Vitiligo is a condition in which the skin loses its pigment cells called as melanocytes. This can result in discolored patches in different areas of the body, including the skin, hair and mucous membranes.

Psoriasis is a skin disease that causes red, itchy scaly patches, most commonly on the knees, elbows, trunk and scalp. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that really affects the life of a person.

The common clinical features are:

• Red patches of skin covered with thick, silvery scales
• Small scaling spots (commonly seen in children)
• Dry, cracked skin that may bleed or itch
• Itching, burning or soreness
• Thickened, pitted or ridged nails
• Swollen and stiff joints

There are several types of psoriasis, including:

Plaque psoriasis. The most common form, plaque psoriasis causes dry, raised, red skin patches (lesions) covered with silvery scales. The plaques might be itchy or tender, and there may be few or many. They usually appear on elbows, knees, lower back and scalp.

Nail psoriasis. Psoriasis can affect fingernails and toenails, causing pitting, abnormal nail growth and discoloration. Psoriatic nails might loosen and separate from the nail bed called as onycholysis

Guttate psoriasis. This type primarily affects young adults and children. It's usually triggered by a bacterial infections. It is  marked by small, drop-shaped, scaling lesions on the trunk, arms or legs.

Pustular psoriasis. This rare form of psoriasis causes clearly defined pus-filled lesions that occur in widespread patches (generalized pustular psoriasis) or in smaller areas on the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet.

Erythrodermic psoriasis. The least common type of psoriasis, erythrodermic psoriasis can cover your entire body with a red, peeling rash that can itch or burn intensely.

Psoriatic arthritis. Psoriatic arthritis causes swollen, painful joints that ar

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain and damage throughout your body. The joint damage that RA causes usually happens on both sides of the body. In rheumatoid arthritis, the body's immune system attacks its own tissue, including joints. In severe cases, it attacks internal organs also.

SYMPTOMS:

• joint pain
• joint swelling
• joint stiffness
• loss of joint function and deformities

The low back supports the weight of the upper body and provides mobility for everyday motions such as bending and twisting. Muscles in the low back are responsible for flexing and rotating the hips while walking, as well as supporting the spinal column. Nerves in the low back supply sensation and power the muscles in the pelvis, legs, and feet.

Most acute low back pain results from injury to the muscles, ligaments, joints, or due to discs problems.

Cause:  

As you age, the bones and cartilage that make up your backbone and neck gradually develop wear and tear. These changes can include:

• Dehydrated disks. Disks act like cushions between the vertebrae of your spine. By the age of 40, most people's spinal disks begin drying out and shrinking, which allows more bone-on-bone contact between the vertebrae.
• Herniated disks. Age also affects the exterior of your spinal disks. Cracks often appear, leading to bulging (herniated) disks — which sometimes can press on the spinal cord and nerve roots.
• Bone spurs. Disk degeneration often results in the spine producing extra amounts of bone in a misguided effort to strengthen the spine. These bone spurs can sometimes pinch the spinal cord and nerve roots.
• Stiff ligaments. Ligaments are cords of tissue that connect bone to bone. Spinal ligaments can stiffen with age, making your neck less flexible.

Depending on the underlying cause of the pain, symptoms can be experienced in a variety of ways i.e.

a) Pain that is dull or achy contained to the low back.

b) Stinging, burning pain that moves from the low back to the backs of the thighs, sometimes into the lower legs or feet; can include numbness or Muscle spasms and tightness in the low back, pelvis, and hips.

c) Pain that worsens after prolonged sitting or standing.

d) Difficulty standing up straight, walking, or going from standing

The two common types to categorize the back pain includes:

• Mechanical pain. By far the most common cause of lower back pain, mechanical pain (axial pain) is pain primarily from the muscles, ligaments, joints (facet joints, sacroiliac joints), or bones in and around the spine. This type of pain tends to be localized to the lower back, buttocks, and sometimes the top of the legs. It is usually influenced by loading the spine and may feel different based on motion (forward/backward/twisting), activity, standing, sitting, or resting.
• Radicular pain. This type of pain can occur if a spinal nerve root becomes impinged or inflamed. Radicular pain may follow a nerve root pattern or dermatome down into the buttock and/or leg. Its specific sensation is sharp, electric, burning-type pain and can be associated with numbness or weakness (sciatica).

There can be a traumatic pain as well.

In addition, symptoms of lower back pain are usually described by type of onset and duration:

Acute pain. This type of pain typically comes on suddenly and lasts for a few days or weeks, and is considered a normal response of the body to injury or tissue damage. The pain gradually subsides as the body heals.

