Ayurvedic Home Remedies for Kidney Stones (Renal Calculi)

Incidents of kidney stone in young people, sometimes even kids, is on the rise these days.  They undergo immense pain and suffering due to this condition.   Sometimes the pain is so intense that surgery had to be resorted to.  The stones get formed either in the kidneys, the gallbladder or the urinary tract.  More males than females suffer from renal calculi.  Obese people are more prone to get renal stones than others.  There are some time tested Ayurvedic home remedies found to be successful in expelling these kidney stones.  First let us find out what causes kidney stones.

Renal calculi is known as mutrashmari in Ayurveda.  Mutra means urine and ashmari, stone. According to Ayurveda texts, some notable reasons for kidney stones are sedentary lifestyle, improper diet, loss of sleep, less intake of water, excessive fast food intake, thyroid disease, kidney infection etc.  Ayurvedic lifestyle recommends a balanced diet which has all the six tastes in required proportions.  When one taste is preferred over the others and taken in excess, it can result in improper digestion and assimilation of nutrients, which can potentially turn into kidney stones.  One example is consumption of too much of sweets.

One recent study of renal stones in children attributes consumption of too much energy drink to formation of kidney stones.  Consumption of nutrients more than that what is needed, can result in improper assimilation and can result in renal calculi.

Some symptoms of renal calculi include pain in the lower back radiating from back to front, severe pain on urination, red colored urination, irritability tastelessness etc.  X-ray and ultrasound of the abdomen can reveal presence of kidney stones.

Some Ayurvedic Home Remedies for Kidney Stones

Punarnava, ginger, gokshura, ash gourd, ashwagandha, horse gram are some of the herbs used in treating renal calculi.

Watermelon is useful in preventing and treating kidney stones.  Taking this fruit everyday helps keep the body hydrated too.

Horse gram is yet another remedy for renal calculi.  For best results soup made of horse gram is taken twice a day, three days a week.

Plantain pith juice helps clear renal calculi but should be taken in moderation.  Frequent usage is not recommended.

Home Treatment Plan for Kidney Stones

Once presence of stones in kidneys is confirmed, adopting the below mentioned treatment plan has been found to be very effective in expelling kidney stones.  A rapid elimination of kidney stones is effected by following a strict ‘no solid food’ regimen for three days. Warm water and vegetable soup alone are taken for three days.  This helps in the elimination of toxins from the body.  Kidney stones get dislodged and eliminated easily along with the toxins.  After successful completion of the three day ‘no solid food’ regimen, on the fourth day rice conjee is taken.  Equal quantity of dried ginger (chukku), pepper (milagu), cumin seeds (seeragam), and coriander (dhaniya) are fried and powdered added to this conjee.  A small pinch of rock salt can be added for taste. This helps in easy digestion and elimination of remaining toxins.

The above treatment plan can be used for treating appendicitis also.

In case of severe pain and presence of bigger size stones, gokshura (nerunjil thorn) comes in handy. This can be obtained from herbal stores.  Collect handful of gokshura seeds, dry them in shade. They are then fried over mild fire and then powdered to a fine consistency.  A teaspoon of this powder is boiled in a glass of water and reduced to half.  This decoction is taken three times a day or when feeling thirsty.  This takes care of tougher cases.

One note of caution, do not drink too much of water than needed in a desperate attempt to expel the stones.  This can impede the digestive process and further delay the expulsion.

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Agnimukh Churna: Ayurvedic Home Remedies


“Agni” (fire) in Ayurvedic parlance is the force that drives digestion, metabolism in an individual.  The stomach is called “pachak” or cook that makes use of this fire to digest and absorb the food we eat.  When all the three doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha are in harmony in an individual his/her degree of digestion of food and absorption of nutrients is optimal.  This individual will be healthy and possess a strong immune system. The digestive fire in this person is called samanagni or samagni.

When there is an imbalance in the three doshas and there is a dominance of Vata, then it can result in conditions of diarrhea, wind in the intestines, rumbling, etc alternating with normal digestion.  The vitiated fire is then called vishamagni.

If there is a domination of pitha in an individual then there is rapid digestion irrespective of the type of food consumed.  This can result in sour eructations, hyperacidity, painful urination, etc and the body grows weak and emaciated.  This individual experiences a constant feeling of hunger.  The digestive fire here has turned into tikshagni or teekshagni.

When kapha dominates an individual due to the imbalance of the three doshas, it can result in protracted and prolonged digestion of even a small quantity of food.  This causes heaviness in abdomen, asthma, respiratory illnesses, fatigue, nausea etc.  Here the fire is called mandagni.

