Ayurveda has three broad themes of treatment.

These are elimination therapies (shodana or

Panchakarma), pacification therapies (shamana), and nourishing
therapies (bhrimana). Panchakarma includes nasal administration for vata, pitta and kapha,
medicated enemas for vata, purgation and blood letting for pitta, and vomiting for kapha.
Symptomatic treatment of this type of disease is not effective in bringing a cure. Pacification
strategies, or balancing with opposites, include diet, lifestyle, herbs, meditation, yoga, and so
on. Nourishing therapies are used when strength or emaciation issues are being treated.
The model of disease development in Ayurveda describes six stages. Knowledge of the
symptomotology of each stage for each dosha enables the practitioner to properly diagnose
and treat the disease. This knowledge shows how a common cold becoming chronic may
become asthma or congestive heart failure; or how multiple sclerosis starts with worry,
constipation and the need to control and ends with degenerative changes in challenged
nervous tissue. The classification of the western disease scheme manifests in the fourth
stage of the development of disease according to Ayurveda. This knowledge enables the
Ayurvedic practitioner to prevent the serious diseases indicated in the western classification
of disease.