Traditional Filipino Causes of Health and Illness PDF

One is ill or “may sakit”: observing signs Team Crammer and eliciting symptoms that have been Notes, Transcriptions and References graded in terms of seriousness, associated...

One is ill or “may sakit”: observing signs Team Crammer and eliciting symptoms that have been Notes, Transcriptions and References graded in terms of seriousness, associated with the level of physical activity that one Sickness and its Causes exerts Filipino values Heirarchical Why study Filipino traditional medicine?  Mahina: weak  Matamlay: lethargic  Cultural competency of Filipino physicians,  May sakit: ill – unable to perform nurses, dentists and other health physical tasks, criterion for bed-ridden professionals  WHO recommendation of integration of Health: capacity or power to exercise the traditional medicine in medical and health functions of life. sciences education and primary health care since 1978.  State: malusog (healthy)  World health assembly resolutions since  Function: malakas (strong) 1981 called upon member states to integrate Sickness: impotence in and of the person traditional medicine in their health care systems Disease: organic causes; bodies become  Philippine government policies and laws sick; doctor is the curer of the disease; supportive through the Philippine Institute medication and technology of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC, Republic Act 8433, 1997) Illness: karamdaman; person becomes ill;  Patients already inquiring if not requesting sometimes inorganic; doctor is the healer of their physicians and health care the sick person, healed by therapy, belief in professionals for complementary and the healer, medical and social phenomenon alternative medicine. Health and Kalusugan Illness and Health Kalusugan: Tagalog term for health Sakit: Tagalog term for illness, disease and pain Malusog in contrast to payat Different contexts Lusog: full development, progressiveness  Sakit ng ulo: headache Payat: not to have attained the full potential  Sakit ng tiyan: stomach ache of physical development; not malusog but Different qualities not ill  Hapdi: stinging Mataba: obesity, not considered as a sign of  Kirot: sharp, recurrent health  Sakit is not purely biomedical Malakas: strong; how they feel in terms of 2. Theory of nature elements healthiness  Water: Tubig  Earth: Lupa Together with katawan (strong body): able to  Fire: Apoy work, function because the body is fully  Air: Hangin developed in relation to one’s need to work These are interrelated; harmony and balance Madaling mapagod: prone to fatigue; sign suggesting possible or impending illness “Di bale kahit payat, huwag lang masakitin.” (Never mind if you are thin, as long as you are not sickly.) Filipino Traditional Medicine Definition of Health and Wellness Ang kalusugan at kaginhawaan ay ang mabuting kaugnayan ng sangkatauhan sa kalawakan, ng sangkatauhan sa kalikasan, ng tao sa kapwa niya, sa kanyang sarili-katawan, kaisipan, kalooban at kaluluwa. (Health and Wellness is the connection between mankind and the universe, mankind and nature, man and his fellow human being and man and his own body, mind and soul.) 1. Theory of macrocosm and microcosm Universe (“kalawakan”) and humankind (“sangkatauhan”) Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo- Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns 3. Theory of body humors reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the  Init (hot) and Lamig (cold) or Yin and Yang largest scale (macrocosm or universe level) all the way down to the smallest scale (microcosm or sub- in Chinese Medicine sub-atomic or metaphysical level )  Basa (wet) and Tuyo (dry) Balance within the human body and the Health and wellness is the state of the balance, environment synergy and harmony: Dominance in one will lead to a disease state  Bet ween humankind and the universe (“pasma”/”pilay”)  Between humankind and nature  Between and among humankind 4. Belief in nature spirits/ guardians of  Within the human body, mind and spirit/soul nature and spirit ancestors When these are broken and not mended, then disease, death and destruction will occur. Theories of Illness Causation Humoral Pathology Hot or cold Naturalistic theories  Cold food: fruits should not be eaten in the  Impairment of health in impersonal & morning because it will cause diarrhea systematic terms  Hot food: beans can cause skin disorders and boils From natural forces or conditions  Breastfeeding avoided after hard work  Natural phenomena  Diet Humoral Pathology  Infections  Disturbance of the balance of forces within  Humoral Pathology the body  Natural Process  Balance is determined by the distribution of  Stress various attributes of living matter:  Hot and Cold Natural Phenomena  Wet and dry Naturalistic: retribution or punishment is  The distribution is a function of 4 natural secondary to a violation of taboos against the elements (Water, Earth, Fire and