When I used to take piano lessons, my teacher would often tell me “Don’t wash your hands right after practice. You have to wait 30 mins first or else mapapasma ka.”
Since then, I’ve heard people say similar things multiple times. “I can’t wash the dishes right now! Kaka-plantsa ko lang. Baka mapasma pa ako” or “It’s bad to take a bath right after exercising, baka mapasma ka.”
Pasma is an illness when the cold enters your body, typically through water. It is characterized by sweaty palms and feet, shaky hands, and varicose veins. Sometimes, if it’s really bad, you could experience pain and numbness, fever or colds; and if it’s really really bad, it could lead to respiratory and brain malfunctions, and even blindness.
There are a number of methods to try to cure pasma. This includes massaging the area with ginger and coconut oil, banishing the evil spirits with tawas, and soaking in your own urine.
But what exactly is pasma?
Pasma is attributed to an imbalance of hot and cold. Scientifically, this may be interpreted as a sudden change in temperature in the body. However, there is no scientific explanation for pasma. Pasma is a folk illness, and there is no scientific data to support it.
However, this doesn’t mean that there is no truth to it. Just because it’s a folk illness, that doesn’t mean the illness isn’t real. Perhaps we simply haven’t explored this area in a scientific manner.
This calls to attention how beliefs and phenomena like pasma, and even bangungot and usog are typically dismissed as “just folk illnesses.” It’s about time we, as a scientific community, stop looking down on these cultural beliefs and start using our knowledge to help the Filipino people.
Although we do not yet know what really causes pasma, this provides us an opportunity to go back to our roots and apply science. In the meantime, it’s safe to simply avoid an imbalance of hot and cold. Baka mapasma ka pa.
Irene 