Vicks Vapor Rub: Was smeared on back, chest, nose and soles of feet, then bundled in hot wool blanketsVicks Vapor Rub: Was smeared on back, chest, nose and soles of feet, then bundled in hot wool blankets
Asthma relief from hot Tea or Coffee.
For asthma, an old neighbor of ours said a teaspoon of sugar and saturated with turpentine would cure an attack. He gave me a spoonful once, and it was so nasty I just held it in my mouth until I got outside and could spit it out. Since I didn't swallow, I'll never know if it would've worked. (Seems to me that the turpentine would be like taking poison, so I wouldn't advise this.)
The quickest cure for Athlete's Foot is Ting. You get it at the pharmacy.
I suffered from athletes foot (the "moccasin" type) for about 4-5 years. I tried all kinds of things. Then my brother (who had the same thing) told me he found the cure - Monostat 7!!! A guy he worked with told him about it. I was extremely skepticle, but I tried it - I saw/felt results the next day! In LESS than a week I was cured and haven't had it since!
As for athletes foot. I am a firm beliver in the many uses of bleach, I once got athletes foot however I did not realize it till it was real bad! I mixed one -two gallons of warm water with 1/2 cup bleach and soaked my feet in it for 30 min- 1 hour daily for about 3 DAYS TO ONE WEEK. iT CURED IT!
For bags under the eyes, smooth on a dab of Preparation H under the eyes before going to bed (careful not to get it in the eyes)... "shrinks swollen tissues!"
My grandmother used sugar, some bar soap (Ivory I think) and spit. Mixed a poultice and covered with a gauze pad. Within 20 minutes, the stinger dislodged. Works good will thorns and splinters, too.
Moist snuff: (Grandpa always had a supply handy) Applied to bee and 'yellow jacket' stings.
Bluing: A dark blue liquid mother used in rinse water to make white clothes whiter. Also applied to bee and wasp stings.
The juice of a green papaya is used as a meat tenderizer and also as a cure for a sting. The purple leafed vine - and I wish I knew it's name - it's used decoratively - also cures stinggs.
For Bee stings, Wasps and etc. Granny mixed Snuff and Spit and put it on the sting ... she also would take Butter Milk and baking soda make a paste and put on our stings and bites ...
For bee stings we used airplane glue for relief and removal of the stinger.
Just one more remedy for bee stings. Real simple MUD--plain old mud. especialy if your out doors with no access to medications. By the way it also works for dogs.
I grew up in tobacco fields. And spent most of my time bare foot. When I stepped on a honey bee, someone would put wet tobacco on it. I live in Texas now, and use tobacco from a cigarette (preferably a left over butt) to cure fire ant bites. works on yellow jacket stings too. With fire ants, they leave a permanent pustule that hardens...not if you use wet tobacco within 5 minutes.
Ice works wonderful on bee stings, especially if your child should get stung at a picnic. It takes the pain away and the sting site will not swell. It also won't itch after applying ice.
During an outdoor gathering, a friend of ours was stung by a wasp. It was very painful for him. His wife took plain toothpaste and rubbed it on the sting and amazingly enough it took the pain away immediately. So while my husband was building our deck he was stung by a yellow jacket and complained that it hurt. Thinking back to my friend using toothpaste on her husband's bee sting, I rubbed some on my husband's bee sting and it too took the pain away immediately! I understand that any brand of toothpaste will work. So now I keep a tube nearby while outdoors.
Slice an onion and tape it to the are where you are were stung. Works on all bee stings. My daughter stepped in a yellow jacket hive and I put onion on each of the bites before we went in for a shot.
I use a baby aspirin to releive the pain from the sting. Take a baby aspirin and get it a bit wet.....wet enough to start to disolve into a paste and plaster it over the sting. Allow it to dry. My son used to capture honey bees in his hands all the time when he was little. This was the only thing that worked for him. When the baby aspirin flaked off one couldn't even tell where he'd been stung.
I was stung by many yellow jackets when young and my mother and father mixed up baking soda and water to a paste and put in on each bite. The pain was relieved immediately. But once it dried the pain came back some and reapplying was needed. When it dries it can be messy because of all the crumb like soda but you sure can put up with it if it takes the pain away.