Air) mixing of unlike categories in nature Hot and cold Wind: Hangin  Pasma: spasm; attack of cold on someone Sent by supernatural who is too hot Cool temperature: sickness is not widespread  Singaw sa lupa: vapors of the earth Warm temperature: general feeling of malaise  Cold: productive and irritability  Hot: unproductive Examples: Urticaria: pantal-pantal, acondition in which an Natural Processes area of your skin becomes red and itchy  Perceptions of human physiology and Dew: hamog, respiratory illness metabolism which are implicated in health Vapor: singaw ng lupa; when it rains during hot and illness weather; na-alimuoman  Naturaleza Diet  Heart: locus of vitality and will  Blood: carrier of the vitality Religion Dietary prohibitions among Catholics Hereditary illnesses: mental disorders and  Abstinence from meat on Fridays during tuberculosis Lenten season Incompatibility of a couple’s blood: both  Altar ang lamesa: The dining table is an husband and wife have cold blood altar: wasting is deemed serious enough to bring illness as well as leaving a house when Other attributes others are eating  Malapot: thick  Malabnaw: thin Imitative magical principles  Dilaw: yellowish  “like produces like”  Buhay: alive or normal  “An effect resembles its cause” Blood ever exposed to heat or cold can cause  Avoidance of slippery food by pregnant illness; change in viscosity results in sluggish women: will cause the uterus to slip circulation  Eating twin bananas: development of twins Attributes to describe emotions and feelings  Deceased traditional healers: when they call  Kumukulo ang dugo: blood boils, anger on a descendant to take up his or her  Natutuyo ang dugo: blood is drying up, vocation drained  Souls of unborn child:  Aborted fetus As a symbol  Unbaptized child Anatomical structure  Kapatid or kaputol: siblings; cut from the Beliefs in ghost same intestines  Related again to social control  Reinforcing kinship ties Stress  Discouraging certain practices: abortion  Physical or psychic  Overexertion, prolonged hunger or thirst Beliefs in other supernatural beings  Related to notions of the degree of Susceptibility as key concept interventions such entities exert over human  Children: weak especially if unbaptized affairs  pregnant and post-partum mothers: supernatural powers Supreme deity  Satan: prayers Personalistic theories  Saints: punishment for social transgression,  result of the active & purposeful not holding or celebrating fiesta intervention of an agent Numerous spirits inhabiting this world:  Animate Associated with natural habitat: rocks, trees,  Ghosts caves and rivers  Supernatural entities  Anito: the dead  Magical  Sorcerers  Witches Animist beliefs: supernatural beings as causative agents, referring to beliefs in a life- stuff or life-force found among animate and inanimate objects  Fear of ghosts or souls of the dead (multo) is a universal trait because such spirits may cause harm.  Ancestral spirits: most commonly cited illness-causing ghosts Illness:  Retribution from ancestral spirits for non- fulfillment of ritual obligations: Requiem mass (Christian religious ceremony for a dead person)  Violation of social norms  Close kinship ties of affection between the living and the dead: grandmother and her favorite grandchild  Diwata: godhead or divinity Attitudes  Nabati: to be greeted  Napagkatuwaan: to be amused  Napaglaruan: to be played with  Mechanism for environment conservation Engkanto belief  Caucasian, extremely wealthy  Much like human beings  Inhabiting a world much like our own but different from human domain  Illness can be cured by mananambal or local shaman (someone who is believed to use magic to cure people who are sick or to control future events etc.)  Engkanto  Duwende: dwarfs  Lamang lupa: Nuno sa punso inhabiting Kapre: malevolent supernatural being anthills. (Say “Tabi po” as a sign of respect) Magical beliefs: humans as causative agents,  Aswang sorcerers and witches.  Sorcerer: uses the technique of magic and derives his power from medicines  Kulam: revenge motives  Hukluban: kills without use of medicines  Manggagayuma: prepares charms for lovers from herbs  Manananggal: power of detaching the upper half of their body and to fly around, night pilot  By inheritance  Mankukulam: emits fire from himself at  Generally feared especifically the night females Difference  Sorcery: socially sanctioned practice  Witchcraft: proscribed, powers are inherent  May be used to possess a person if not innate, no way of redemption;  Accepted in their communities with permanently excommunicated legitimate roles  Witch: acts without rites and spells and uses hereditary psycho-psychical powers to attain his ends Mystical theories Beliefs Contagion: contact with some polluting object,  Menstruation: potentially dangerous substance or person  The dead: houses being abandoned or  Weak and strong theme destroyed after the person has died but in Sagada, it is the opposite, contact with the  Contiguous magic: things which have once deceased would result in transference of the been in contact with each other continue to deceased’s good luck, success, ability and act on each other at a distance after the skill. physical contact has been severed.  