Feb 6, ’10 10:06 PM
for everyone
One week after the January 24, 2010 mishap on a street here in Makati City, I was still lumbered by a swollen, bruised left foot. I admit I was getting worried,because I had trips lined up, places to see, pictures to take. My foot was stubbornly not progressing.
Mid-week, I went out to personally pay my electric bill in the Meralco main branch and also get a registered package from the Main post office. On the way back, I was lucky to flag down a taxi driver from that area – he promptly noticed my injured state and commented sympathetically on my fat foot.
He advised me that for “pi-ang” (our term in Bisayan dialect for states like unsuitably wrenching your limbs and joints in unnatural ways), I could either –
a) get fresh ginger, crush it to make sure the juice gets out, spread some coco oil on it, then pass it through a flame to heat it up. This could then be placed on the affected area and then bandaged. The heat would spread and it would draw out the “panuhot” (in our vernacular, this refers to the “cold wind”/”cold air” which affects injuries like this);
b) look for tuba-tuba bark, smear coco oil on it, heat it and then apply it to the affected area and bind it.
Well, it looked like ginger was easier to acquire than any tuba-tuba, after all the latter is not something readily available in the grocery or in those 24-hour stores. The taxi driver told me there were a lot of tuba-tuba near the Makati City Hall, but honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I could identify the plant! Argh!
I asked him to bring me to the nearest Rustan’s grocery and there I bought a kilo of their nice big ginger to replenish my stock. Usually, I have ginger in my kitchen for either my “salabat”, aka hot ginger tea or my ginger bath. I was pretty confident about the ginger, since Joey (Joeyfab4) had already described the poultice he used (ginger + cornstarch in his reply to my post) and which he recommended to me.
Although my foot felt marginally better after I tried remedy (a), there was still some inflammation. I didn’t want to go back to back to the doctor only to be told to continue gulping Arcoxia capsules (not only was it expensive but it had some undesirable side effects on my person).
I was wracking my brains as to where to get the tuba-tuba bark mentioned when I tried asking our security guards here in the building. One said he could get it if he was back in the province, while the OIC of the guards himself asked me if I was cooking some new-fangled recipe or was I injured? (eh? is that my rep here?).
Luck was on my side, since the following day, the OIC told me he was able to get a bunch from the driver of one of the unit owners here in where I live.
Sir Rolly, as I call our OIC here, came personally to apply the tuba-tuba leaves on my foot. (Hmm..it seems I may either have misheard “bark” for “leaf” or it could be either of these parts from the plant).
We first washed, dried, then applied some healing oil I found in my shelves on the shiny part of the leaf. (It was “Casmin” oil, a product of IPI, which my mom had left in one of my parents’ visits). Then the oil-slicked leaf was passed to and fro near a candle to heat it up. Then Sir Rolly plonked it onto my left foot. Ohmygoodness!
Although the oil and leaf easily clung to my foot, he used my folded handkerchief to bandage the area. I also donned a thick sock from PAL (which they give to travelers to pad around the aircraft during international flights) to cover the whole contraption. As an extra service (am beginning to have a list of debts with his name on it), he also massaged part of the bruised violet-colored toes and upwards from my ankle as my left leg had also apparently swelled a little bit.
The process was repeated again after 4 hours, and due to tiredness from work and all that excitement, I promptly fell asleep with my foot costume on.
When I woke up the next day and undressed the injured foot, voila!
The swelling had all but disappeared and I was left staring at a pair of dried up tuba-tuba leaves. This time, I didn’t put another batch of leaves as I had to go out again, and just rubbed the aforementioned oil over my foot then tightly wound a long bandage on it to give my ankle support sock a rest.
Well, all things have a way of working out better than I expected in the end. And I certainly am planning to plant (if I can) a tuba-tuba plant here in one of my pots (maybe make a bonsai tuba-tuba? haha!). Ginger is also a candidate as it has nice flowers.
As of now, I can only shake at my head at all the doctors I consulted. All the painkillers and anti-inflammatory meds in the world – felled by a simple plant. Tch!
The Tuba-tuba Plant (Jatropha curcas)
It is also known as Tubang Bakod in Tagalog, Physic Nut in English or interchangeably tuba-tuba or Jatropha. It seems to be the latest craze to hit the agri-business in the Philippines. It is cultivated primarily for its oil to produce biodiesel.
The Tuba-tuba has been planted in the Philippines for quite some time but it was used mainly as fencing since animals do not eat the leaves – even the insatiable goat snubs this plant!
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From this link – http://www.philippineherbalmedicine.org/tuba-tuba.htm
I find out further… Jatropha is a drought resistant perennial shrub or small tree that produces seeds up to 35 years but can live up to 50 years. Jatropha grows fast with little or no maintenance and reaches the average height of about 3 meters but it can grow up to 8 meters. Other Benefits of Planting Tuba-tuba/Jatropha:
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Tuba tuba ! …. learned a lot here Cath ! Thanks.
