Warning of complications when arbitrarily using oriental medicine to treat chickenpox

Parents should not use traditional medicine to treat chickenpox in children. Photo: TL

This is the season of chickenpox. Hospitals have recorded many cases of not only children but also adults. In addition to Western medicine, many people choose Eastern medicine to treat chickenpox to avoid scarring.

On a forum about children, many mothers have passed on to each other a remedy for chickenpox using mulberry leaves, combined with some other oriental medicines such as Cyperus rotundus, licorice… then boiled to get the water to drink. As shared on the Internet, just do it continuously for 2 days and the chickenpox spots will gradually disappear.

Regarding this issue, physician Vu Quoc Trung - Vietnam Oriental Medicine Association said that using Oriental medicine to treat chickenpox is still applicable but needs to be done with caution. Parents should not arbitrarily prescribe medicine for children, or use oral remedies, when using, there must be a prescription or guidance from an Oriental medicine doctor.

According to traditional medicine, chickenpox is caused by wind-heat invading the lungs through the mouth. In mild cases, chickenpox appears sporadically, with mild fever, little cough, clear nasal discharge, and normal eating and drinking, the treatment method is to clear wind and heat. Accordingly, many people still pass on the idea that just bathing in mulberry leaf water or drinking mulberry leaf water can cure the disease. But this is completely wrong.

In fact, in Oriental medicine for chickenpox, there is a recipe using mulberry leaves to make a decoction to drink, but it needs to be combined with many other herbs. For example, the recipe includes the following ingredients: 12g mulberry leaves, 16g bamboo leaves, 8g licorice, 6g mint, 10g reed roots, 10g honeysuckle, 8g perilla. Boil and drink 1 dose per day.

In addition, mulberry leaves are not just picked and boiled to have effects, but you need to pay attention when choosing. The leaves need to be young, chopped, dried in the shade, and then combined with other herbs to make water to drink every day.

In more severe cases, when chickenpox appears in large numbers, the color is dark purple, the area around the pox is dark red, high fever, red face, blisters on the oral mucosa... the prescription needs to supplement the following ingredients: 8g red peony, 8g roasted gardenia fruit, 16g dandelion, 12g kinh nhan, 12g te sinh dia, 8g forsythia. Boil and drink one dose per day, divided into 3 times/day. Drink hot 30 minutes after eating.

Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases - Neurology (Children's Hospital I, Ho Chi Minh City) said that chickenpox occurs all year round, with more children getting sick in winter and spring. The disease does not have severe symptoms other than blisters, but it can also cause serious complications from skin infections where blisters appear to sepsis, encephalitis, and even death.

During the treatment process, doctors have encountered many cases of children having complications due to many parents arbitrarily using oriental medicine of unknown origin or passing on to each other the treatment experience of boiling leaves for drinking, bathing, especially with stubble.According to Dr. Huu Khanh, this is unscientific because it can easily cause skin infections in children and make the disease worse.

In addition, many people believe that when exposed to water or wind, the disease will become worse. Or conversely, some people think that covering up the "emergent" pimples will cure the disease quickly. All of this is not true. When the body sweats a lot and is not cleaned properly, it causes itching, easily infects the blisters and leaves scars. Children can also have a higher fever because the body's heat cannot escape.