Czech Medicine

Czech home remedies tend to center around two things: alcohol and sweat. The first time I got a cold and asked my students if they had any suggestions as to what medication I should try (Nyquil being sadly unavailable in Czech pharmacies), I was quite taken aback to hear a universal recommendation of "slivovice."

If you're not familiar with slivovice, it's a type of liqueur made from plums. It is often homemade by families in the countryside and its alcohol content ranges from 40% all the way up to about 80%, depending on who's making it. You can buy it in supermarkets (the brand Jelinek is generally considered the best), but to really do it right, you need to find a home-brewed batch (and hope you don't go blind).

At first, I thought the locals were simply messing around with the foreigner, but as I continued to ask around, I discovered that this truly is the most common advice. Also on the list of "effective treatments" were Becherovka, another type of strong alcohol produced in Karlovy Vary which can best be described as tasting like Christmas, and Fernet, a similar Czech spirit which tastes more directly of pine needles and bark.

So what is the justification for the consumption of strong alcohol when you're sick? Firstly, the high alcohol content is presumed to kill bacteria. For this reason, slivovice is taken along on trips to countries where water quality is poor, or on long hikes where treated water may be unavailable. Czechs will have a shot of the liqueur each day and any water-borne pathogens are poisoned before they can cause any trouble. For the same reason, it also acts as a surprisingly effective treatment for food poisoning. While the thought of doing shots when you can't stop expelling everything you've consumed for the past month might be unappealing, I can personally vouch for the fact that one shot is actually enough to stop the illness in its tracks - and if you've ever suffered from food poisoning, you'll know what a miracle that is.

Slivovice is also used to treat cough and sore throat. Essentially, the alcohol numbs the throat and stops the pain instantly. (If you've ever had one too many drinks and woken up the next day with a mysterious bruise or two that you don't remember obtaining, you'll know how true this can be.) There is a downside to this particular treatment, however: the effect only lasts for a few minutes before your body recovers and starts to be able to feel pain again. It is not recommended that you do what I did the first time I tried slivovice as medicine and take a tiny sip each time the effect wears off, or the next time you get out of bed to use the toilet you'll likely be reminded just how high the alcohol content is. It is a mistake to be made only once!

The final justification for doing shots when you're ill is that it combats fever by making you sweat. This particular claim warrants closer inspection, as it is founded on the general local belief that sweat is the best cure for fever and flu, and to that end, any and all measures should be taken to force yourself to sweat when you are running a high temperature. This includes wrapping yourself in blankets (especially while you sleep), drinking huge amounts of tea just below the boiling point, and using hot water bottles and heating pads whenever possible.

Now, I'm no doctor, but I think it should be pointed out here that this belief is not directly based in modern medical science. First of all, a fever is not an illness, but a symptom, and part of your body's natural defense system to combat illnesses. Curing a fever will in no way cure the illness that caused it, and it might even cause the illness to persist for longer, since you're partially stopping your body from fighting it. If you do want to cure a fever, you have to lower your body's temperature. You can do so by taking a cold bath or shower, putting a cool damp cloth on your head, or taking an anti-fever medication such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, or if you wait long enough, your body will often do it naturally by sweating.

Sweating, in general, is your body's way of cooling itself down. So it's true that sweating will reduce a fever. On the other hand, if you really want to bring your body's temperature down, wrapping yourself in electric blankets and hot water bottles hardly seems like the most effective method.

Finally, one cannot address the topic of Czech health without mentioning tissues. As any foreigner who has been in the country more than five minutes will have noticed, Czechs love to blow their noses. In fact, it is apparently considered somewhat rude to sniffle, while interrupting a conversation (or lesson) by loudly blowing a gallon of mess into a ragged, slightly dirty old piece of fabric and then shoving it back into your pocket to be used again a few minutes later is perfectly polite.

I've asked a few people about the justification for this little cultural tidbit, and the general local theory seems to be that your body is trying to expel germs (especially if you're sick) by gathering them from all through your body, all your blood vessels and organs and everything, wrapping them in mucus, and transferring them all to your nose, at which point you must quickly blow them out, otherwise you will either get sick immediately or make your illness much worse if you're sick already.

I'm still just a bit skeptical on that front.

If anyone has any further information or opinions on these matters, feel free to start a discussion! The comments button is right down there and I'm perfectly open to being wrong, as long a you can prove it.