Whenever patients reveal history of consuming ayurvedic drugs. I always ask them to stop  taking these till the time they are taking my prescription. I often encounter sceptical looks or a more ubiquitous WHY? and a retort that ayurvedic medicines hv no side effects. My take1/n

I have three major concerns:
Interactions: simultaneous treatment with allopathic drugs can lead to interactions and impact the pharmacodynamics of the drug which are not documented and not studied well so neither the ayurvedic vaid nor MBBS doctor can advice about these 2/n

Pharmacovigilance rigor: marred by the strong belief that ayurvedic drugs are safe, there is abysmal rigor on this discipline in ayurveda and not more handful institutes which cover this discipline in ayurveda 3/n

Quality assurance and control: A 2008 paper in Indian journal of pharma reported out of 154 requests of adverse effects to ayurvedic medicine they were able to trace ingredients in only 22, 132 were informally dispensed with no means to trace ingredients!! 4/n

To the ayurvedic safety apologists. Charaka states in the Sutrasthana of the Charaka Sarnhita - "A potent poison also becomes the best drug on proper administration. On the contrary, even the best drug becomes a potent poison if used badly"

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