• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.372-378
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• 2007

A well known Ayurvedic formulation Ashokarista, used for menstrual disorders has been studied in a single blind randomised placebo controlled clinical trial for the treatment of menorrhagia and dysmenorrhoea. Dysmenorrhoea and menorrhagia patients who were taking Ashokarista (20 ml twice daily) for 10 menstrual cycles had an increase in haemoglobin level. Menorrhagia treated group has shown to reduce the erythrocyte sedimentation rate level that has been increased in the menorrhagia control group. The platelet count, total count and differential count were observed unchanged in the study. The Ashokarista did not affect the SGPT and SGOT level, which signify its lack of toxicity in hepatic function. The treated menorrhagic patients showed an increase in serum albumin content and decrease in blood clotting time, whereas the serum protein content was observed unchanged. There was a significant increase in both serum cholesterol and triglyceride level, which usually associated with the use of oral contraceptives. No major side effects were observed by the clinicians during the study.