Today, let me talk about kandu( कंडू), commonly called itching. It is a type of skin disease ( त्वचारोग) with itching as the main symptom.

Ayurveda has always insisted that there are some urges ( वेग) which should always be controlled and some should never be. As we know, वेग are of two types; one, अधारणीयवेग that we should never control ( मलमूत्रादी) and second, धारणीयवेग that we should always control ( मोहईरश्यादिमानसिकवेग).

The question is whether कंडू come under the धारणीय or अधारणीय category. Usually धारणीयवेग are always मानसिक . By this, one can imply that कंडू is also a मनोविकार and controlling our मन or मानसिकचिकित्सा is required to cure the condition. But it is not always so. Let’s understand this.

It is told in our shastras that, रुजा (pain) is a sign of vaatadosha, दाह (burning) is the sign of pitta dosha and कंडू is the sign of kaphadoshadushti. Once there is a significant accumulation of दुष्टदोष on skin, both our body and mind together try to eliminate it from our body by meansof itching. If the doshadushti is small, like the one produced by a mosquito bite etc, it is easily removed by itching. But sometimes, due to कफदोषवैषम्य, a small itch starts in nose or other मलयातन which when itched causes a sort of pleasure, due to which we feel like scratching and itching it again and again. Our मन forms the प्रवृत्ती to itch again and again. This small itch, due to our incapacity to control it, ultimately leads to त्वचारोग. Also, our itching continuously, particularly in areas like नासादीमलायातन, is an embarrassing situation if done in public.

Even though identifying the reason for the initial itch and treating it accordingly ( शारीरिकचिकित्सा) is necessary, controlling our urge to itch, which caused the simple itch to become a त्वचारोग is also equally important. Hence we can say that कंडू is a धारणीयवेग, which should always be controlled. Most of the कंडू caused due to kapha dosh dushti, itching increases the more we itch. Hence to make sure the कंडू isn’t elevated, we need to control the itching .Any type of कंडू, either a simple one or the one caused due to conditions like psoriasis, and eczema etc, the first line of treatment is to control the urge to itch.

Patients should be advised not to itch the particular area at least for the initial days or till it reaches a stage where in it starts affecting our mental health. At that stage, the patient can indulge in itching, but in a very mild form. Also, the rest of the treatment should be continued parallelly.

Even though कंडू is considered to be धारणीयवेग, controlling the urge should not be the only line of treatment. दोषdushti is definitely there. So it’sनिदान and treating it with appropriate medicines is very important too. Hence both, शारीरिक and मानसिकचिकित्सा should be done.

Travancore Ayurveda gives simple and best treatment for such problems. Please consult our experts at different branches to control and help you in eliminating this common problem.

Ayurveda has best solutions for skin problems

DrSmitaB.A.M.S

Travancore Ayurveda

 Madinaguda. Hyderabad