Our family uses a permanent black magic marker to rub over a sting after we have been stung. We were told this many years ago when I became highly allergic to any type of sting. I once got into a nest of yellow jackets and was stung 43 times. We had 3 people marking the spots with markers, and we missed 3 of them, and those swelled up really bad. We have a friend that has to get injections after she gets stung because she is so allergic, but the permanent magic marker slows down her reaction to the sting enough for her to get somewhere to get her shot. Feel free to ask me any questions on this. We live on a farm where wasp and bee stings are the norm, and this has been a life saver. The main thing, the magic marker has to be permanent, not washable, etc. Thanks, Becky
Dip a cloth or rag in petrol(gasoline) it stops the sting poison from spreading. It smells a bit but have saved me heaps
I don't know if this is "old" or not but when I'm stung by a wasp or hornet (which there are plenty in Florida) I use plain old household ammonia. Instant relief.
For bee stings use a regular bayer aspirin wet it enough to make it like a paste and put it on the sting it takes the posion out of it.
My sister ran a pitch fork threw her foot while helping to put up hay, and she developed blood poison. My Uncle Chester's mother who was full blooded indian made a poultice for her foot. We went out and gathered sassafrases. She washed the sassafrases then enclosed it in a white cloth. Taking a butter knife she pounded this until it was pulverised and very juicy. To this was added 1 Tablespoon of sugar and enough can milk to make the poultice very damp. Se rubbed the concotion together then it was applied to my sister's foot. The poultice was replaced with a fresh one as needed. It was like a powerful drawing action that pulled the poison into the poultice.
My grandmother was a treating Dr. in the old days. I had blood poisoning after sticking a rusty nail in my foot, with a streak about 5 inches up my ankle. She treated it with wood roaches in rubbing alcohol on a bandage the same way. It drew out the poison. I always keep in on hand. Sounds gross, but works.
Sassafras tea in the spring to thin the blood.
I recall when I was a child around 8 years old, I had what was called in those days a boil, guess it would be called a cyst now. Anyway, this boil was quite large and on my left hip. It got so large and so impacted I had to lay in bed face down, seemed all the know cures just wouldn't bring this boil to a head, so my Aunt was called in, she quietly said, go to the upper pasture and cut me some large prickly pear cactus and if at all possible, get the one that is blooming. This was done, she took the bloom of that cactus and smashed it into a pulp, she took the thines off the prickly pear, slit the leaf like cactus open, exposing the inside. she then took the pulp of the bloom and smeared this on either side of that cactus section and placed this on the boil, she took cheesecloth and wrapped it around my body to keep the cactus in place. She changed this one more time and on the third day the boil had come to a head and soon drained. Wasn't long before I could walk again. I still have a large indention on my hip where that boil was, but no scar and no other effects from that. I don't know that that the prickly pear cactus was what cured me; I don't even know if there is any medicinal value in these cacti; maybe it was not the time for me to die, and God stepped in. However, I think it helped, for I can still remember how cool and soothing it felt almost immediately after it was placed there.
Cloverine in the tin can.
As children we listened to our father tell about his WWI experiences -- one story concerned a soldier in his outfit who developed a very large and painful boil on the back of his neck. After reaching the point where it was considered "ripe", the treatment consisted of filling an empty wine bottle with boiling water to heat it up, emptying it and immediately pressing the open neck against the boil. We loved the gross description of how the contents of the boil erupted with an audible smack against the bottom of the bottle!
Burdock Root: I had lots of boils when I was young. When I was about 12 years old, my grandmother told me to dig some burdock root, and boil it for a tea and drink a cup full. I went down by the pig pen where lots of it was growing, dug it up, and tried to drink the tea, but I could drink only half a cup, and decided it was worse than the boils. In a few weeks I noticed I didn't have any more boils, and haven't had any since. After that I haven't been so skeptical about herbal cures.
My grandmother gave us sulfur and molasses for spring time purification of the blood to help combat boils, etc.
My French-Canadian grandmother had more than her share of memorable cures but that which I remember best was the application of a tiny bit of tomato avec skin on a boil or pimple that would not come to a head, held on by tape, or later a Band-Aid. Generally within 24 hours said pimple was "ready for popping."
The thin skin of an egg to remove splinters, to bring a boil to a head, etc.
Bacon poultice, was used for splinters and Boils , you took a piece of salt pork and a clean rag placed a pice of Fat salt pork over your Splinter or Boil and most of the time it was gone or come to a head by morning ...I remember my Granny doing this to me and it worked ...
Two methods I recall for bring Boils to a head were the application of bacon rind or slab salt cured bacon and (no longer available) a black natural icthiol ointment. I have no idea what the source of that ointment was, but "icthi" sounds fishy.
I still use this stuffNew name
Ichthammol Ointment 20%
Mfg. Goldline Labs
Miami FLRemoves splinters, good on bug bites, Tick bites
I put on Tincture of Iodine and than Ichthammol Ointment on a Band-Aid for a few days. Haven't had lyme disease sense I started doing this. Had it two times before, But, Maybe I just have immunity or been lucky.
