the following lines:

• Breakfast: One fresh juicy fruit such as apple, papaya, grapes, berries and mangoes. One cup wheat dalia or one slice of whole wheat bread.
• Mid-morning: Orange juice.
•Lunch: 2 small chapatis of whole wheat flour, a cup of strained vegetable soup, a steamed leafy vegetable such as spinach, fenugreek or carrot and a glass of buttermilk.
• Mid-afternoon: Orange juice or coconut water.
• Dinner: 2 whole wheat chapatis, baked potato and 1 other leafy vegetable like spinach and fenugreek, a glass of hot milk with honey can be taken if desired.

Fats like ghee, butter, cream and oils must be avoided for at least 2 weeks, and after that their consumption should be kept down to the minimum. Digestive disturbances must be avoided. No food with an affinity to ferment or decompose in the lower intestines like pulses, legumes etc. should be included in diet. In most cases an absolute cure can be ensured within 8 to 10 days.

1. The juice of bitter luffa (karvi torai) is regarded as an effective home remedy for jaundice. The juice should be placed on the palm of the hand and drawn up through the nostrils. This will cause a profuse overflow of the yellow coloured fluid through the nostrils. The toxic matter having been evacuated in a considerable quantity, the patient will feel relieved.
2. Another valuable food therapy for jaundice is the green leaves of radish. The leaves should be pounded and their juices extracted through cloth. One pound of this juice daily is sufficient for an adult patient. It should be strained through a clean piece of muslin cloth before use. It provides instant relief. It induces a healthy appetite and proper evacuation of bowels, and this result in gradual decrease of the trouble.
3. Drinking a lot of water with lemon juice will guard the damaged liver cells.

Alternate hot and cold compresses should be applied to the abdomen. A hot immersion bath at 104 degree Fahrenheit for 10 minutes daily will be helpful in relieving the itching which sometimes accompanies jaundice and in the elimination of the bile pigment from the system through the skin and kidneys. Cold friction twice a day will be beneficial for general tone-

Yoga asanas are also extremely helpful in the cure of jaundice. Certain asanas such as Uthanpadasana, Bhujangasana, Viparita Karani and Shavasana, and Anuloma-Viloma, Pranayama will be helpful in the treatment of jaundice.

The treatment of jaundice must start with purification. The basic theory is that no burden be placed on the liver and for that, a daily purgative is recommended. Allopaths generally recommend a saline purgative. A diuretic may also be administered to encourage the flow of urine which will expel most of the bile from the system.

Trivari i.e. Operculina turpenthum and katuki are the two major drugs with which the treatment of jaundice should start. One to two teaspoonfuls of the powder of the drugs may be administered with hot water twice daily. A well-known combination of drugs used by Ayurveda for the treatment of jaundice is Avipattikar Churna and Arogyavardliini Vati. The Churna should be given in one-teaspoonful doses twice a day with hot water. Arogyavardhini Vati is available in 250 mg strength, and two tablets should be given thrice daily with hot water or with honey. Other drugs used in the treatment of jaundice can be named as Vasaka or Adhatoda vasica, Kakamachi or Solatium nigrum, and triphala or the three myrobalans. Any or all the above drugs may be prescribed depending upon the condition of the patient.

Carduus marianus 30: Diminished appetite, bitter taste in the mouth, nausea, bilious vomiting, bright yellow hard stools and pain in the liver region are features of this medicine. In any case where these symptoms are prominent, the patient can take Carduus marianus 30

Chelidonium majus 30: Dirty yellow eyes, large, yellow tongue with imprint of teeth, nausea relieved by drinking hot water, desire for hot foods or drinks, dark yellow urine foaming like beer, dry, hard ball-like, creamish stools, pain in the liver region and also back, near the lower tip of scapula are important features of using this medicine.

Chionanthus 30: Sickening, dull headache, yellow-eyes, tongue with a thick yellow fur, dark urine and light coloured pasty stools are features of this medicine. If these symptoms are present, the patient should take Chionanthus 30.

Myrica 30: Severe jaundice with bronze-yellow skin, dull headache on waking in the morning, nausea followed by vomiting of a thick tenacious fluid and excessive gas which is constantly discharged when walking or trying to evacuate bowels are the features of consuming this medicine.