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it is poisonous, as I suspected..especially when I read it can be used to fumigate houses…
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/52808 At least 20 students in an elementary school in Bohol were rushed Wednesday afternoon to a local hospital after being poisoned by jathropa or tuba-tuba fruit. Radio station dzMM reported Thursday that the victims were Grade 1 and Grade 2 students from the Batasan Elementary School in Batasan Island, Tubigon town. Jerick Edel, one of the victims, was reportedly lured to eat the fruit located just outside the school premises and invited his other classmates to join him. The children then suffered stomach pains and were soon rushed to the Tubigon Community Hospital for treatment. Jatropha is potentially lethal to humans and animals once ingested. Health officers in Mindanao have been quoted in previous reports as saying that jatropha fruits, once eaten, could cause death if medication is not immediately administered on the patient. Oil extracted from the the seed of the jathropa plant, or physic nut, can be used to produce biofuel and soap. The plant’s leaves are also used to fumigate households and expel bugs. |
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addyfb said
Lids..
tuba-tuba gihapon dinha sa Cebu …I tried this before na when I was in college and na-piang pod ko pag tennis…I remembered the atis leaves used – but the tuba-tuba wa kaayo coz I used it after naman when the swelling had subsided a bit…in fact, naa man diay pa ganiy tanom didto sa among coral near my parents’ house dapita… my mom was right, even ang kanding doesnt’ eat it 🙂 |
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bubu34 said
Nona, wala akong plant dito sa Makati 🙂 though I hope somebody will give me a cutting and it will live if I just put a broken off branch inside one of my pots here…sana nga 🙂 if meron akong plant na ganon, for sure bigyan kita!
but, maybe you can check if may available dyan sa Germany…may english name naman sya…am just not sure it can survive the cold in Germany as it seems to be a plant found in the tropics… |
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ok, what are the other names for this plant?
It is also known in the Tagalog region as “tubing bakod” and”sambo” while the Ilocanos call it “tawa-tawa” while it is called “tagumbao” in Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan. In the Cagayan Valley, it is known as “kalunay” and “kasla” among the Ilonggos. In the Lanao region, it is known as “tangantangan”. |
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glad to hear na your ok na..thanks for the info..pag BINONSAI mo yan Tuba Tuba eh malamang Toooooba Tooooba yan eh mawala ang galing nyan eh maging TOO BAD ha ha ha..just want to make you smile kasi kawawa ka naman it’s been awhile na yan…sige Mwahgpagaling ka ng Husto..at goodnite and have a great weekend..pls take care lagi..
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Hmmm, i learned some from you today…i’m so glad that you’re feeling much better with your injured foot…it’ll take a month to 2months for complete recovery…i’m sure you’re so aggravated for the length of time for it to heal…you’re right, when i had sprained my foot there in RP like you…i went to see a Dr for an xray & when i know that i don’t have fracture of any consequence…i was relieved, but, the agonizing pain of my debilitated foot stayed without relief…the pain killer that was given to me was so temporary….the swelling & hematoma remains…i went to see a “hilot” & she wanted to massage it, but, i didn’t let her, for it will increase more bruising for it will add more damage on the adjascent capilaries & tissues…she applied that ginger as how you’ve described with some kinda oil…the sweeling took a long time to subside & the pain to disappear completeyly…thanks for your researched…hope you get well soon…c”,)
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virtualted wrote on Feb 7, ’10
I’m glad to hear your foot is better. I know how painful and troublesome it can be to have a swollen and infected foot. I’ve had it happen a couple of times and it was no fun.
Wow, that is so cool about that herbal medicine cure. I would head to the hospital and gotten anti-biotics to take care of the inflammation. Take care. |
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louellaalix wrote on Feb 7, ’10
You wish! he he he
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val0214 said
thanks Val for making me smile with your too-bah jokes…LOL (sorry I can’t ROTFL coz baka di na ako makatayo)…
have a good week..and sayang walang tuba dyan (jungle juice ba?) para mag-inuman tayo even if virtually lang… |
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arnice said
2 months? *groan* grabe naman katagal!
*talks to foot* oy, heal faster, heal faster! though I was happy that I had Arcoxia the first 5 days, and may x-ray pa…in the long run, it was more or less the same stage eh. I think my walking around now has forced the foot to heal a bit faster than usual, especially since the swelling has gone down, I can almost do a normal looking walk though my pace is slow… thanks Angie! |
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virtualted said
Wow, that is so cool about that herbal medicine cure. I would head to the hospital and gotten anti-biotics to take care of the inflammation. Take care. hi Ted, thanks for the support.
