Abstract:
The Bedes form one of the largest tribal or indigenous communities in Bangladesh and are popularly known as the boat people or water gypsies because of their preference for living in boats. They travel almost throughout the whole year by boats on the numerous waterways of Bangladesh and earn their livelihood by selling sundry items, performing jugglery acts, catching snakes, and treating village people by the various riversides with their traditional medicinal formulations. Life is hard for the community, and both men and women toil day long. As a result of their strenuous lifestyle, they suffer from various types of pain, and have developed an assortment of formulations for treatment of pain in different parts of the body. Pain is the most common reason for physician consultation in all parts of the world including Bangladesh. Although a number of drugs are available to treat pain, including non-steroidal, steroidal, and narcotic drugs, such drugs usually have side-effects like causing bleeding in the stomach over prolonged use (as in the case of rheumatic pain), or can be addictive. Moreover, pain arising from causes like rheumatism has no proper treatment in allopathic medicine. It was the objective of the present study to document the formulations used by the Bede traditional practitioners for pain treatment, for they claim to have used these formulations over centuries with success. Surveys were conducted among a large Bede community, who reside in boats on the Bangshi River by Porabari village of Savar area in Dhaka district of Bangladesh. Interviews of 30 traditional practitioners were conducted with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and the guided field-walk method. It was observed that the Bede practitioners used 53 formulations for treatment of various types of pain, the main ingredient of all formulations being medicinal plants. Out of the 53 formulations, 25 were for treatment of rheumatic pain, either exclusively, or along with other types of body pain. A total of 65 plants belonging to 39 families were used in the formulations. The Fabaceae family provided 7 plants followed by the Solanaceae family with 4 plants. 47 out of the 53 formulations were used topically, 5 formulations were orally administered, and 1 formulation had both topical and oral uses. 8 formulations for treatment of rheumatic pain contained Calotropis gigantea, suggesting that the plant has strong potential for further scientific studies leading to discovery of novel efficacious compounds for rheumatic pain treatment.
摘要:
Bedes是孟加拉国最大的部落或土著社区之一,由于他们喜欢住在船上,因此通常被称为船民或水上吉普赛人。他们几乎全年乘船在孟加拉国的众多水道上旅行,并通过出售各种物品谋生,表演杂耍表演,抓蛇,用传统的药物制剂在各个河边治疗村民。社区的生活很艰难,男人和女人都辛苦了一天。由于他们艰苦的生活方式,他们遭受各种类型的疼痛,并开发了用于治疗身体不同部位疼痛的各种制剂。疼痛是包括孟加拉国在内的世界各地医生咨询的最常见原因。虽然有许多药物可用于治疗疼痛,包括非甾体,甾体,和麻醉药品,这些药物通常具有副作用,如长时间使用会导致胃出血(如在风湿痛的情况下),或者可能会上瘾。此外,由风湿病等原因引起的疼痛在对抗疗法医学中没有适当的治疗方法。本研究的目的是记录Bede传统从业者用于疼痛治疗的配方,因为他们声称已经成功使用了这些配方几个世纪。调查是在一个大型Bede社区中进行的,他们居住在孟加拉国达卡地区Savar地区Porabari村的Bangshi河上的船上。在半结构化问卷和指导野外行走方法的帮助下,对30名传统从业人员进行了访谈。据观察,Bede从业者使用了53种配方来治疗各种类型的疼痛,所有配方的主要成分是药用植物。在53种配方中,25人用于治疗风湿痛,要么独家,或其他类型的身体疼痛。在制剂中使用了总共65种属于39个家族的植物。豆科家族提供了7种植物,其次是茄科家族提供了4种植物。53种配方中有47种是局部使用的,口服5种制剂,1种制剂具有局部和口服两种用途。8种治疗风湿性疼痛的制剂含有Calotropisgigantea,表明该植物具有进一步科学研究的强大潜力,从而发现用于治疗风湿性疼痛的新型有效化合物。