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Conditionरोग

Bleeding disorder (raktapitta)

रक्तपित्त

Extracted from the text11 references

Raktapitta is described as blood, corrupted in the liver and spleen by vata and pitta after vata, injury or heat, flowing upward, downward or both ways. Its prodromes, incurable and fatal signs, and its prognosis by direction are given, with purgation for the upward and emesis for the downward kind, and many cooling remedies.

Names and synonyms

Sanskrit
रक्तपित्तअसृक्पित्त
Hindi
रक्तपित्तनकसीरखून गिरना
English
Bleeding disorderbleeding disorderhaemorrhageraktapitta
Romanized
raktapitta

What the text says

Each statement reports the source, with its chapter, page and verse. Traditional descriptions are not presented as proven medical facts.

Early signs1

  • Before raktapitta the abdomen feels heavy, the body burns, there is a feeling as if smoke rises from the throat, loss of taste, weakness and a smell of blood in the breath.

    Chapter 9 · p. 128 · v. 16Hindi commentaryTraditional description

How it develops1

  • Through vata, injury or heat, pitta is aggravated and the vitiated vata corrupts the blood seated in the liver and spleen; blood then flows from below (penis, vagina, anus), from above (eyes, ears, mouth) or both ways. This is called raktapitta.

    Chapter 9 · p. 128 · v. 15Hindi commentaryTraditional description

Treatment principle5

  • Downward purification (purgation) is said to be useful in raktapitta.

    Chapter 9 · p. 128 · v. 16Hindi commentaryTraditional description
  • A footnote says that upward raktapitta calls for purgation and downward raktapitta for emesis.

    Chapter 9 · p. 128 · v. 16FootnoteTraditional description
  • Upward raktapitta is treated with purgation and downward raktapitta with emesis; flow by both routes at once is calmed with cooling pacifying preparations.

    Chapter 9 · p. 130 · v. 24Hindi commentaryTraditional description
  • In raktapitta an asthapana enema with buffalo milk and an anuvasana enema with ghee are to be given.

    Chapter 9 · p. 130 · v. 25Hindi commentaryTraditional description
  • Regular purgation, bloodletting, enemas, poultices and cool food and drink with sweet, astringent and bitter tastes are said to overcome raktapitta as well as vatarakta.

    Chapter 9 · p. 135 · v. 48Sanskrit verseTraditional description

Diet1

  • Cool food and drink such as milk, ghee, sugarcane juice, pea soup, green gram, jaggery preparations, buffalo curd and leafy greens are prescribed for pitta disorders.

    Chapter 9 · p. 130 · v. 26Hindi commentaryTraditional description

Prognosis5

  • When the vomited blood is blue, very black, full of pitta, burnt-looking, putrid, like meat juice or coloured like a rainbow or the indragopa insect, and the patient is delirious and faints, raktapitta is incurable and the patient soon dies.

    Chapter 9 · p. 128 · v. 17Hindi commentaryTraditional description
  • Upward raktapitta is curable, downward raktapitta is manageable (yapya), and heavy flow by both routes at once is incurable.

    Chapter 9 · p. 128 · v. 18Hindi commentaryTraditional description
  • A patient whose body, hands and feet have turned very pale, whose face and breath have gone cold and whose eyes are red is said to be near death.

    Chapter 9 · p. 129 · v. 18Hindi commentaryTraditional description
  • A raktapitta patient with breathlessness, cough, loss of strength, intoxication, fever, poor digestion, burning, hiccup and a foul smell like corrupted blood is to be given up as incurable; the verse also names fainting.

    Chapter 9 · p. 131 · v. 29Hindi commentaryTraditional description
  • A patient suffering from raktapitta who sees many red things in dreams is said to surely die.

    Chapter 20 · p. 455 · v. 35Hindi commentaryTraditional description

Other1

  • A footnote suggests that कुथित (putrid) would be a better reading than कुपित in this verse.

    Chapter 9 · p. 131 · v. 29FootnoteTraditional description

Where else is this mentioned?

Named 39 times on 24 pages. These are automatic name matches, so a few may refer to something else with the same name.

Questions and answers

Which dreams does chapter 20 treat as signs of death in particular diseases, and which dreams does it call fruitless?

Many red things for raktapitta, yellow for pandu, white for kapha and reddish for vata patients, and befriending a monkey for a wasting patient; dreams that follow one's nature, habit or repeated thoughts are fruitless.

Detailed answer and sources
How does the text tell life-blood (jivashonita) from raktapitta?

Blood smeared on a cloth that keeps its colour after washing with hot water, and that a dog eats when it is mixed with sattu, is life-blood; otherwise it is raktapitta.

Detailed answer and sources

All references

Every page and verse of the source that this entry draws on.

Quick facts

Content type
Condition
Categories
Heart and circulation
Source pages with records
6
Pages naming it
24
Extraction tasks
T05, T22
Record id
condition_raktapitta