Abstract Constipation is one of the most common digestive problems in today’s era, affecting people of all age groups, and has a bad impact on the digestive system, which leads to a negative effect on the quality of life. Prevalence of constipation in the Indian population is 33.2%, and obstructed defecations is around 26.8%. Here is a case report of a 26-year-old male patient who approached the hospital with complaints of unsatisfactory, irregular, hard bowel movements with a straining nature, associated with abdominal pain, which hampers his daily routine activities. Constipation was present since childhood, progressively worsening over the last 10 years. Based on the classical symptoms, the case was diagnosed as Purishaja Udavarta (functional constipation FC), which can be correlated with FC diagnosed based on ROME IV criteria and Bristol Stool Scale (BSS). The patient was treated by treatment guidelines of Charaka Samhita viz ., Abhyanga (therapeutic massage) by castor oil and Swedana (therapeutic sudation) by steam of Dashamoola decoction over abdomen, Shyamadi Phala Varti (rectal suppository), Kala Basti (course of sixteen therapeutic enema) by Palashadi Basti (510 ml of Palashadi Kwatha (decoction) as Niruha Basti (therapeutic decoction enema), and 100 ml of Eranda oil as Anuvasana Basti (therapeutic unctuous enema)] and Shamana (palliative therapy) by 4 g of Dviruttara Hingvadi Choorna two times before breakfast and dinner with lukewarm water for 45 days. The change in the classical and associated symptoms of FC was assessed on the Likert Scale, BSS (from type-1 to type-4), Patient Assessment of Constipation-Quality of Life scale (from 71 to 38), and Visual Analog Scale (from 4 to 0). Sustained and satisfactory improvement was noted at the follow-up fortnightly up to 60 days. After the complete course of treatment, the complaint of unsatisfactory hard bowel and irregular bowel habit got resolved without any adverse events. No re-occurrence of symptoms has been observed till 60 days of follow-up after the cessation of treatment. This case report suggests that the Charaka principle of management for Purishaja Udavarta is effective in improving the quality of life and the sustained management of symptoms in a case of FC and support further evaluation.
Dubey et al. (Tue,) studied this question.