Social behavior: adultery is contagious: eating from the same dish  Animatism: beliefs in a metaphysical life force present in objects or persons Strong/Weak  bisa: psychic forces within the body;  A person can cause illness by contagion efficacy, effect, potency, result because she carries a stronger life force  anting-anting: object perceived as being useful to repel or cure illness Mystical Retribution  gayuma: love potion; appeal that a person  Taboo violations result in punishment by carries; ability to attract people supernatural beings in the form of illness or  usug: theory of life force with attributes of other misfortune strong and weak; caused by a person with a  Relationship between taboos and violation strong will power and illness or calamity; human act of  mystical bonds existing among people transgression logically brings about negative particularly consanguineous (biological) kin consequences without intervention of a or blood relatives: child falls ill when the supernatural being father is away from home or when he Examples: witnesses a fight between the parents  A pregnant woman does not prepare new clothes for herself as this would seem like  Resulting from social ties: morning she is preparing for her death. sickness being transferable to her husband  No digging for pregnant woman’s relatives: preparing for her grave Infants  Contact with adult’s breath Contagious magic: assumption of continuity  Usog – for children among events, people or things; notion of  Balis – for adults continuity or tuluyan  Strong kinship bonds  Teasing a couple about a possible  Hawa relationship elicits a response  Parental behavior “Tigilan mo na, baka matuluyan pa kami”  Lihi (Stop it, the relationship (presumed to be non-existent) might come about.) Themes of social control  Undesirable social behavior brings illness  Modesty is the norm not only upon the transgressor but against  Child illness: Parental fighting his family, community or even descendants  Gaba: example of Filipino concept of retribution; curse from God as divine Pollution retribution that could result in illness and  Contamination, definements, corruption, other misfortune associated often with menstruation or  Karma: beliefs related to reincarnation contact with the dead  By oneself evil is done; by oneself one suffers.  By oneself evil is left undone; by oneself  Concept of pilay (misalignment of energy one is purified. channels)  Concept of pasma (musculo-skeletal Fate syndrome due to imbalance of hot and cold)  Astrological influences, individual’s  Effects of seasons, habitat, diet, way of predestination life, days of the week  Palad: Palm of the hand, A Cebuano belief  Nabalis, nabuyagan, nabati (transfer of states that individuals are believed to be energy from one person to another) fated for illness and death because of lines in  Binangungot (sudden nocturnal death the palm suggesting the shape of the mouth syndrome) of a crocodile  Nakulam, nabarang (transfer of negative  Suerte: Goodluck energies from one person to another)  Bahala na: most common notion of fatalism  Nagayuma (increase of sexual in the Philippines: attributes human events attraction/energy) to the “will of God”  Nasapian (spirit possession)  Bathala  Nanuno (a person who disturbed nature  Bhara: load: “be responsible for or spirits/nature guardians) assuming the load”  Nagalit ang mga ninuno (a person who  Facilitates the acceptance of a difficult violated the norms of ancestors/ancestral situation spirits)  When a relative falls seriously ill  Nabinat o nabughat (a person who has just  When there is a big challenge undergone severe psycho-emotional physical stress and immediately goes back to Soul Loss normal daily activities thus provoking a  Soul is capable of leaving the body return to his previous pathologic state) temporarily and that its prolonged, absence may cause the owner to fall ill, with death as Diagnostic Tools in Filipino Traditional the final or total separation of the soul from Medicine the body  Pulse diagnosis (“pamulso”)  The soul may wander off on its own,  Use of external diagnostic tools: tawas, opposed to “soul capture” resulting from eggs, bottles, dahon ng saging (banana abductions by supernatural beings or leaves) through sorcery, different also from  Use of hilot (palpation with massage) “possession” from evil spirits  Laying of the hangs  Bangungot: nightmares  Reading of aura  Bangon: rise  Ungol: moan Therapies in Filipino Traditional Medicine  May die if not able to wake up during attack  Compulsive soul: general compulsive  Oslob (kulob) or fumigation or steam tendencies in the individual to deviate from inhalation from infusions of air-dried the norm (expressed as soul