Pitta Disorders of Majja Dhatu

When pitta affects majja dhatu, it creates inflammation of the nerve endings and pain along nerve tracks. Polyneuritis, common in diabetes, manifests as burning hands and feet. This condition can appear in grandchildren of diabetic patients even without diabetes itself developing — they inherit the pitta tendency in majja dhatu. Herbs such as shatavari, guduchi, and brahmi reduce pitta and can successfully treat these symptoms.

Neuralgia is pain along the track of a nerve caused by pitta moving around the nerve. Trigeminal neuralgia is common in extremely high pitta/vata individuals, while sciatica involves pain along the sciatic nerve. Any radiating or migrating pain along a nerve track indicates pitta affecting majja dhatu. At the neuromuscular junction, pitta can accumulate and suddenly manifest as shingles (herpes zoster), which produces inflammatory changes and burning pain along nerve paths. Herbs like gulwel sattva pacify pitta, and kama dudha reduces inflammation.

Herpes simplex represents localized stagnated pitta in nerve endings. Repeated attacks compromise the immunity of majja dhatu, potentially leading to mononucleosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, Epstein-Barr virus, or even AIDS — all of which are pitta conditions. Extremely high rakta dhatu can affect majja dhatu and create cerebral hemorrhage or cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Hypertension, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral embolism, and stroke paralysis all begin in pitta and end in vata.

Certain conditions demonstrate a pitta-to-vata progression. Multiple sclerosis involves excess pitta burning the myelin sheath (demyelination), after which vata symptoms emerge: rigidity, difficulty walking, muscle wasting, tingling, numbness, and fatigue with sensitivity to temperature extremes. Sickle cell anemia results from extremely high pitta in the red bone marrow, causing red blood cells to deform. Treatment with tikta ghrita and abhrak bhasma (which acts on both majja dhatu and pitta) can restore normal red blood cell shape within three months.