Urinary Incontinence: Ayurvedic Treatment, Causes & Natural Remedies

Urinary incontinence is primarily a vata disorder, caused by weakness of the muscles of the bladder, especially the bladder sphincter. If that becomes weak and uncontrolled, a person may lose voluntary control of urination to a greater or lesser extent. Another cause of incontinence, especially in the West, seems to be the frequent use of rest rooms. When some people see a rest room, they just use it, whether the need is urgent or not. They apparently think (perhaps subconsciously), “Maybe I won’t have another chance for a while.” But the bladder muscles become weak and lose the capacity to retain a large amount of urine and pass it out only when really necessary. Urinary incontinence is more common among women than men, because their urethra is quite short. When women cough, sneeze, or strain, or even when laughing, their bladder may leak a little urine. This disorder can be controlled by certain herbs, a periodic oil enema, and certain yoga exercises. Let’s begin with the latter.

See “Urinary Incontinence” Indigestion

As discussed in chapter 3, the effectiveness of your digestion depends on the strength of your digestive fire (agni). If your food intake is large in quantity and heavy, very liquid, or quite dense in quality, these properties are antagonistic to the properties of gastric fire and can inhibit the normal function of the agni, leading to indigestion. Emotional eating—eating for emotional reasons when the system is not in need of food or is given too much to comfortably digest—is another potential cause of indigestion. A third major causative factor is wrong food combining. Eating bananas and milk, melon and grains, and other incompatible food combinations adversely affects the digestive fire, leading to indigestion. (See chapter 8 for a chart of incompatible food combinations.) These various factors promote excess secretion of acid, leading to acid indigestion, heartburn, nausea, or even diarrhea; fermentation of the food in the stomach or intestines may also occur, leading to gas, bloating, and a possible stomachache, depending on the severity of the cause. So one has to deal with indigestion first by avoiding these causative factors, and second by using the herbal treatments recommended below.

FOUR WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR DIGESTIVE FIRE

The first key to prevention of indigestion is to enhance the digestive fire. Here are several suggestions:

GINGER. One of the best herbs to kindle agni is ginger. Before each meal, chop or grate a little fresh ginger, add a few drops of lime juice and a pinch of salt, and chew it up. Alternatively, you can simply cut a thin slice of ginger, put on a pinch of salt, and chew that.

. Here is another before-eating stimulant for your digestion. Make a mixture

GARLIC AND TRIKATU

of ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon trikatu, and a pinch of rock salt. (Trikatu is composed of ginger, black pepper, and Indian long pepper in equal proportions.) Take it before lunch and dinner.

. A similar mixture is 1 clove of fresh garlic, chopped up with ¼ teaspoon cumin

HERBAL MIX

powder, a pinch of rock salt, a pinch of trikatu, and 1 teaspoon lime juice. Take before meals.

. Enliven your gastric fire with the common spice bay leaf. Steep ½ teaspoon crushed

BAY LEAF

or ground-up bay leaf in a cup of hot water for about 10 minutes to make a tea. Add a pinch of cardamom, and drink after eating.

FASTING

Fasting can be beneficial to dispel indigestion. Fasting not only kindles the digestive fire, it also gives the digestive system a rest. When you have indigestion, you can either observe a complete fast, or try this: Drink 1 cup of sweet fresh pineapple juice with a pinch of ginger, a pinch of black pepper, and ½ teaspoon organic sugar. Take this 3 times a day.

WHEN YOU HAVE INDIGESTION

• black pepper
• cardamom
• cumin
• garlic
• ginger
• pepper
• trikatu