I have cysts come up on me all the time. The Dr. told me that I don't have what it takes in my body to fight them off. As they begin to come to a head, and are really painful, I boil a tea bag. When it gets just cool enough to squeeze some of the liquid out, I place it over the cysts and put a heating pad on top of the tea bag. In just about an hour or so at the most, the cysts pops, and what a relief. It works for me everytime. Good luck with yours.
My 1st husband's Father used to take a coke bottle blow cigg. smoke into it, cover quickly with finger, then but it up to boil/cyst & hold it there for a few minutes, and all of a sudden the core would burst out and hit the bottom of coke bottle. When my husband got them, he'd blow smoke in bottle, have me cover it quickly, and apply to area, and it worked every time.
For boils use a regular can of deodorant spray on the infected area and leave alone if its not to a head to bust it will draw it you may have to do this 2 or 3 time at the most it will bust and you wont feel it works great.
When you get an injury that will result in the appearance of a bruise, if you will rub a bit (1/2 tsp?) of Arnica gel on it immediately---- NO BRUISE! Honest...really works.....
My Dad used to tell me that he would go to the local 5 and dime and they would sell leaches (blood suckers). He would put one under his eye and in minutes...the bruise is gone.
When my youngest son was a baby he had a cold in his eyes. My doctor had given me medicine but it wasn't helping much. My mother-in-law said to me "do you want to get rid of the cold in his eye?" I told her yes. She said "will you do what I tell you?" Thinking to myself "she had eight healthy children," I told her yes. She told me to wipe his eyes with his wet diaper every time he wet. With some hesitation I did what she told me and in two day the cold was gone from his eyes. I have passed this remedy to my daughter-in-laws and my friends and they think it's great. It will work every time.
When my babies gets a cold in their eyes I would just squirt a little breastmilk in them. With in a day or so their eyes would be all cleared up.
Lysine 100 mg.take twice a day....you will start seeing results in 4 days. It can be found in any vitamin section.
Mustard Plaster: They would take a kind of dry mustard and mix it with water. Then they would spread it between two pieces of cloth, and cover your chest with it. It would burn something awful.
Cod Liver Oil: To prevent you from getting a cold.
Vicks Vapor Rub: Taken internally for sore throat and cough. Applied externally if "your chest sounds a little tight". Applied under the nose for sniffles.
Goose Grease & Turpentine: When I was a little girl my mother would save the grease from a goose and when my brother or I would get a chest cold she would take some of the goose grease and turpentine and heat it up and rub on our chests. Then she would heat a piece of a woolen blanket and wrap around our chests. As near as I can remember it would break up the chest cold.
When I had a cold my mother used to chop up onions and put some sugar on them and set them in the warming oven until there was juice. I actually liked the sweet warm onion juice and it was soothing for a sore throat.
As a little girl, I remember when I had a chest cold..the first thing my grandmother would suggest would be "warm up the Camphorated Oil and then rub it around my throat and chest and cover with a warmed cloth." Later on it seemed Vicks Vapor Rub took over in place of the Camphorated Oil!
My Mother was raised on a turpentine plantation. It seems that was the only medicine they had .It was used for cuts, burns, colds, you name what ever was ailing you and they would bring out the medicine bottle.
For chest colds, etc. mother would fry up a pan of onions which permeated the house and place the fried onions in an old pillowcase folding the excess around the onions to make a poultice for the chest or back! It sure got hot and caused one to sweat buckets but it broke any fever and thus speeded up the healing process....I think!
The worst was hot whiskey with lots of lemon - which, as I remember, I was never able to keep down - this wasn't tried too often!!
The "dreaded" onion plaster had many incarnations, mostly, crushed onions in lard, spread on the chest and covered with flannel. The victim was bundled up to sweat (it felt like stewing) and chest congestion usually couldn't stand up to combination.
In Appalachia, i often heard of thick slices of onion bound to the soles of the feet for bad chest congestion too.
To prevent colds my mother-in-law used to keep a pan on the old heat stove with water and Goose Greece in it and a bit of Vicks, it made the whole house smell of menthol but was nice and helped.
I grew up in England and remember a few my mother used to use. If she roasted a goose she would save the grease, if you caught a cold or had the 'flu you got this rubbed into your chest and back. There used to be 'Herb Shops', ( we might call these 'Homeopathic Stores' now) where she could buy various herbs and herbal cures. If we were congested, she would fill a bowl with boiling water, put in 3 or 4 large poppy heads, cover our heads with a cloth and we had to breath in the steam. I realize now that this was opium I was breathing in but it was a common thing in those days; as was 'Herbal Tobacco'. This was also a 'pick-me-up'. Only adults could smoke this if they felt a bit 'run down'. Looking back this must have been a mixture of tobacco and marijuana. It certainly seemed to do the job!
