This is a case study of a 40 days old baby boy living in USA. However, Ayurvedic support was given from India. The baby developed Jaundice within the first 48 hours of his birth. His direct and total serum bilirubin kept increasing till almost 10 days. His max direct serum bilirubin was 7.2 and max serum bilirubin was 13. The doctors treating the baby ordered HIDA scan. In the scan, the nuclear isotope didn’t light up the biliary tree, not enter the gallbladder and neither was excreted into the small intestine. The doctors were suspecting Biliary Atresia and were planning to conduct Liver Biopsy and Diagnostic Cholangiography.Eventually, it was revealed that Baby’s Cholangiography was perfect – Gallbladder, Common bile duct, branches of bile duct were visible. This result reduced the probability of Biliary Atresia significantly.However, the doctors were still suspicious about infections or any other pathological findings. Some genetics tests were done as well. Arginine and citrulline ratio was apparently out of normal range.
This 40 days old baby with such probabilities of complications, needed the a complete understanding of the case from an ayurvedic perspective. Ayurveda has its own paradigm and understands the health issues in its own way.
As a part of assessment for this baby a thorough history of mother during pregnancy was quite necessary. It was observed that the mother had developed gestational diabetes and that according to ayurveda can be a potential causative factor.
The lifestyle the mother adapted to and the feed that baby received after the birth was sufficient to create an obstruction in the passage of the bile juice and that would mimic a serious condition pertaining to biliary atresia or some congenital anomaly.
Understanding the pathology right from the root cause has always been an asset of Ayurveda Management. It helps to connect the dots and by which we can come to a conclusion.
According to Ayurveda, accumulation of excess kapha / kleda is the root cause for gestational diabetes and it may have some implications on the development of the baby in the fetal stage.
Any uncooked, raw and cold food fed to the baby can certainly aggravate this condition and that was unknowingly done by the parents. The baby was fed with formula food – some market preparation and then eventually the passage of the bile was obstructed. Ayurveda understands this as a condition called as Ruddhapatha Kamala (Obstructive jaundice).
As a part of the management of this condition, the mother was given ayurvedic herbs that are known to reduce the excess kapha from her body and eventually cleanse the breast milk which in this scenario tends to become heavy and may aggravate the obstruction.
Additionally, the healing properties from the herbs would also reach through the breast milk and that can act as a route of administration of herbs to the baby.
Apart from this indirect method, a proprietary herbal preparation of Himalaya Company – Liv 52 – a liver preparation was given that can effectively remove the obstruction was given to the baby and then gradually with the help of direct and indirect methods of herbs administration, the liver parameters came back to normal.
Below are the details of the reports for the baby and the medicines administered to the mother and the baby.
On the prescription & diet changes:
Liv-52 – 6 drops twice a day
Falatrikadi Guggul – 2 tablets 3 times a day for mother
Shwadanshtradi Guggul 2 tablets twice a day for mother
Cold food, raw food, heavy to digest, excessively oily food was completely stopped.
Mung Khichdi was given to the mother on a regular basis along with regular Indian meals.
Results & Conclusion:
Gradually, change in the clinical appearance of the baby was noted. Changes in the pathological tests were also visible with regular intervals. All the liver parameters became normal.
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