wandering)  Medical explanation: after a heavy meal aromatic medicinal herbs and plants. Use of a tent made of cotton. Causes of Illnesses in Filipino Traditional Medicine  Bathing practices (Paligo): mixtures of air- dried tropical and indigenous aromatic  Concept of hangin (wind) – whether leaves and flowers with medicinal properties present in food, environment and within the body made into hot or cold or earth-wind-fire-  Concept of bara (energy block)  water balancing rinsing bath or binat (stress) regulator herbal rinse. Binat: state of disease or severe discomfort that results when a person who has undergone a stressful or change of life situation a body-mind fatigue or prolonged illness, upon the first few hours of feeling well returns to his normal daily routine.  Hilot: the Filipino traditional massage is an eclectic mix of indigenous traditional  Kisig Galing – use of biomagnetic energy massage techniques from 7 major ethno- (kisig) healing (galing) of naturally gifted linguistic cultural areas in the Philippines Filipino Traditional Healers. With the use of bringing forth the best in each practice their hands as outlets for transfers of ensuring a joyful yet serene total body positive biomagnetic energy from their own experience. A distinct feature is the use of personal biomagnetic energy and the strips of warm banana leaves applied to the positive energy from the environement to different parts of the body at various stages the person in disease. They heal parts of the of the massage therapy. body or the energy channels or the total body that may have states of imbalance and disharmony.  Unang Lana- Filipino Virgin Coconut Oil, flesh of freshly picked 90-day old coconuts, which are cold pressed to extract the first coconut oil (Unang Lana), the colorless virgin oil with a distinct sweet aroma is used as a total body rub, a hair tonic, a massage liniment, a facial mask or even a daily jigger drink. It is for health and wellness, restoration of body balance and harmony, rejuvenation and body thermogenesis. All these effects are due to its high content  The tapik kawayan – one cm thick, 5 cm levels of monolaurine or lauric acid, long bamboo sticks (kawayan) to tap (tapik) Vitamin E and other anti-oxidants. certain body areas identified through hand palpitation to have biomagnetic energy  Laway (use of saliva) blocks or predominance of cold humours. It  Psychic healing releases the energy block to allow free flow  Psychic surgery of biomagnetic energy in the affected part of  Herbal medicine the body or release of cold humours to  Animal medicine achieve balance.  Mineral medicine  Bentosa (cupping)  Food or animal offerings  Prayers and orasyon (oration) the feast of the Sto. Niño and the feast of the  Anting-anting (amulets) Black Nazarene, when they believe their  Habak: tied around the waist or wrist healing powers to be at their optimum.  Use of bawang (garlic)  Prayers and offerings Modalities: prayers, bulong, orasyon, use of  Doing good to one another herbal medicinal plants, pulse taking and diagnosis Different Faith Healers Hilot Albularyo  In the rural areas, refers both the midwife  general practitioner (magpapaanak) and the chiropractic  knowledgeable in most of the folkloric practitioner (manghihilot, masahe) modalities, especially versed in the use of  Alternative context, the hilot is a practitioner medicinal herbs of the craft of chiropractic manipulation and  primary dispenser of health care massage for the diagnosis and treatment of  usually a history of a healer in the family- musculoligamentous and musculoskeletal line, their healing a continuum of a calling, ailments. the power or ability bestowed by a  Is a specialization but in isolated rural areas, supernatural being, often attributed to the many of the albularyos have a familiarity in Holy Spirit the use of this modality.  skills are based on and honed from hand-  No formal education or training through an me-down practices and lore, with a long indigenous hand-me-down education. period of understudy or apprenticeship with  Practitioner’s attribution of the healing a family elder or a local healer effect to God. Through His guidance that  Their diagnostic rituals (tawas and luop) and they are able to manipulate the spiritual and treatment modalities (tapal, lunas, bulong, energy channels, hoping to expel evil spirits orasyon) are affected by the belief in these that may have invaded the patient’s etheric creatures and to the maladies they cause: na- space and may have caused the physical nuno, na-duwende, na-lamang-lupa ailments.  