🔘 RAKTAMOKSHANA KARMA

RAKTAMOKSHANA :-

Raktamokshana as one among the five purification procedure (Panchakarma). It is the procedure of letting out vitiated blood from the body.

👉🏻Rakta importance:-

Blood maintains and supports the body like roots supporting the tree. So the blood is considered as life(jeeva).

When blood gets vitiated by doshas it causes various diseases. Rakthamokshana is that procedure which expels out vitiated blood from the body.

👉🏻Types of  Rakthamokshana :-

Shastra(using sharp instruments)- 

Prachana, Siravedha(puncturing)

Anushastra (without using instruments)-

 -Jalauka (Leech therapy)

 -Shrunga(Using cow’s horn)

-Alabu(Using pitcher gourd).

👉🏻Indications :-

-Swelling

-burning sensation -suppuration

-rashes -vatharaktha(Gout),

-skin diseases -elephantiasis

-toxic conditions of blood,

-fibroid

-tumor

-mastitis

-debility

- heaviness of body

-conjunctivitis

-sinusitis

 -herpes

- liver abscess

-spleen abscess,

-suppuration and burning sensation in ears, nose, lips, oral cavity

-headache

-gonorrhea

-bleeding disorders.

👉🏻Contraindications:-

-Anasarca

-emaciated person -pregnancy

suffering from diseases such as anemia, hemorrhoids, ascites, consumption and dropsy.

👉🏻Samyak Lakshanas:-

Feeling of lightness of body, subsiding of pain and severity of diseases, cheerfulness of mind.

👉🏻Atiyoga Lakshanas:-

Rakthamokshana done during excess sweating, hot season and due to deep puncturing.

👉🏻Treatment for Atiyoga:-

Apply the paste prepared of –

1.  Lodhra (Symplocos racemosa), Sarja (Vateria indica), Rasanjana (aqueous extract of Berberis aristata), Barley, Wheat made paste with Gairika (Red Ochre).

2. Paste of burned particles of snakes skin and silk cloth.

3. Sprinkle cold water over face.

4. If bleeding does not stop by these methods then stopped by Agnikarma(Cauterization) and Sharakarma (alkali application).

👉🏻Season for Rakthamokshana Panchakarma therapy:

Sharad-ritu (Autumn season).

Blood vitiated by vata, pitta and kapha should be removed from the body using Shrunga (horn of animals), Jalauka ( leech therapy) and Alabu(pitcher gourd) respectively.

For Vata Dosha vitiated blood, Shrunga – Horn method is used.

For Pitta vitiated blood, leech therapy is used.

For Kapha vitiated blood, pitcher gourd (Alabu) is used.

👉🏻 Jalauka(Leech therapy):-

Method of application of Jalauka(leech):

Selected leeches are collected,  to bite  effected area which is washed priorly with antiseptic solution. Once they start sucking the blood, it is covered with moist cloth. Once it completes sucking the vitiated blood, they 

leave the site to fall off itself. Then the area is rubbed with turmeric powder which helps to stop the bleeding.

👉🏻Indications for  Jalauka(leech therapy):

children, old aged, frightful , debilitated, women and persons of tender constitution.

👉🏻Shrunga:-

Selected cow’s horn is collected which is open at both end. Superficial multiple small incisions are made over the affected area which is cleaned priorly with antiseptic solution. The larger open end is kept over the incised area and blood is sucked through other end.

👉🏻Alabu:-

Medium sized selected pitcher is opened at the top to remove pulp and seed, dried under sun till it is hard. Affected part is cleaned with antiseptic solution, multiple vertical incisions made over the site. An ignited wick is kept straight over the area and closed with the pitcher guard, the fire extinguishes creating the vacuum inside the pitcher which drains out the blood which gets collected at margins of pitcher.

👉🏻Prachana :-

A tourniquet is applied slight above the affected area. Using a sharp instrumemt, multiple incisions are made avoiding vital structures. Incisions are made in upward direction, not very deep nor superficial, not very closely placed, should not be done transversely and made very quickly.

👉🏻Shiravedha:-

Venepuncture is considered superior. Just as bunds of channels in the fields break off, the standing grains are destroyed from its roots completely similarly, this procedure is able to destroy the diseases from its roots completely. In Shalya Tantra, Venepuncture is considered as half complete therapy for numerous diseases, as  blood bieng the pathogenic factor in most of the diseases.

Procedure –

 A tourniquet is tied above the selected area. The vein is tapped with fingers to make prominent, which is then punctured using sharp instrument. Once the vitiated blood flows out completely, then the area is tightly bandaged to arrest bleeding.

👉🏻Contraindications for venepuncture :-

Who has undergone excess sweating and Panchakarma therapy, pregnant woman, jaundice, indigestion, convulsions, paralysis, diarrhea, vomiting,

Asthma, cough, bleeding disorders, hemorrhoids, anemia,

traumatic injury, it should not be done in veins which runs transversely,

when  tourniquet not been tied above the selected site,

when a vein is not engorged with blood, when the weather is extremes.