Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c15.7

c15.7

§ 91. Faint, Giddiness and Apoplexy :—When the canals conducting consciousness are constipated by deranged *dosas*, man suddenly becomes senseless and falls to the ground as a piece of wood. General signs of the faint (*mūrcchā*) are : pain in the chest, yawning, weariness and mental weakness. Further signs vary according to the kind of the origination of the *mūrcchā*. Thus blue, black or red appears before the eyes of a man ill by *vāta*, he loses sense, but again comes to senses quickly, shudders, has joint-pains and pain in the chest, is thin and the colour of his skin becomes brown-red. By seeing or smelling blood one becomes fainted and has stiff limbs, fixed sight and deep breathing. The drunk lies on the ground, speaks wrongly, is without senses or crazed and rolls about on the ground until the drink is digested. In poisoning there is shivering, sleepiness, thirst and loss of consciousness. If the body is felt as turning in a circle like a wheel and the patient falls continually on the ground, it is called "giddiness" (*bhramaroga*). In apoplexy (*samnyāsa*) the dosas become predominant and hamper all functions of the speech, body and mind, so that the patient becomes stiff like a piece of wood, resembles a corpse and dies on the spot if immediate remedies are not resorted to (Su 6.46; AS 3.6; AHr 3.6; Vang 312 ff.; Bhāv 2.2).