EE7.5 - Female Diseases

Female Diseases

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Yogic Treatments and Natural Remedies

Notes:

this version: is the Yogic Treatments, 4th edition, version (obvious spelling, punctuation and typographical mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. Words in double square brackets [[ ]] are corrections that did not appear in the printed version.

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Normally menstruation occurs once in a lunar month. Though as a rule, it occurs every twenty-eight days, the interval may be twenty-nine or thirty days for some and twenty-six or twenty-seven days for others, according to the woman’s physical condition. Usually menstruation lasts for three to five days. If the menstruation does not follow the above pattern according to the lunar month or if it lasts for a week or two; or if it sometimes occurs and sometimes does not; or if sometimes there is excessive bleeding and sometimes very little; then it may be termed “irregular menstruation.”

In a healthy woman the menstrual discharge is usually about one-fourth seer. If for any reason the quantity is less than normal, it is called “hypomenorrhoea.”

If there is no menstrual discharge on the fixed date, or if the menstruation stops for two or three months in spite of the woman not being pregnant, then the condition is termed “amenorrhoea.”

In tropical countries a woman’s fertility lasts from the age of twelve or fourteen up to the age of forty-five or fifty-five, and in cold countries it lasts from fourteen or sixteen up to fifty or sixty. A regular interval of monthly menstruation and a regular amount of discharge throughout these years is a sign of good health. Every month in a fertile woman the uterus prepares its endometrium (uterine lining) to be the first home for a possible embryo. All of the glands that maintain the youth of the body help directly or indirectly in this work of forming the embryo. These glands also cooperate in providing blood to the uterus to develop the embryo. When the sperm comes into contact with the ovum and an embryo gets an opportunity to form, that blood supply is used in building the body of the embryo. But if, for any reason, no embryo is formed, then the uterus, now full of blood, breaks up the endometrium, and the accumulated blood, not being of any other use to the body, is expelled with the remains of the endometrium. This unnecessary blood is called “menstrual discharge.”

Anaemia is the main cause behind all types of abnormal menstruation – menorrhagia [excessive flow], hypomenorrhoea, and irregular menstruation. When women suffer from anaemia, the glands that help maintain youth also suffer from debilities and as a result the endometrium cannot develop. And in the case of anaemia, sufficient blood cannot be stored in the uterus to form an embryo. This condition brings about hypomenorrhoea. When, owing to the meagre blood supply or to any defect in the organs of the body (conditions which may be found in both thin and fat women), very little blood is stored in the uterus; and the woman also suffers from upward-moving váyu; then her menstrual flow may stop completely, and this is called “amenorrhoea.” In such a situation, the accumulation of impure blood may create many disorders in the body which can lead to premature death. This type of woman with a weak constitution often also suffers from tuberculosis, asthma and similar chronic diseases. Amenorrhoea can cause hysteria or even temporary insanity. A woman may also become irritable in disposition due to the disease.

The reasons behind irregular menstruation are liver defects, constipation and excessive sex.

When the blood becomes over-acidic and weakens the liver and other blood-purifying organs, the poisons of the body are thoroughly flushed out along with the menstrual discharge. This state is called “menorrhagia.”

Morning – Utkśepa Mudrá, Padahastásana, Bandhatraya Yoga Mudrá, and Ámbhasii Mudrá or Ámbhasii Práńáyáma.

Evening – Yogamudrá, Diirgha Prańáma, Bhújauṋgásana, Karmásana and Kákacaiṋcu Mudrá.

During the menstrual period only easily-digestible and nutritious food should be eaten. All types of fruit juice, milk, leafy vegetables and vegetable soups are excellent foods during this period. Non-vegetarian food, too much fried or parched food, and too much ghee, oil or spicy food are to be rejected. Of spices, asafoetida [Ferula foetida Regel] and clove are very useful, but they should not be taken in large amounts.

During the menstrual period sleeping during the day, staying awake at night and hard physical labour should be avoided. Bending forward to lift heavy loads is forbidden, because such pressure may displace the blood-filled uterus. Warming oneself by the fire is also forbidden, because staying too long in the heat of the fire may excite the body and mind. Women who have no one to assist them in cooking may cook meals outside the kitchen in the open air, using a portable stove. As much as possible they should keep away from the food; otherwise there is a high possibility that the menstrual discharge will come in contact with the food and contaminate it.⁽¹⁾ To keep the body completely free of excitement, menstruating women must not touch adult males. In order to save their husbands and children from any harmful effect from their menstrual discharge, they should sleep on separate beds. And those beds should be kept dry, warm and comfortable.

