An Overview of the Ideas of the Traditional Medical Scholars on the Symptoms, Causes and Treatment of Nasal Catarrh and Post Nasal Drip
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American Journal of Ethnomedicine, 2015, Vol. 2, No. 1 ISSN: 2348-9502 Available online at http://www.ajethno.com © American Journal of Ethnomedicine An Overview of the Ideas of the Traditional Medical Scholars on the Symptoms, Causes and Treatment of Nasal Catarrh and Post Nasal Drip Taiebeh Shoja1, Mohsen Shamsi2, Saeed Changizi Ashtiyani*3, Majid Ramezani4 and Ali Aalizadeh5 1Medical Student, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran 2Assistant Professor, Faculty of Public Health, Arak University of Medical sciences, Arak, Iran 3Associate Professor, Faculty of Paramedics, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran 4Osteoporosis Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 5The Persian Gulf Marine Biotechnology Research Center, the Persian Gulf Biomedical Research Center, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran *Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Post nasal drip (PND) and catarrh were among the diseases much dealt with in Iranian traditional medicine. Traditionally, it included a wide range of concepts. The purpose of this review was to provide a brief overview of the opinions of Jorjani, Avicenna and Rhazes on PND and catarrh and to compare them with the findings in modern medicine. PND and catarrh are roughly and not exactly equivalent to Zokam and Nozleh in Persian traditional medicine. What is common between traditional and the modern medicine is that both believe that these diseases are rooted in brain. It seems that things like cold, rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngeal secretions and their side effects are closely related to the catarrh and PND. This study was a retrospective study which examined the ideas of Iranian scholars like Jorjani, Avicenna and Rhazes on identifying and treating catarrh and PND and compared them with modern medical science. In this study on traditional medical texts, it was found that the diagnosis, prevention and recommendations on PND and catarrh in both modern and Islamic traditional schools of medicine are much the same in such a way that even the examining tools were similar. Keywords- Avicenna, Jorjani, Rhazes , Catarrh, PND, Medical history. Page 46 www.ajethno.com American Journal of Ethnomedicine ________________________________________ ISSN: 2348-9502 INTRODUCTION According to Iranian traditional medicine PND and catarrh are caused by a Catarrh is one of the most common variety of reasons including: weakness of diseases in winter that emerges with itching brain, weakness of stomach, heat- in the throat, sneezing, runny nose, fatigue, temperedness, cold-temperedness, exposure tiredness and fever. In this disease, nasal to cold air after bathing or exercise, and so secretions block the respiratory tract causing on. The scholars in this field have also cough and tightness in sternum. After the prescribed a variety of methods to treat this emergence of disease, the nasal secretions illnesses. may cause infection in healthy persons for up to five days. The incubation period is METHOD short, between 18 and 48 hours of the onset This overview research was done to of the disease, and it starts suddenly with no study the opinions of the well-known Iranian prior symptoms1-3. scholars Jorjani, Avicenna and Rhazes on In traditional medicine, catarrh is PND and catarrh and to compare them with known as Zokam. The term catarrh is modern findings in medicine. applied to the secretions of the nasal mucosa Texts were selected based on the which is alternatively called coryza or nasal following issues: catarrh. However, in Persian traditional 1. Understanding the causes of nasal medicine Nezleh refers to the posterior nasal catarrh and PND, classifying their causes discharge (PND). PND is caused by the and treatments according to Persian Muslim common colds in the head that are not .(physicians (Jorjani, ◌ّ Avicenna and Rhazes completely treated and the infectious 2. Comparing the opinions of Islamic sources haven't been completely removed Iranian physicians on nasal catarrh with and by the slightest provocation, the those in new medical literature. infectious secretions will recur (chronic sinusitis)2,4. RESULTS If the phlegm inside the head is discharged naturally through the nasal tract, Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi the sickness is called catarrh. However, if (Rhazes) (860-932 AD) who lived in Rey, the ethmoid bone sieve is blocked because was one of the first physicians who of dense phlegm-due to incomplete emphasized on clinical medicine and treatment or become condensed and observation. He also was expert at plastered by the treatment with antibiotics- prognosis, psychosomatic disorders and the phlegm will sediment and will be locked anatomy. in the sinusoidal space. This leads to congestion and PND; and if the process