For colds and congestion in the chest take a meduim onion and put a little over a cup of water and sugar cook until the onion until soft and drink as hot as you can stand it and go to bed you may get sick but that is the congestion coming out and you will feel a hundred percent better in the morning.
If your baby has colic just get into a hot bath with the baby. Both of you will relax and the colic will quickly disappear. You and the baby will be able to sleep!!
Speaking from experience this really works. When our first baby was born he screamed the first 5 months of his life. When he was 5 months old and after trying all the medicine the doctor told us to try and several old time remedies, sitting on the dryer, taking him out for midnight rides, changing his milk to every king they have, putting peppermint and karo syrup in his bottles; even taking him to have a massage( by this time we would have tried anything) nothing seemed to work on him. So I called my Great Aunt who worked with a pediatrician for 30 years and told I we were going crazy with no sleep and we needed something fast. She told me to take a quart size jar and put 6 ounces of eagle brand milk and 3 ounces of karo syrup in the jar then fill the rest of the jar with boiling water and stir it up real good. Then I gave him a 2 ounce bottle around noon then another around 6 o clock that afternoon. It was very sweet but he liked it and it did stop his colic. The only thing that we could figure out is combining the eagle brand milk and the karo syrup together. Who knows but it worked and he gained weight and he sleeped a lot better.
Pure Olive Oil works great for babies with colic. Give them a teaspoon full, and in 15-20 minutes, they are quiet. It not only coats the stomach, but it helps when they use the rest room. An old Mecican lady told me about this and it sure works. Too bad I didn't know about this until my 4th baby. Believe me, it worked on her and my 5th, and I have used it on several of my 11 grandkids.
A good standby to have is fennel. Steep the seeds like you would make a tea. Give 1/2 to maybe 1 oz as needed (luke warm). DO NOT ADD HONEY if giving it to a baby.
We went through a long battle with colic with our second child and an Indian friend from India told me to go to an Indian store an by "Gripe Water" follow the directions and serve.. the name sure fits I'm unsure how much to give so you want to follow the directions...and it worked wonders. Debi
I have a newborn daughter who is just now 2 months old. She screamed herself to sleep for the most of the day one day. I called the health department to make sure it wasn't a formula problem as she had just been switched from Enfamil to Similac. She is lactose intolerant. Wic provides lactose intolerant formula, but in similac, not Enfamil which is what she was on.
The lady at the health dept. asked me a few questions, and we came to the determination that the problem was not the formula, but Gas! She told me that other than Mylicon(which can be purchased almost anywhere), that she had an old remedy. I asked her if she would share her remedy and she was happy to. She told me to find an orange tree, pick some leaves off of it, wash them, make a tea of them by boiling them in water which also sterilizes the tea, and add a little sugar or Karo syrup to taste, and give it to the baby. It is all natural so it won't hurt baby. I tried it and it worked like a dream. I recommended it to a neighbor(who I got the leaved from) for her neice to try, and she said it did the trick for her baby as well.
Orange Tree Leaves! It really works. The doctor also added that it was completely harmless for the babies, and we could give them as much as needed.
What really seems "yucky" to me is a story my mother once told me. When she was in high school in the early twenties, the young girls would get a "wet" baby diaper and wipe their faces, thinking their complexions would be improved!!
My French-Canadian grandmother had more than her share of memorable cures but that which I remember best was the application of a tiny bit of tomato avec skin on a boil or pimple that would not come to a head, held on by tape, or later a Band-Aid. Generally within 24 hours said pimple was "ready for popping."
If you feel a pimple coming up, rub in a little toothpaste and it practically disappears overnight.
Pimples can be brought to a head with hot, wet, washclothes.
Red Clover flowers(dryed ones seem are better) and Golden seal are both natural blood cleaners taken together (legally I can not say it will work as a cure)(**) But "maybe it will" clean up acne. One should make a tea (use honey to sweeten if nessary) Golden seal smells and tastes really ucky. Take 8 to 10 Red clover flowers, 1/4 ts Golden seal. Place into a large cup (6 to 8 oz) fill with boiling water. Let stand for 8 to 10 minuets. Drank it twice a day for 3 to 5 days. Use as needed.
My mother taught me how to cure your pimples - You drink a lot of water, for one thing.
