European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

RAJONIVRITTI (MENOPAUSE) AND HOW TO GO THROUGH MENOPAUSE GRACEFULLY WITH AYURVEDA

Dr. Sheetal Minhas* 

ABSTRACT

Rajonivritti (menopause) is the cessation of menstruation. Menarche (onset of menstruation) and menopause (cessation of menstruation) are the normal physiological processes in woman’s life cycle, so Ayurveda hasn’t explained rajonivritti in detail considering it a normal stage. As in Ayurveda prevention is given utmost importance and women during that era were having healthy lifestyle and were physically active too, so they used to go through this stage with ease without any much unpleasant symptoms, that may be the reason Acharyas haven’t explained elaborately about this and asked to treat it symptomatically like jaravastha symptoms. But today’s woman doesn’t take care of herself keeping her health secondary to everything, not following proper diet and lifestyle and also having stressful life; so, all these factors add to her menopausal stage and she may experience several problems during this menopausal period making it an unpleasant stage of her life. At this stage hormonal changes occur due to which woman may have symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness, slowed metabolism etc. The woman experiences the symptoms what she experiences in kshaya/ jarawastha like vasomotor, urogenital, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, psychological symptoms (menopausal symptoms), so to combat all these symptoms she needs proper care, healthy diet, psychological fitness, and proper treatment. Though Ayurveda hasn’t mentioned Rajonivritti in detail but with reference to different texts, its symptomatic treatment is possible. Ayurvedic texts have elaborately described the Ahara, Vihara, medicines and different upakrama like shirodhara etc which if followed properly the woman goes through this stage gracefully.

Keywords: Rajonivritti; menopause; menopausal symptoms.