Nystagmus- Ayurvedic Treatment, Diet, Exercises, Research Papers, Yoga & Pranayama

Introduzione

Nystagmus is a condition that causes involuntary, rapid movement of one or both eyes. It often occurs with vision problems, including blurred vision. This condition is sometimes called “dancing eyes.” It is a feeling like the eyes have a mind of their own. They move up and down, side to side, or in a circle. It’s a condition where the person can’t control his/her eye movements.

Segni e sintomi

The symptoms include fast, uncontrollable eye movements. The direction of movement determines the type of nystagmus:

  • Horizontal nystagmus involves side-to-side eye movements.
  • Vertical nystagmus involves up-and-down eye movements.
  • Rotatory, or torsional, nystagmus involves circular movements.

These movements may occur in one or both eyes depending on the cause. Movement of eyes without control is the most important sign. It might be fast, then slow, then fast again.  It might affect one eye, but it’s usually in both eyes. There can be other difficulties including:

  • Difficulty in steady gazing. Things look clearer when the head is tilted or turned.
  • Blurred vision.
  • Night blindness
  • Photosensitivity

Cause

It may be a sign of another eye problem or medical condition. It can be present from birth or it can be developed later in life. Nystagmus is caused by many different things, including:

  • Being passed down from parents
  • Other eye issues, like cataracts or strabismus
  • Diseases like stroke, multiple sclerosis, or Meniere’s disease
  • Head injury
  • Inner ear problems
  • Certain medications, like lithium or drugs for seizures like phenytoin
  • Alcohol or drug use
  • B-12 or thiamine deficiencies
  • brain tumours

Fisiopatologia

Gaze-evoked nystagmus is produced by the attempted maintenance of an extreme eye position. It is the most common form of nystagmus. Gaze-evoked nystagmus is due to a deficient eye position signal in the neural integrator network. Thus, the eyes cannot be maintained at an eccentric orbital position and are pulled back toward primary position by the elastic forces of the orbital fascia. Then, corrective saccade moves the eyes back toward the eccentric position in the orbit.

Gaze-evoked nystagmus may be caused by structural lesions that involve the neural integrator network, which is dispersed between the vestibulocerebellum, the medulla (region of the nucleus prepositus hypoglossi and adjacent medial vestibular nucleus, and the interstitial nucleus of Cajal (INC). Patients recovering from a gaze palsy go through a period where they are able to gaze in the direction of the previous palsy, but they are unable to sustain gaze in that direction; therefore, the eyes drift slowly back toward primary position followed by a corrective saccade. When this is repeated, a gaze-evoked or gaze-paretic nystagmus results.

Gaze-evoked nystagmus often is encountered in healthy patients; in which case, it is called end-point nystagmus. End-point nystagmus usually can be differentiated from gaze-evoked nystagmus caused by disease, in that the former has lower intensity and, more importantly, is not associated with other ocular motor abnormalities.

 

Abducting nystagmus of internuclear ophthalmoplegia (INO) is, as the name implies, nystagmus in the abducting eye contralateral to a medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) lesion

Periodic alternating nystagmus is a conjugate, horizontal jerk nystagmus with the fast phase beating in one direction for a period of approximately 1-2 minutes. The nystagmus has an intervening neutral phase lasting 10-20 seconds; the nystagmus begins to beat in the opposite direction for 1-2 minutes; then, the process repeats itself. The presumed mechanism is disruption of the vestibulo-ocular tracts at the pontomedullary junction.

Diagnosi

  • Ophthalmic evaluation
  • Vision acuity test
  • Spinning chair test
  • Ear examination
  • Neurological exam
  • Brain MRI
  • Brain CT scan
  • Recording of eye movement

Trattamenti

Congenital nystagmus doesn’t require treatment, although the following may help improve the vision:

  • eyeglasses
  • contact lenses
  • increased lighting around the house

Sometimes, congenital nystagmus lessens over the course of childhood without treatment.

In children with severe cases, surgery called a tenotomy to change the position of the muscles that control eye movement may be helpful.

Such surgery can’t cure nystagmus, but it can reduce the tilting of the head to improve the vision.

In acquired nystagmus, treatment will focus on the underlying cause. Some common treatments for acquired nystagmus include:

  • changing medications
  • correcting vitamin deficiencies with supplements and dietary adjustments
  • medicated eye drops for eye infections
  • antibiotics for infections of the inner ear
  • botulinum toxin to treat severe disturbances in vision caused by eye movement
  • special glasses lenses called prisms
  • brain surgery for central nervous system disorders or brain diseases

Prognosi

Nystagmus may improve over time with or without treatment. However, nystagmus usually never goes away completely.