Women should keep away from strenuous acts such as singing, dancing and blowing conch-shells during their menstrual period, and for the sake of their minds and bodies should keep engaged in light, restful chores or amusing conversation. Finally, they should utilize as much of the day as possible in Iishvara prańidhána [meditation] as taught by an ácárya/á.

In so many cases at present we see that the above dos and don’ts are not being followed, and this is leading women in greater numbers to suffer from menstrual problems.

There is no objection to bathing during the menstrual period, but bathing in very cold water is to be avoided. On the first day of menstruation one may bathe in normally-cool water unless it is uncomfortable. On the second and third day one should bathe in sun-warmed water.

During menstruation, using tampons of cotton or linen which block the vagina is harmful. Instead, women should wear shorts over a kaopiina [a tight-fitting kind of underwear] or a cotton pad.

A woman with a healthy liver may consume butter or ghee with rice. A menstruating woman should drink sufficient water, say four or five seers a day, but not much at a time. Those who are suffering from menorrhagia should, during a time of excessive bleeding, lie in bed with the legs raised and the head slightly lowered.

1. If due to excessive bleeding a woman becomes too weak, she should drink 2 tolas of kuksimá juice or durbá juice along with a little honey every day during her menstrual period.

2. Take 3 or 4 d́álim [pomegranate – Punica granatum Linn.] flowers ground in raw milk twice a day during the period.

4. The juice of vásaka leaves with sugar; every day during the menstrual period.

Unbearable pain in the abdominal region, which begins before the commencement of the menstrual discharge and subsides as soon as the menstruation is over; and irregular menstruation – too little or too much discharge – are the main symptoms of this disease.

Women who are adverse to physical labour, and who generally are from rich or upper middle-class families, are found suffering from this disease. Due to lack of physical labour, or due to physical debility for any reason, the uterus and the ovaries become weak and cannot stand the pressure of blood during the menstrual period. As soon as the blood starts entering the uterus, both the uterus and the ovaries start reacting adversely and that adverse reaction expresses itself as pain in the abdomen.

Women doing adequate physical labour seldom suffer from this disease. If mental dissatisfaction is added to the lack of physical labour, then the disease is aggravated. When women in upper-class society are compelled to lead dissatisfied sex lives on account of various social restrictions, they also suffer from this disease. This disease is one of the reasons for infertility.

Special attention should be paid to see that the food is alkaline. All types of fruits, and vegetable soups, are good in this disease. Fried, parched and non-vegetarian food, too much oil, ghee, garlic and onions, and too-spicy foods are to be avoided. Even after recovering from the disease, a woman should not have intercourse with her husband for at least four months.

During the painful stage of the disease, the patient should apply a hot compress to her abdomen. And during menstruation she should not eat anything except milk and other liquid food.

1. 10 to 12 ashoka flowers without stems should be boiled in a mixture of 4 seers of water and 1/2 seer milk, until the mixture boils down to 3/8 seer. This preparation is called ashokakśiira, and it should be taken for three continuous days, 1/8 seer per day.

2. Tying the root of a [[cárá bel]] around the waist will relieve the pain of this disease.

3. Remove the bark of a ghoŕánim root and boil 3 or 4 tolas of the root in water. Drink that preparation during the menstrual period every morning and it will clear up menstrual troubles.

If one suffers from a discharge without any reason or provocation, it is called “leuccorrheoa.” If the discharge is yellowish, reddish, blackish or foamy; or if it resembles the water in which meat has just been washed, it is called “bloody leucorrhoea.” And if the discharge is whitish, it is called “white leucorrhoea.” White leucorrhoea is very common.

1. Abortion or miscarriage;
2. Constipation;
3. Too many medicines or injections;
4. Excessive sexual intercourse; and
5. Anaemia.

If a woman suffers from anaemia for whatever reason, the organs of the body become incapable of supplying an adequate amount of blood to the uterus. In such a case, the inadequate supply of blood get mixed with other fluids of the body, turns whitish, and is flushed out of the uterus – and the woman suffers from white leucorrhoea.