God or spirits guiding them in their healing  Diagnostic procedure to determine the practices. presence or site of malady or sala is the  Daily consultations, only on Tuesdays and panghihila. Fridays, days of the week coinciding with  After gently massaging coconut oil over the however there is no strict enforcement of areas of concern, the panghihila is certification. performed using a mirror, a strip of cigarette  In impoverished communities, deliveries are cellophane paper, or a strip of banana frond. performed by friends, neighbors or relatives  Any of these is passed over the body areas. who have gained experience, confidence and If the material, instead of being pulled the basic expertise in umbilical cord care, smoothly, sticks to a specific spot, this is although uncertified. Basic knowledge on presumed to be an area of malady – “sala, postpartum care and massage, and the use of strain or muscle pull and the massage medicinal herbs for the ritual of suob. directed to this area. (one massage treatment option is ventusa)  The treatment is usually supplemented with Medico wrappings of medicinal leaves.  Like the albularyo, the hilot’s services are  Assimilates and adopts new skills and free-of-charge, fearing that set fees will expertise, merging folkloric therapies with lessen the hilot’s healing powers or abilities. mainstream medicine, incorporating  Voluntary donations are usually given and allopathic treatment modalities like accepted: P10 to P100 or in kind-cigarettes, acupuncture, injection medications and snacks etc. prescription pharmaceuticals into his practice. Magpapaanak  There is a period of understudy or assistantship with a traditional healer from  Referred to as hilot, a designation whom is gleaned the traditional elements confusingly shared with the chiropractic that is eventually merged with the practitioner “manghihilot” alternative.  The calling comes from a family-line of  The pharmaceuticals, often as antibiotics hilots, and the training usually gotten from a and analgesic – even steroids- are trained practitioner who was a relative, empirically utilized by the medicos and friend or neighbor. dangerously added to the management of  Spiritual calling or a message from a complicated maladies, prescribed supernatural being that grants the hilot the indiscriminately and dispensed without the needed power and skills. usual warnings and precautions as to adverse  The magpapaanak has more than a basic reactions and side effects. knowledge in herbal medicinal plants,  The use of prescription-type medicines utilizing them in a variety of prenatal needs advised or written by alternative healers that and postnatal care. are hardly knowledgeable in pharmacology  Prenatal care starts about the 5th month, the has been increasing. patient followed up every 2 weeks or as  Many drug stores (botikas) especially in the often as needed to assess the progress and provincial areas even some sari-sari stores fetal position. Any perceived problem is dispense prescription type pharmaceuticals referred early on. written or advised by albularyos.  Midwives are required to be certified and register annually at the municipal hall, Diviners and Procedures Mangtatawas  Divining is in the purview of the specialist,  Tawas is a popular diagnostic ritual who does not treat unless the need is performed by most alternative healers that emergent, who refers the treatment to the serves in providing clues as to the nature and appropriate specialist. cause of the illness.  Most healers, if the cause of the illness is  Pagtatawas originally derived its name from unclear or if the pulse-taking fails to suggest its chemical nature – alum, an astringent a clear cause, would readily utilize a ritual crystalline double sulfate of aluminum and or indigenous diagnostic procedure: lup, hila potassium – and early on, was used or tawas. The diagnostic paraphernalia exclusively in the diagnostic ritual. varies according to the method or ritual  Today, tawas refers to a diagnostic ritual or used. procedure, utilizing a variety of materials: candles, eggs, mirrors, plain paper, cigarette, rolling-paper and alum. Manghihila Types of Hilot in the Community  Panghihila is a diagnostic procedure used by the manghihilot Comadrona (Magpapaanak) – expert in post-  The paraphernalia vary: Plain strips of natal massage paper, strips of cigarette, cellophane covers, mirrors and strips of banana leaves. Acupressurist –aligns nerves and balances  Prior to the diagnosing procedure, the electrical energy material may be impregnated or Reflexologist – drains excess energy smoothed with coconut oil that might have been empowered with prayers Herbalist – uses herbal medicine in healing. (bulong) Hands-on therapy in the Philippines is a tradition  Coconut oil is also gently massaged as old as its first inhabitants on the islands. over the affected area.  The material is lightly placed on the surface of the area of complaint and References: pulled some distance, lifted and replaced Dr. Hipol’s ppt presentation again on the adjoining area.  If the strip of material sticks to the “I can do all things through Christ who gives surface, resisting the pull, this area is me strength.” – Philippians 4:13 assumed to be an area of affliction, usually a pulled muscle or sprain (sala)  Therapeutic massage is then performed. Ventusa is an alternative.