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I used to be given a spoonful of sugar with kerosene (coal oil) for a cold and cough.
I forgot about that one! My mom got that as a kid. Kerosene and cherry syrup. She loved it. Goes without saying that this is indeed not only unscientific but dangerous.
My Mom told me when she was a kid, for an ear ache her Dad would put urine in her ear. No, he didn't actually pee in her ear he would pee in a bottle and then pore it in. She was born on a farm in 1923. So I guess one of those old home remedies that we can't even imagine today. The thing I hated the worse was the "pump gun" for constipation.
Forgot about turpintine.....a couple of tablespoons for menstrural cramps. All I had to do was think about it and I would be cured. That's a Wonder Drug!!
Forgot about turpintine.....a couple of tablespoons for menstrural cramps. All I had to do was think about it and I would be cured. That's a Wonder Drug!!
Like so many 'cures', they didn't keep you healthy so much as keep you quiet. I'd bet that anyone contributing to this thread would agree that they were afraid mom (or grandma) would find out they were sick or even "getting sick" for fear of the 'cure'.
Working in health care, I've heard some strange ones. What seems universal is that whatever mom or grandma gave 1) It had no rational basis in science, 2) The person getting it really didn't like it, 3) It actually did end up making them feel better, and 4) Notwithstanding that it seemed to work, they'd wouldn't likely give it to their kids.
For me it was mustard plasters on my chest for a chest cold.
Flaming sore throat...
Mother given 'cure'...
A concoction of these fine ingredients:
a huge amount of fresh garlic
cayenne pepper
fresh lemon juice
Actually there's merit in Vicks (which is why it's so popular). The specific application of tube-sock + vicks, not so much. But a washcloth + vicks, or just rubbing it in, or using a hot-air humidifier with vicks, definitely. It contains menthol and camphor. Camphor is an antisceptic and contains microbial properties, while menthol is a topical analgesic. Both work together as a vasodilator, which results in attracting heat to the surface. Very useful for colds and winter virii, it promotes productive coughing, which is what you need, when you're dry-coughing when you're sick. When you start hearing that wet icky rattle after a few days of dry-coughing and barely being able to breathe because you feel like someone parked a semi on your chest, you know you're on your way to feeling better, because the cough is "breaking up."
There was nothing special in the tube sock.. Just handy. And yes, we used old washcloths,rags,etc.
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ingredients:
Just handy. And yes, we used old washcloths,rags,etc.