Subacute low back pain. Lasting between 6 weeks and 3 months, this type of pain is usually mechanical in nature (such as a muscle strain or joint pain) but is prolonged. At this point, a medical workup may be considered, and is advisable if the pain is severe and limits one’s ability to participate in activities of daily living, sleeping, and working.

Chronic back pain. Usually defined as lower back pain that lasts over 3 months, this type of pain is usually severe, does not respond to initial treatments, and requires a thorough medical workup to determine the exact source of the pain.

Symptoms:

• Tingling, numbness and weakness in your arms, hands, legs or feet
• Lack of coordination and difficulty walking
• Loss of bladder or bowel control

 Cervical spondylosis is also called cervical osteoarthritis. It is a condition involving changes to the bones, discs, and joints of the neck. These changes are caused by the normal wear-and-tear of aging. With age, the discs of the cervical spine gradually break down, lose fluid, and become stiffer. Cervical spondylosis usually occurs in middle-aged and elderly people. As a result of the degeneration of discs and other cartilage, spurs or abnormal growths called osteophytes may form on the bones in the neck. These abnormal growths can cause narrowing of the interior of the spinal column or in the openings where spinal nerves exit, a related condition called cervical spinal stenosis.

Causes:

The bones and protective cartilage in your neck are prone to wear and tear that can lead to cervical spondylosis. Possible causes includes:

• Bone spurs: These are the over growths of bone as the body tries to compensate the weak bone. However, the extra bone can press on delicate areas of the spine, such as the spinal cord and nerves, resulting in pain.
• Dehydrated spinal discs: Your spinal bones have discs between them, which are thick, padlike cushions that absorb the shock of lifting, twisting, and other activities. The gel-like material inside these discs can dry out over time. This causes your bones (spinal vertebrae) to rub together more, which can be painful.This process can begin to happen in early stages of life as well.
• Herniated discs: Spinal discs can develop cracks, which allows leakage of the internal cushioning material. This material can press on the spinal cord and nerves, resulting in symptoms such as arm numbness as well as pain that radiates down an arm.
• Injury: Trauma to your neck can accelerate the aging process of the bones.
• Ligament stiffness: The tough cords that connect your spinal bones to each other can become even stiffer over time, which affects your neck movement and makes the neck feel tight.
• Overuse: Some occupations or hobbies involve repetitive movements or heavy lifting (such as construction work). This can put extra pressure on the spine, resulting in early wear and tear.

Symptoms:

• Tingling, numbness and weakness in your arms, hands, fingers.
• Localized pain at cervical region.
• Radiating pain from cervical region to shoulders, arms, hands.
• Dizziness.

 Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease and most common type of arthritis. It is characterized by focal loss of articular hyaline cartilage with formation and remodeling of a joint.   Cartilage provides a smooth surface to allow free movement of joint, provides a cushioning, and for joint stability. Cartilage can become frayed, cracked, and degenerates.  Eventually it can worsen and effectively the cartilage fails and then ends of the bones rub and bang on each other. Bones have nerves and this is when the joints become painful.  Osteoarthritis can occur without a history of joint injury. However an injury to the joint ligaments, and/or injury to the joint cartilage can lead to osteoarthritis at a later time. This is called post traumatic osteoarthritis. 

Symptoms:

• Restricted movements
• Audible coarse crepitus in the joints.
• Localized swelling around the joint.
• Muscle weakness and wasting.
• Deformity.

One of the risk factors for osteoarthritis that we do have control over is body weight.  Excess body weight has direct effect on osteoarthritis. Individuals who are overweight (Body Mass Index of 25 to 29) are 2.5 times more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis and those who were obese (body mass index of >30) are 4.6 times more likely to develop osteoarthritis.

Diabetes mellitus (DM), commonly known as diabetes, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased appetite, tiredness, fatique, pruritus, nausea, vomiting, mood changes . 

Types:

Type 1 diabetes: This type is an autoimmune disease, meaning your body attacks itself. In this case, the insulin-producing cells in your pancreas are destroyed so the production of insulin in the body is very less or the production of insulin is completely stopped.It is also called insulin-dependent diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes: With this type, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or your body’s cells don’t respond normally to the insulin.

Prediabetes: This type is the stage before type 2 diabetes. Your blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be officially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Gestational diabetes: This type develops in some women during their pregnancy. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after pregnancy, however, if you have gestational diabetes you're at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later on in life.

Causes:

• Immune mediated
• Idiopathic
• Genetic defects
• Viral infections,
• Drug induced
• Pancreatic disease.
• Alcohol
• obesity

Complications of Diabetes Mellitus:

It is a silent killer affecting your brain, heart, kidneys, nerves involving multi organ system.

Hypertension is another name for high blood pressure. It can lead to severe health complications and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and sometimes death. Blood pressure is the force that a person's blood exerts against the walls of their blood vessels.