Complicazioni

  • Brain damage
  • Difficulty walking and maintaining balance
  • Loss of cognitive abilities
  • Paralisi
  • Permanent disability
  • Unconsciousness and coma.

Malattie e Ayurveda

        There is no exact Ayurvedic term for nystagmus. Yet the uncontrollable and abnormal movements of eyelids come under vitiated Vaata dosha signs.

Nidana

Fisico

Cibi secchi, freddi e vecchi

Eccesso di viaggi e di sforzi

Trauma/lesione

Esposizione al vento

Perdita di sonno

Psicologico

Trauma mentale o lutto

La paura

Ansia

Purvaaroopa
Non menzionato

Samprapti

Due to either obstruction to channels, or depletion of body tissues, the movement of Vaata gets deranged. The normal functions of Vaayu when disturbed like this and gets lodged in eyes and the muscles around eyes, it produces the disorder like nystagmus.

Lakshana

Uncontrollable eye movements

Divisioni

        Non menzionato

Prognosi

Yaapya

Chikithsa

Samana

Ayurvedic treatment for nystagmus depends upon the cause for Vaatakopa and any associated dosha present. If Vaata is vitiated due to obstruction in channels/Kapha is the associated vitiated dosha, first approach should be to remove the accumulated toxic metabolic waste (Aama) from the body. It can be done by drying up and body-lightening therapies like:

Lepanam with Rookshana dravyas

Swedanam

Mild fasting

If the Vaatakopa is due to degeneration and Vaata-Pitta doshas are aggravated, only mild Aamapaachana with some medicines or diet modifications will be enough. The treatment with snehana swedana sodhana panchakarma and then bruhana will be more suitable in this case.

Localised application of medicines in eyes are also done.

Sodhana

Snehana-swedana

Virechana

Nasya-dhoomapana

Kashayavasti

Snehvaasti

Farmaci di uso comune

        Pathyakshadhatryadi kashayam

Dhanwantharam Kashayam

Balajeerakadi Kashayam

Dhanadanayanadi Kashayam

Vaiswanara Churna

Shaddharana Churna

Thriphalachoornam

Patoladi ghrutam

Ksheerabala tailam

Dhanwantaram tailam

Marche disponibili

AVS Kottakal

AVP Coimbatore

SNA oushadhasala

Vaidyaratnam oushadhasala

Rimedi casalinghi

No home remedies are proven to cure nystagmus

Dieta

  • Da evitare

I pasti pesanti e gli alimenti difficili da digerire causano indigestione.

Cibi spazzatura: causano disturbi della digestione e riducono la biodisponibilità del farmaco.

Bevande gassate: rendono lo stomaco più acido e disturbano la digestione.

Cibi refrigerati e congelati - causano una digestione debole e lenta indebolendo Agni (fuoco digestivo).

Latte e prodotti lattiero-caseari - aumentano kapha, causano l'ostruzione dei canali e l'obesità.

Cagliata - causa vidaaha e quindi molte altre malattie

  • Da aggiungere

Pasti leggeri e alimenti facilmente digeribili

Green gram, soups, honey

Cibo fresco e caldo trattato con semi di cumino, zenzero, pepe nero, ajwain, ecc.

Comportamento:

Proteggersi dal clima freddo.

È meglio evitare l'esposizione a luce solare eccessiva, pioggia o polvere.

Mantenere un programma alimentare e di sonno regolare.

Evitare di trattenere o forzare gli stimoli come urina, feci, tosse, starnuti ecc.

Evitare la sedentarietà.

lo yoga

Regular stretching and mild cardio exercises are advised. Also, specific yogacharya including naadisuddhi pranayama, bhujangaasana, pavanamuktasana is recommended.

L'esercizio fisico regolare aiuta a migliorare la biodisponibilità dei farmaci e degli alimenti ingeriti e porta a una salute positiva.

Lo yoga può mantenere l'armonia all'interno del corpo e con il sistema circostante.

Pavanamuktasana

Nadisudhi pranayama

Bhujangasana

Along with yoga for whole body, special yoga techniques for eyes should also be done.

Tutti gli esercizi e gli sforzi fisici devono essere decisi ed eseguiti esclusivamente sotto la supervisione di un medico esperto.

Articoli di ricerca

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1279674/