Abortions and miscarriages also make women anaemic and cause leucorrhoea. Similarly, too much administration of medicines and injections weakens the blood, and leucorrheoa is the result.

Excessive sexual intercourse invites constipation, which pollutes the blood and brings on acidity, and this causes leucorrhoea. Virgins with the unnatural habit of masturbation invite a similar reaction, and leucorrhoea may occur.

When both the liver and pancreas become weak, the blood will show an increase in acidity, and generally blood leucorrhoea occurs. In bloody leucorrhoea, unlike white leucorrhoea the patient may not be suffering from anaemia, but her blood will be more polluted.

If due to ignorance adolescent girls and unmarried women leave the vagina unclean, they suffer from a certain type of discharge. This discharge is not actually leucorrhoea; it should be considered an ordinary discharge. However, if care is not taken in good time, it may turn into incurable leucorrhoea later on.

Morning – Utkśepa Mudrá, Karmásana, Bandhatraya Yoga Mudrá and Ámbhasii Práńáyáma.

Evening – Yogamudrá, Diirgha Prańáma, Bhújauṋgásana, Karmásana and Kákacaiṋcu Mudrá.

Morning – Utkśepa Mudrá, Karmásana, Gomukhásana, Yogamudrá, Diirgha Prańáma, Bhújauṋgásana, Ámbhasii Mudrá or Ámbhasii Práńáyáma, Agnisára Mudrá, and Upaviśt́a Ud́d́ayana Mudrá.

Evening – Karmásana, Gomukhásana, Yogamudrá, Diirgha Prańáma, Bhújauṋgásana, Ud́d́ayana Mudrá, Kákacaiṋcu Mudrá.

In all types of menstrual trouble – dysmenorrhoea, leucorrhoea or any other female disease – a woman should not practise ásanas or mudrás during her menstrual period. Instead, she should perform práńáyáma only.

Of the many causes of this disease, the main cause is unrestricted sexual activity. So for those who want to be cured, control over sexual activity – by both husband and wife – is necessary. Anaemia is the root cause of white leucorrhoea, so the patient should make a special point of taking easily-digestible and nutritious food. If the patient cannot tolerate milk, she should take curd-water or coconut milk, instead.

For adolescent girls suffering from abnormal discharges, attention should be given to the maintenance of their personal hygiene, together with the practice of ásanas and mudrás. Leucorrhoea occurs if contaminated matter gets a chance to accumulate inside the genital organ. So both males and females should use water after urinating. Adolescent girls suffering from this disease should wash internally either with soap and water or with water which has been boiled with neem [Azadirachta indica A. Juss] leaves. The fingernails should be cut short, otherwise women may injure themselves internally.

1. Grind 4 red javá [China-roses – Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn.] in the water in ámáni.⁽²⁾ If taken in 1/2 tola quantity every day during the menstrual period, this will cure all kinds of menstrual troubles.

2. Ashokakśiira [see Remedy 1 for dysmenorrhoea (cramps) above] gives good results with all menstrual troubles.

3. Take the root of white ákanda and grind it in the raw milk of a black cow on a Sunday. The patient should drink 1/4 tola of the preparation every day during menstruation. This will give good results.

Heavy feeling in the abdomen, difficulty in defecating and urinating, anaemia, white leucorrhoea, pain in the back and waist, pain like the pain of cramps, etc., are the symptoms of this disease.

The uterus lies in a suspended position supported by a few ligaments behind the navel region. So it is not at all unusual for the uterus to get displaced or to change sides. Since the uterus is situated in between the urinary bladder and the rectum, any displacement of it may hinder defecation or urination. The uterus has an elastic quality and can shrink and expand. This is why a positional change of the uterus may cause great disorder in the lower trunk.

Though constipation is not the only cause of this disease, it is the main one. Because, due to accumulation of stool, the colon gets swollen, putting pressure on the uterus, and causing it to change its position. Again, though there are many reasons for constipation, excessive sexual activity is the main one.

During menstruation, when the uterus remains full of blood, bending forward to do any heavy chore, or lifting heavy pots from the stove, may also lead to the displacement of the uterus.

