Heart Disease
Examination of the pulse played an important role in diagnosis and prognosis in Hindu medicine. But the nature of circulation and cardiac function was not well understood, which helps to explain the sketchy nature of the descriptions of cardiac diseases in the texts.
Moreover, the descriptions in the Sushruta and the Caraka do not exactly correspond. Heart disease due to disturbed Vayu that caused palpitations, pain, slowing of the heart rate, fainting fits, and murmuring sounds in the heart constitutes the only condition that truly suggests a cardiac disorder. Other diseases of the “heart” seem more like gastrointestinal disorders in that they could be caused by bad eating habits, and their symptoms included a sense Ofheaviness in the precordium, a bitter or acid taste in the mouth, tiredness, and belching. Another type of “heart disease” was due to parasites arising in putrefied food. Here, the parasites were thought to invade one portion of the heart and gradually destroy the rest.
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