Article by Merrill La, a 3rd year biochemistry major at the University of California in Riverside.
Have you ever wondered what that black liquid cooking in that Crockpot may be? Being raised in a traditional Vietnamese family, I have had my fair share of knowledge on traditional “integrated” medicine. There are three types of medical practices in Vietnam: Thuoc Bac, Thuoc Tây, and Thuoc Nam. In this article I will focus on Thuoc Bac and Thuoc Nam, seeing as Thuoc Tây (Western Medicine) is practice widely in America.
Thuoc Bac is directly translated to Northern Medicine and originated from the Chinese influence in Vietnam. As a result, Thuoc Bac can only be prescribed by Vietnamese individuals who are capable of reading Chinese Characters. Unlike Thuoc Nam, Thuoc Bac began with the belief in the Yin-Yang forces within ones body and that each individual was a miniture model of the entire universe. As a result, to maintain a strong and healthy body, one must have an equal balance within the body and mimic the balance of the external force. The cause of diseases was the impairment of the overall balance between the two forces. Many prescribed medication of Thu?c B?c that exist today originally emerge through trial and error.
Thuoc Nam is directly translated to Southern Medicine and is the Vietnamese adaptation of Thuoc Bac. The reason for this adaptation was because the ingredients utilized in Thuoc Bac were scarce in Vietnam. Southern Medicine was widely considered to be a poor man’s medicine because the ingredients required were generally readily available and low cost. The tradition survives through word of mouth and is passed down from one generation to the next. This practice is further ingrained within the culture providing the simple understanding that a common cold can be relieved with a combination of the following: the consumption of rice gruel with onion, xông (the act of placing ones head under a blanket for a herbal steam bath, or cao gió (rub a coin submerged in ointment hard across the flesh of certain parts of the body. Headaches may be treated through the process of pinching or pricking one’s forehead. The ancient technique of preheating bamboo tubes to suck out perverse humors [HUMORS?] is now replaced with small glass cups.
Vietnamese practitioners of both Thuoc Bac and Thuoc Nam rely on a clinical examination comprised of four parts: auditory perception, inquiry of patient’s history, visual inspection, and taking his/her pulse. Many practitioners take the examination process to the extreme to even taste the patient’s urine. However the use of medical history or inquiry has been out-of-date because expectations were placed on a good physician to be able to predict the sickness from outward signs and physical appearance.
So next time your parent fill up Crockpot with black herbal medicine just for you, do not worry. Though many American-born Vietnamese descendants will be skeptical of this medical practice, it has been around longer than us. Most of these traditional practices have been through many trial and errors, and only the correct method would last until now. If it does not provide any real benefit, why does it still exist… because it works.
References:
http://www.molinahealthcare.com/medicaid/providers/common/pdf/vietnamese%20culture%20%20influences%20and%20implications%20for%20health%20care_material%20and%20test.pdf?E=true
It’s very interesting to know that Chinese physicians apply the belief of Yin-Yang forces in the universe into the human body. Although, my family also sells Chinese or Northern Medicine but we use both Northern and Southern medicine and treatment. I always prefer to take Northern Medicine compared to Western Medicine. Yes, Northern and Southern Medicine or treatment may take longer time to heal the sickness but most of them are natural herbs and ingredients. They also do not create many side-effects like Western medicine. It is just safer to use Northern and Southern medicine compared to Western one, eventhough, the taste sometimes may not be great but as the elders told me the bitter it is the more effective it will be. 😀
It’s cool to know that a headaches could be cured with little cups.
Not little cups, but pinching. There are a lot of alternative treating methods that may do less harm to the body than that of Western approach.
Great article! I totally agree with you. I feel that many people do find the herbal medicine weird and the random practices odd because they are not “scientifically” proven. But the whole idea that these remedies were practiced for so long and span through our whole history makes you realize and wonder that it really isn’t that bad. If anything the combined knowledge of the trial and error idea makes these medicines topples the research done in the modern days. The whole less side affect thing with herbal medicine is great knowing that modern day medicine has so many side affects. I mean who wants to feel drowsy or get diarrhea after taking medicine. I sure wouldn’t. Medicine is medicine and I feel that people should take these ideas into consideration instead of being all hell bent on only using Western Medicine.
Well lately, there has been signs where Western medicine is gradually taking in a few Eastern Ideals. There has been an increase in the number of Holistic Practitioners. The West have always been great in proving things and bettering it. An example would be antioxidants. People in Asian countries use curcumen in dishes that they cooked because it was told to be good for them. People did not understand why until a group of researcher in 1815 isolated a tumeric, a powerful antioxidant. I just hope that one day Eastern and Western practices come together, and that will be the day where MEDICINE is complete.
Great job writing the article!
It’s always interesting to see how the Eastern cultures have home remedies for everyday illnesses and it’s even more interesting to see that they work. Merrill is right, these practices would not have been passed down to future generations if no improvements were seen from these natural remedies. Kudos Merrill.
It is very cool to see that although there is no official medicine book these traditions are passed down to each generation. Growing up, I definitely saw my mom take an herbal steam bath under the blanket and they even used the coin scratching method on me. Although we definitely use western medicine now, we still eat rice gruel when we’re feeling sick and I’m not sure if it actually helps, but there’s almost a sense of warmth and health that comes from following those traditions that we’re so used to.
a couple viet accents are not even rendered correctly. There’s a way to get around this, search google, good luck.