Institute of Ayurveda & Integrative Medicine Health Care Centre (I-AIM IHC), an initiative by the Foundation of Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) has set up a dedicated migraine clinic. The new facility at the I-AIM IHC campus at Yehalanka in the outskirts of Bengaluru comes with the backing of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recognising ayurveda as a medical option to treat migraine which is now affects 18 crore people worldwide.

The clinic within the I-AIM is established under the guidance of Vaidya Balendra Prakash, a well-known ayurveda physician and founder director of Vaidya Chandra Prakash Cancer Research Foundation at Dehradun.

Vaidya Balendra Prakash has effectively delineated an innovative approach for the cause and cure of migraine by combining ayurvedic concepts of diagnosis and treatment. His pioneering work on migraine has been presented and published at various journals and international forums in the UK, Sweden and USA. In recognition of his work he was also accorded membership of International Headache Society, UK. “Now I-AIM has taken the advantage to extend the benefits of his findings to the migraine patients in southern states of India by establishing an exclusive migraine clinic in its facility,” said Dr G G Gangadharan, medical director, I-IAM.

There is a growing incidence of migraine and with no known cause. Moreover, it has been difficult to offer an established treatment to cure the disease. Nevertheless, there are many theories towards it diagnosis and management. However, all such measures bring substantial burden to an individual’s personal, social and professional life as the frequency and intensity is quite high during their productive years. The symptoms are associated with episodic headache with nausea, vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia among others, according to I-AIM IHC.

There are many theories and treatments available to control pain and associated symptoms in migraine patients. However there is no concrete cause and treatment to cure migraine in western medicine, said Dr Gangadharan.

Ayurvedic treatment for migraine is a combination of regulated diet, lifestyle and four classical Ayurvedic formulations. The 120-day treatment protocol is safe and significantly therapeutically effective. Such findings have been published in three peer reviewed international journals, he said.

I-AIM Health Care Centre (IHC) a multidisciplinary research, education and outreach arm of FRLHT has established a specialty migraine clinic at its Bangalore The clinic will be able to cater the need of migraine patients and I-IAM IHC proposes to set up many more such specialty clinics in the coming months, added the I-AIM medical director.