Yes, the situation is aggravated when one lives by one’s self, it would be ok if I could just do everything online and thru phone. On 2nd thought, maybe it was better that way that I had to go out and walk. I already took Arcoxia for the inflammation, as per doctor’s orders (IMHO my going over to the hospital to see the ortho doctor was almost a waste of time as he just prescribed more of what my doctor-uncle told me when I called the latter to ask for his recommended anti-inflammatory drugs). I had to walk up and down several floors to coordinate the letter-of-authorization from my HMO provider and the doctor. I’ve some antibiotics and painkillers here already just in case, but I prefer to take them as a last resort 🙂 |
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cuh888 said
It comes with age, Cat. The older we get, the longer we heal. I’ll give you an example. Around 1987, when Boboy visited me here, I sprained my ankle really bad on the tennis court. It took 4 months to completely heal and get back to playing tennis. I was around 37 years old. My son, Jamm, also sprained his ankle playing tennis. It took him a week to fully recover. He was only 9 years old then. So try as much as possible not to get injured as it will take away a lot of your productive time from you.
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“All the painkillers and anti-inflammatory meds in the world – felled by a simple plant.”
Even though I sold pharmaceuticals for 31 years, I am still a firm believer of the natural healing abilities of plants, herbs and fruits. Thanks for this info Cat. I will see if I can find this Physic Nut leaf here. It might be available in Chinatown. |
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joeyfab4 said
cge Joey, maghahanap ako dito sa Manila..baka nasa Binondo or Quiapo…(hehe..sama photowalk), and for sure padala ko kina Sir B (di na ako magsabi ako mismo pupunta, nauudlot eh)
coz I haven’t seen it here where I live, but for sure meron to sa Cebu, I will buy a few big bottles when I next go home para ready na stock ko…I was googling earlier..parang di yata sa department store…baka direct-sell.. |
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joeyfab4 said
touché Joey..but aside from that siguro baka naman sa severity of the sprain too…
I will certainly keep your advice in mind coz I do have a tendency to get into slight accidents (burns, cuts, bites etc.) and its ok as long as am with my parents..otherwise it is such a pain nga…(no pun intended) |
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joeyfab4 said
Even though I sold pharmaceuticals for 31 years, I am still a firm believer of the natural healing abilities of plants, herbs and fruits. Thanks for this info Cat. I will see if I can find this Physic Nut leaf here. It might be available in Chinatown. I think I read somewhere na tanim yata sa North America or somewhere in America…though I am endlessly amused that its really more of a “fence” plant…
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cuh888 said
coz I haven’t seen it here where I live, but for sure meron to sa Cebu, I will buy a few big bottles when I next go home para ready na stock ko…I was googling earlier..parang di yata sa department store…baka direct-sell.. Ay, don’t go out of your way for this Cat. Pag uwi mo na lang sa Cebu, doon ka na lang bumili, sa suki mo.
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cuh888 said
Of course, the more severe it is, the longer it takes for our body to heal and recover, specially when we’re older.
You better be careful and try not to get hurt or you are going to be a real pain in the butt for your parents:-) |
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joeyfab4 said
I’m not sure about the kakawate you said..though I posted above somewhere on this thread (February 7), some of the other names for this plant as its known here in the Philippines…
what I meant about “fence” na plant is that its ideal for putting as a “fence” around your property..it can grow big if left on its own (trunk’s diameter can be like a man’s thigh in the wild or in the jungle or so I heard)..so if you plant it, then use it as posts for your fence…you can even probably wrap barb wire (ouch!) or some other kind of fencing material on it… |
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cuh888 said
what I meant about “fence” na plant is that its ideal for putting as a “fence” around your property..it can grow big if left on its own (trunk’s diameter can be like a man’s thigh in the wild or in the jungle or so I heard)..so if you plant it, then use it as posts for your fence…you can even probably wrap barb wire (ouch!) or some other kind of fencing material on it… Ah, I must have forgotten the thread you put up here.
I can see your point now about this plant as being used as a fence, like plant the in row to form a barrier. Galing nga naman. |
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joeyfab4 said
I can see your point now about this plant as being used as a fence, like plant the in row to form a barrier. Galing nga naman. from what I can vaguely recall now from the tuba-tuba near our place, it looked somewhat leafy and not that tall, maybe if its periodically cut, more leaves and branches sprout..and though its not too tall, if you plant them at a decent space from each other, it could form a sort of hedge…which is double-purpose…keep out the goats and may supply ka pa na medicine (though I don’t know the process of how its used to keep the bugs out sa bahay…fumigant daw eh)
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cuh888 said
The plant must have a natural property or a way of emitting an odor that animals and bugs don’t like that shoos them away but odorless to humans.
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The Curious Cat 