Due to excessive sexual intercourse, the nervous system of the lower portion of the body may suffer from all-round debility. Consequently, those few ligaments that keep the uterus suspended also become weak, and thereby become a factor in the displacement of the uterus.

Too much use of medicines and injections also weakens the blood and nerve-cells, due to which dislodgement of the uterus may occur. Anaemia and nervous debilities caused in this way are two of the many causes of displacement of the uterus.

Repeated induced child-births, short-cutting the body’s normal child-bearing forces, may also weaken the nerves of the lower body. This enhances the chance of displacement of the uterus.

Morning – Utkśepa Mudrá, Padahastásana, Shalabhásana, Ud́d́ayana Mudrá, Bandhatraya Yoga Mudrá and Ámbhasii Mudrá or Ámbhasii Práńáyáma.

Evening – Padahastásana, Pashcimottánásana, Sarváuṋgásana, Matsyamudrá and Kákacaiṋcu Mudrá.

Taking vyápaka snána⁽³⁾ is very beneficial with this disease. See restriction on ásanas given under “Treatment”, Section C of this chapter.

With this disease patients should be allowed to rest as much as possible. Sexual intercourse should be completely stopped. If the uterus is found to be totally displaced; or if there is acute burning; or if the displacement arises from a tumor in the uterus or in the abdomen; then adopting the above steps will bring good results.

But some women in this situation undergo surgery to remove the uterus or ovaries. Obviously, such surgery cannot bring about a cure. Rather, this is like trying to cure a headache by cutting off the head. The loss of these important glands makes a woman sexually neuter and brings about great changes in body and mind. Different mental disorders appear, and often the woman goes mad. So as soon as a woman realizes that she has a displaced uterus, she should be especially careful to avoid constipation and to see that her urination remains normal.

If a woman between the ages of sixteen or seventeen and thirty or thirty-five is unable to conceive in spite of having sexual intercourse, this may be considered a case of sterility or infertility. However, the sterility may or may not be that of the woman. Often it is due to sterility of the male partner that society considers a woman sterile.

1. The ova, produced in the ovaries, pass through the Fallopian tubes to reach the uterus. When the Fallopian tubes are weak, diseased, or blocked by contaminated matter, the ova either fail to reach the uterus or die on the way. Consequently, conception cannot take place even if living spermatozoa are present in the uterus.

2. The ovaries, the ova-producing organs, are situated a little above the groin on either side. Due to lack of physical labour, anaemia, physical debility or any other physical defect, or any congenital defect, the ovaries may not be able to produce ova, or only overly-weak ones. When this takes place, women will be sterile or give birth to still-born babies.

3. In the case of women who are very bad-tempered, that is, dominated by the váyu or pitta factor a little of the pitta can enter the uterus and be stored there. This poisonous pitta kills the sperm and destroys the chance of conception.

4. Excess body fat can cause the female genitals to become somewhat misshapen. As a result, the sperm cannot reach their destination and conception cannot take place. To such women intercourse becomes frustrating, and their sexual dissatisfaction makes them both over-desirous and quarrelsome, and destroys the peace of their domestic life.

5. Excessive intercourse makes the nervous system of the lower portion of the body weak and insensitive, and conception cannot take place. For just this reason, prostitutes are generally infertile.

6. Excessive acidity of the body, many a time, does not allow the foetus to draw the fluids or blood necessary for its development, so the foetus dies a premature death; that is, the woman tends to have still-births. Women who are excessively fond of eating non-vegetarian food but do not undertake adequate physical labour suffer from over-acidity of the blood.

7. Those males who develop the unnatural habit of wasting their semen excessively before they attain the age of twenty-five or twenty-six tend to lose their capacity to produce healthy sperm. The sperm of such persons cannot produce an embryo.

8. In the case of males who, even after attaining adulthood, live intemperately, the testes cannot produce healthy sperm; in this case also conception cannot take place.

9. If a male suffers from excessive pitta secretion, that pitta destroys the ova in the uterus and does not allow any embryo to be formed.

10. If the spermatic duct becomes diseased, weak, hardened or full of impurities, then a person becomes infertile, and conception cannot take place.

The causes behind sterility and infertility are many. Therefore one particular remedy cannot be applied in all cases. The original defect in the male or female which has caused the sterility should be treated properly. Removing the defect or defects will bring good results with the sterility.

