Similarly, examination can be done by touching the hand muscle, underneath the armpit or thumb, namely, if the pulse beats strongly in those placed then the person has issues with gizzard displacement. If a small circular mass is felt on the left hand of the diseased, between the thumb and index finger, certain želudarice categorize as a sure sign of struna. They gently massage the circular mass until it is “broken down”, which is the most important step in the healing process.
It is evident, according to folk healers, that the issue with the gizzard can appear suddenly and aggressively, followed by great pains, or slowly and quietly, through a longer period, when it is necessary to carefully analyze the symptoms and set a correct diagnosis. Rarely, the pain in the gizzard is so strong that no further checkups are necessary since it is evident. In his ethnological work “Cures and curing inhabitants of Mala Kladuša” issued in the gazzet Behar in 1992 (Zagreb, numbers 1/2) dr. Husein Džanić wrote:
When the gizzard (stomach) hurts, the person bends and contorts like handles of a strung basket, and in front of their eyes appear small light dots. When someone has frequent and strong gizzard pain we say that it has been moved, and that it can be an accident which can cause death.
In case the disease developed over a longer period of time, experienced želudarice can in large percentages, give evaluation of the diseased without any physical contact. Namely, according to empirical experience which the folk healers possess, lean persons yellow in the face as well as fat people with a pale face, which look bloated, suffer from struna. Each of them claim categorically that struna is not a disease that can be treated by official medicine and seeking cure with official doctors is a waste of time.
There is a whole slew of signs which can be used to suspect that an individual suffers from health issues which are caused by struna. Želudičar Edhem Mešinović from Fojnica mentions that the gizzard is a very important organ and if it is sick, other organs are also sick.
– Struna can be obtained, he warns, if you stretch, rise suddenly, if you jump, if you lift something up, but one can get it also, as they say, of no accord, literally for no reason.
State of fear or shock due to an accident can also imply movement of the gizzard. Among Bosnian people it is believed that a person which is timid by nature, easily gets struna/gizzard displacement, such a person should keep a pebble called ustavljak in the vessel it uses for drinking water. This stone is the one which gets stuck between the branches of a tree once being tossed around. It is claimed that the most ideal tree for such an experiment is the Hawthorn tree (Crataegus) because of its mystical healing properties ascribed to it.
see more:
https://www.scribd.com/document/370416987/Struna-or-the-Disease-of-the-Gizzard-Raif-Esmerovic