Rhazes's prescriptions on nasal catarrh and continues, headaches and a variety of PND neurological disorders will follow. From the Rhazes, the writer of Al Mansouri Fi perspective of traditional medicine these Tib in the chapter on catarrh has said: Sleep secretions are from the brain and according on your side and avoid sleeping on your to those scholars, no drugs should be back and it's better to sleep in a sitting prescribed before three days have passed position. Decrease your food and avoid and the secretions and waste should be drinking wine. allowed to discharge from the nose. Meanwhile, only light food should be 4,5 taken . Page 47 American Journal of Ethnomedicine ________________________________________ ISSN: 2348-9502 Rhazes's opinions on materia medica nasalized voice and snuffling and sometimes softeners and laxatives: twenty the thickness of the phlegm is a symptom of jujube seed and thirty cordia myxa seeds and PND. If PND is in the throat and is in cool 10 derams1 of seedless currant, four derams white color, fever will help the patient. What of dried violet, 5 derams of crushed is secreted into the nose is called nasal Glycyrrhiza glabra root and ten yellow figs catarrh.16,18 mixed with three ratls2 of water should be If the phlegm is salty, sour and sharp boiled until it is reduced to one ratl, then 10 and is not matured early and is not disposed, derams of cassia fistula and 10 derams of it causes illness to whichever organ it enters: soft manna is poured into it and is taken. If Eye: eye diseases such as runny eyes, itchy this laxative was not useful, catarrh goes to eyes and... the chest and causes cough and fever. This Ear: diseases like, Tinnitus, hearing time bloodletting from basilic vein should be impairment and… done according to the severity of the cold. Nose: nasal sores, itching, burning, and... Till the fever and coughs are gone, use beer Palate: tonsillitis, itching, burning, and... and violet jam. When the fever and coughs Pharynx and larynx: croup, hoarse voice, have improved and blood is good and pain and... secretions (from nose and mouth) have Stomach: pain, hyperphagia Celiac and started, use this mixture daily together with stomach ulcers and... violet jam to clear the chest, to cure coughs Lungs: cough, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and to improve voice.4,5,11 and…. Diaphragm: Inflammation, pleurisy and, Avicenna on nasal catarrh and PND and... Abu Ali Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Bowels; diarrhea, intestinal ulcers and... Sina, known as Avicenna (980-1037 AD) If the phlegm is raw, thick and who lived in Bukhara, was the author of an mucosal and is not excreted, it can cause encyclopedia called Shefa and a book in colic. medicine which is called Canoon fi Tib - a If the phlegm remains in the head book that is considered as of the most and cannot be discharged from any of the famous and influential works in the history outlets it may cause diseases such as stroke, of medicine. In the fifth chapter of the book epilepsy, headache, megrim, melancholy, he stated: delirium, Dizziness and lethargy "Both nasal catarrh and PND emerge (oversleeping). Of course in the above from the brain. However, the secretions mentioned illnesses, the quantity and quality which pour into the throat are commonly of the phlegm is important. called as PND. The cold PND gets mature if All of these cases are also mentioned it is together with fever, but, the warm PND in Syed Ismail Jorjani's book of Zakhireh is not affected by fever”12-16 Kharazmshahi. Symptoms of cold PND from Avicenna's Treatments view "The patient suffering PND should If phlegm is from the nose it is cold avoid overeating. In the beginning, sneezing in nature with symptoms like tickling of the is harmful as it prevents the maturation of nose, forehead expansion, nasal congestion, the phlegm in the brain. After phlegm is matured, sneezing is useful as it discharges 1An old unit of measurement about 2.4 grams. matured waste. The patient should always 2An old unit of measurement for liquids about 336 keep his head warm and avoid cold. He grams. Page 48 American Journal of Ethnomedicine ________________________________________ ISSN: 2348-9502 should not sleep during the day and should Selection: the best one is poultry egg be kept thirsty, hungry and awake which is yolk. Do not fry it. The eggs of the birds the ultimate cure. “To cure PND, phlegm which are close to poultry are the next good removers, whether drinkable or injections, ones for example:, partridge and see-see are recommended. partridge (Ammoperdix griseogularis). But the eggs of duck and other floating birds are Fighting against the cause of PND not good and have bad temperament. If it is warm, coolants should be Temperament: the temperament of applied. For instance, every morning the egg yolk is moderate; the albumen is cold patient should go to the bathroom to take a and the yolk is warm. Both are wet, though shower with fresh water and to sprinkle the albumen is wetter.