Inability to bear a second child, after bearing one, should be treated in just the same manner.

Many people think that infertility can occur due to leucorrhoea or displacement of the uterus. But this impression is not entirely correct. Because even during such conditions the link between the ovaries and the uterus through the Fallopian tubes remains unaffected. But it is true that, if these diseases are present, the chance of still-births is greater.

If the testes of the male or the ovaries of the female are underdeveloped for congenital reasons, that type of sterility if very difficult to cure.

Very often the opening of the vagina becomes flaccid or stretched, and the vagina almost protrudes. In such cases, for good results in a short time, patients should take vyápaka snána regularly and perform Utkśepa Mudrá, Yogamudrá, Diirgha Prańáma and Bhújauṋgásana.

Whatever the reason for sterility or infertility, taking vyápaka shaoca⁽⁴⁾ is very beneficial.

1. A pregnant woman can avoid miscarriage if an entire root of svet apámárga [white apámárga plant] or a root of white aparájitá plant is worn around the patient’s waist.

Many women give birth to still-born children; some children die a few minutes before or after delivery.

In case of this tendency (when it is apparent that the child in the womb is alive), for a few days before the delivery the would-be mother should keep her hair untied and loose, and should tie a root of white jayantii plant in her hair and keep it there continuously till the child is born. In this way she can avoid a still-birth.

At present a large number of women in society suffer from one female disease or other. The main reasons are:

Though female diseases may not be obviously fatal, they slowly sap the vitality of the individual, and children, who are the hope of society, are born with mental and physical defects which remain throughout their lives. What a terrible situation this is for society can easily be imagined. On account of female diseases women often die prematurely. In most cases, if not all, lack of self-control by the male is one of the causes of female disease. It is certainly not desirable for women to go to their graves prematurely due to the intemperance of men. Sexual over-indulgence is also harmful to the men, because it causes excessive wastage of shukra, which [in the lymph stage] nourishes the brain. Remember that self-control is the greatest thing in life.

(1) This passage refers especially to problems that arise when cooking on a wood or coal stove, and when preparing food on the floor. –Trans.

(2) “Rice is to be cooked at night and kept in an earthen pot, adding some water, tamarind juice and a little salt if needed. The following morning, the fermented product should be kneaded well and then strained through a piece of cloth. The liquid thus obtained is called ámáni. It is an alcoholic drink and slightly intoxicating but it also has medicinal properties.” (Shrii P.R. Sarkar, Natural Medicine, 2009, “Respiratory Diseases, Fever, Female Diseases, Infant Care, Other Diseases”)

(3) [[Regarding vyápaka snána, the author’s Ananda Marga Caryácarya Part 3, “Different Yoga Practices” explains:
A bathtub is most convenient, but if this is not available, an earthen trough will suffice. If this is not available either, a wet towel can be used, soaking it repeatedly in water. Fill the bathtub with cold water, and sit in it undressed so that the area from the navel down remains submerged. Keep your feet dry and out of the tub. The area from the neck to the navel should be kept covered with a shirt or dry cloth. The crown of the head and the back of the head should be kept covered with a wet towel.
Now take another towel and rub the area from the right side of the abdomen to the groin seven or eight times. Do likewise on the left-hand side and horizontally from right to left and left to right. You should make sure that the towel on the head remains wet.
After this, wipe the abdomen, hands and thighs and take a full bath. If this is not possible, then leave the tub wearing a shirt.
This should be practised behind closed doors. In the absence of a bathtub or an earthen trough, a wet towel may be wrapped around the areas to be bathed, but in order to compensate, cold water must be poured constantly over the towel, and the towel which is to be used for the massage must be kept wet. After vyápaka snána, the thighs, pubic area and abdomen should be warmed with a dry towel.
Before and after this bath one should not eat, in order to allow the stomach to rest.
–Trans.]]

(4) [[Regarding vyápaka shaoca, the author explains in Ananda Marga Caryácarya Part 2, “The Body”: “Method of doing vyápaka shaoca: At first wash your genital organs; then hands up to elbows and legs up to knees; then, taking a mouthful of water, splash water on the eyes and face at least twelve times. Finally wash the ears and the neck. Do násápána (flushing the nostrils with water) also (only if your stomach is empty).” –Trans.]]