 When there is no specific underlying cause for hypertension, it is called as essential hypertension.

Causes:

• Alcohol
• Obesity
• Renal vascular disease
• Parenchymal renal disease
• Endocrinal disease
• Drug induced hypertension
• Stress

Health care tips to avoid hypertension:

People should exercise on at least 5 days of the week like walking, jogging, cycling, or swimming.

Stress reduction can help a person to control blood pressure.

Avoid eating fast food.

Control your cholesterol & triglyceride levels.

Hypertension if uncontrolled can lead to multiorgan system involvement.

Piles are swollen and inflamed veins in the rectum and anus that cause discomfort and bleeding. The size of piles can vary, and they are found inside or outside the anus. Piles occur due to chronic constipation, chronic diarrhea, lifting heavy weights, pregnancy, or straining when passing a stool.

Hair loss (alopecia) can affect just your scalp or your entire body, and it can be temporary or permanent. 

It can be the result of heredity, hormonal changes, medical conditions or a normal part of aging. Anyone can lose hair on their head, but it's more common in men.

Baldness typically refers to excessive hair loss from your scalp. Hereditary hair loss with age is the most common cause of baldness. 

Signs and symptoms of hair loss may include:

• Gradual thinning on top of head. This is the most common type of hair loss, affecting people as they age. In men, hair often begins to recede at the hairline on the forehead. Women typically have a broadening of the part in their hair.
• Circular or patchy bald spots. Some people lose hair in circular or patchy bald spots on the scalp, beard or eyebrows.
• Sudden loosening of hair. A physical or emotional shock can cause hair to loosen. Handfuls of hair may come out when combing or washing your hair or even after gentle tugging. This type of hair loss usually causes overall hair thinning but is temporary.
• Full-body hair loss. Some conditions and medical treatments, such as chemotherapy for cancer, can result in the loss of hair all over your body. The hair usually grows back.
• Patches of scaling that spread over the scalp. This is a sign of ringworm. It may be accompanied by broken hair, redness, swelling and, at times, oozing.

A migraine can cause severe throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation, usually on one side of the head. It's often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound.

Migraine attacks can last for hours to days, and the pain can be so severe that it interferes with your daily activities.

Migraine headaches are sometimes preceded by warning symptoms. Triggers include hormonal changes, certain food and drink, stress and exercise.

Prodrome

Hours or days before a headache, about 60% of people who have migraines notice symptoms like:

• Being sensitive to light, sound, or smell
• Fatique
• Food cravings or lack of appetite
• Mood changes
• Severe thirst
• Constipation
• Loose stools

Aura:

These symptoms stem from your nervous system and often involve your vision. They usually start gradually, over a 5- to 20-minute period, and last less than an hour. Patients may experience:

• See black dots, wavy lines, flashes of light, or visual hallucinations.
• Not be able to see at all.
• Have tingling or numbness on one side of your body.
• Have a heavy feeling in your arms and legs.
• Have ringing in your ears.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is characterised by recurrent abdominal pain in association with abnormal defecation in the absence of a structural abnormality of the gut. Young women are affected 2–3 times more often than men. Coexisting conditions, such as non-ulcer dyspepsia, chronic fatigue syndrome, dysmenorrhoea and fibromyalgia, are common. 

Common signs & symptoms:

• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Nausea
• Abdominal pains and cramping, usually in the lower part of the abdomen, that are likely to worsen after meals and improve after a bowel movement
• A lot of gas or bloating of the abdomen
• Harder or looser stools than usual
• A sudden urge to go to the bathroom
• An altering pattern of constipation and diarrhea
• Passing of mucus from the rectal area
• Food intolerance

Psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression are also likely to occur to individuals, often due to the discomfort or embarrassment that arises because of IBS.

Common Causes:

Some of the common causes of IBS include:

• Slowed movements of the colon, leading to painful cramping
• Abnormal levels of serotonin in the colon, causing irregular motility and bowel movements
• Mild celiac disease that leads to the development of IBS symptoms

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of unusual behavior, sensations, and sometimes loss of awareness.

Epilepsy may occur as a result of a genetic disorder or an acquired brain injury, such as a trauma or stroke.

Seizure types are divided into two major groups:

• Generalized: Seizures produced by widespread abnormal electrical impulses present throughout the entire brain.
• Partial (sometimes referred to as focal or localized): Seizures produced by electrical impulses that generate from a relatively small or “localized” part of the brain (referred to as the focus).

The Ayurvedic treatment for epilepsy has shown efficient results in decreasing the number of attacks & intensity of attacks. Also the time intervals between attacks has significantly increased.