Agnimuka choornam or aknimukh choorna is an excellent remedy for all the above mentioned conditions.  With the intake of this remedy the vitiated doshas are pacified resulting in re-establishing the lost harmony.  Samagni is the result which helps in regaining lost health.  Hence this preparation is useful in treating all types of digestive problems.

Ingredients of Agnimukh choorna are asafoetida, sweetflag (acorus calamus), piper longum (thippili), chebulic myrobalan (kadukkai), oregano (ajwain, omam), dried cleansed ginger (chukku), white leadwort root (koduveli), Indian costus root (koshtam).

Sweetflag


Asafoetida is used in treating indigestion and constipation.  Sweetflag is well known remedy for bloated stomach, flatulence, diarrhea in infants.  It aids digestion.  Piper longum is useful in treating polydipsia (excessive thirst).   Chebulic myrobalan cleanses toxins from liver.  Oregano is an antibacterial agent.  Dried ginger is an excellent appetizer.  White leadwort root is regarded as a kayakalpa herb.  This is a good general tonic for the whole body.  The decoction of Indian costus root is used in treating poisonous bites.  All these herbs combine together in agnimukh chooran to reinstate the lost samanagni.

How to prepare Agnimukh churna at home?

The ingredients of agnimuga chooranam are all available at the local herbal stores in India as well as online worldwide.  The ingredients are taken starting with the first, asafoetida 10 gm and and increment of 10 gm each for other ingredients in the order mentioned earlier.  So sweetflag 20 gm, piper longum 30 gm, chebulic myrobalan 40 mg, oregano 50 mg, dried ginger 60 mg, white leadwort root 70 gm and Indian costus root 80 gm are collected.  Each herb is powdered to a very fine consistency and then mixed together.  This is stored in a cool dry place.

Take half a teaspoon of this powder, mix it in a glass of cold water, and drink it before food both in the morning and at night.  This is repeated three to four days.  This is a quick and safe way to bring back the digestive system to normalcy.



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Vilvadi Lehyam: Ayurvedic Home Remedies for Stomach Ailments



Bilwa Tree with its fruits
Bilva or bael fruit also known as golden apple or wood apple is a fruit obtained from the bael tree, a species native to India.  The woody shelled fruit requires almost 10 to 11 months to ripen for consumption. The tree is called ‘vilva maram’ in Tamil and ‘bilva’ in Telugu, A sacred tree for Hindus, the bael tree can be found in all Siva temples, especially in Tamil Nadu.   All parts of the bael or bilwa tree, the root, the bark, leaves, fruit, flowers, twigs etc  have immense medicinal value.  There are a number of excellent medical concoctions Both Ayurveda and Siddha systems of medicine make use of the

Bilva or Vilva tree is well known for its medicinal properties, especially its action on the digestive system and the stomach in particular.  The hard outer shell of the bael fruit or wood apple has to be broken open to relish the content with jaggery and cardamom.  This is a tasty treat that can arrest diarrhea and dysentery.  When taken with cumin seeds and ginger it is found to be effective in treating hemorrhoids.  The decoction of the root is an anti-emetic and a good remedy for bowel inflammation.  The decoction made of the bilwa leaves is used in treating peptic ulcer.

Vilva leaves have been successfully used to bring down excessive sugar levels in diabetic patients.  For this purpose some 5-10 vilva leaves are soaked in plain water overnight.  The next day morning the water soaked leaves are ground to a fine paste and then taken on empty stomach.  This is also effective in treating diabetic ulcers.  Tablets prepared from vilva leaves is an excellent remedy for hyperglycemia.

Vilwadi Lehyam/Bilwadi Leham is a well known product of the Kerala tradition that makes use of the Vilva fruit and other parts of the tree as its main ingredient  Other ingredients include coriander, cumin, caraway, pepper, long pepper, ginger, korai kizhangu (musta), nagkesar (nagappu in Tamil).  One of the effective ways of taking such preparations is to place them on betel leaf or banyan leaf,then lick and slowly munch them down.

Vilvadi lehyam is taken for ailments of the stomach like gastritis, vomiting, poor digestion, diarrhea and dysentry, and asthma.  A tablespoonful (5 gms) of this lehyam ( a jam like concoction) can be taken with milk three times a day after food.  This is a very effective remedy for those affected by the above said conditions under the guidance of an expert Ayurveda practitioner.  This preparation is also useful in treating irritable bowel syndrome, heartburn, acid-reflux etc (IBD).  There is no known side effects on taking this medication.



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