Or to get rid of them overnight, before you go to bed, wash your face thoroughly. Then take some rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab and rub it on your face wherever you have pimples. Take some antibacterial ointment, and after the rubbing alcohol has dried (only a few seconds), rub the ointment where ever there are pimples or zits, and where ever you rubbed the alcohol. Leave the ointment on overnight, and within the next few days, all of your pimples will be cured! This really works, I tried it and the next morning they weren't that noticeable, and then the next morning they were gone!! It was really cool. -
Castor oil: Most dreaded of all. Given if "you are looking a little bilious and need a good cleaning out". Also seemed to be helpful if you had been disrespectful (real or imagined) to adult.
Castoria, it was a children's laxative.
I grew up on cod liver oil or castor oil in orange juice. It was supposed to disguise the taste and go down easier. It was the annual cathartic or purgative that was to "clean us out".
Paprika
Back in '29 my mother gave me a small pink Calomel pill which did the trick. Later the treatment was Castoria. This was kept in the kitchen with the spices and was more than once used by mistake for Vanilla when cooking... Whoops!!!!
Eat a handful prunes or raisins, or drink prune or grape juice. A swig of mineral oil will also help lubricate the system.
My Grandfather used 2 tablespoons of Epsom Salts to a glass of water for constipation. FYI it is still listed on the box as a relief for constipation.
Fletcher's Castoria; A dark, herbal remedy that didn't taste very bad at all (as I remember) -- good for coughs or "whatever ails you".
My mother used to mix honey in lemon juice and give as cough syrup. I did this for my own children -- they liked it, it seemed to soothe the throat, and they could have it as often as they wanted, unlike the drug store cough syrups. In retrospect, the vitamin C probably did some good.
Grandpa swore by rock candy (crystallized sugar) dissolved in rye whiskey for sore throat or coughs.
My mother also used the sugar/kerosene remedy for coughs. (A few drops of kerosene in a teaspoon of sugar.)
My grandfather (Indian & southern) would give me a swig of peppermint schnappes for a cough. All that menthol , I guess, plus the shock of the alcohol to my young system sure seemed to do the trick.
I remember my grandmother treating our coughs with a green onion concoction. She would take green spring onions and chop them up in a bowl and cover with sugar, then allow it to sit awhile until the juices from the onions and the sugar made a syrup and then make us drink it. If you liked onions it was at least better than some of the cough remedies available at the time.
My Grandmother used to put salt in the palm of my hand and I would just get some on my tongue and let it melt there and that would help with a COUGH, and would work for several hours.
My grandmother was a practical nurse in the early 1900s in Indian Territory. When my mother was a new mother, her mother-in-law taught her many of the skills and remedies she had learned from assisting doctors. One of them was for a baby with croup. A silver teaspoon was filled with whiskey, set on fire, then the remainder was cooled and given to the crying baby.
Onion juice & Sugar: After we became adults we were all home for Christmas and my niece was a baby and had the croup. Mommy mixed up a teaspoon of sugar and onion juice and gave to the baby and it did help the croup.
Rendered Skunk Oil for croup. A cold wet washcloth on the throat would have made more sense. That stuff was terrible sickening.
Horehound Candy was used to help stop cough when we had Croup, and it helped sooth the throat so we didn't cough so much.
My mother & aunt used to hold me while putting a pan with vicks in it & heating it on the stove while holding a big sheet over all 3 of us cured the croup
For croup, my grandma used to make "skunk grease." Ever heard of it or know how it was made?? Thanks.
It is from te Free Lance Srar Newspaper. It tells how well it cures, as well as a vague way of how to make it. The person sent it to the CDC to get a positive reply on it so he could patent it. The article begins this way:
"Health problems? A good dose of skunk grease will work wonders.
OLD PEOPLE had the perfect remedy for diseases like whooping cough and the croup:
Skunk grease.When your chest got tight, skunk grease would loosen it up. That's what my grandmother always said. Just take some of this potent remedy and rub it on. Pretty soon you'll be healthy again."
Click here for the article: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2001/102001/10142001/417838
It is an interesting to read -- Phew! :-)
Believe it or not.
of motion sickness, dizziness, sea sickness, and vertigo.
the "sting" of fire ants. A couple years ago a little gal staying at the resort here fell into a large mound of fire ants. She was rushed to the hospital emergency room (at a cost of $300 and some change) and all they did was spray her with Windex WITH amonia. (It has to be the kind with amonia added) So the next time I got bit, I tried it ~~~~ it works!
bloodstream.
Canker sores (or Mouth Sores) Granny used a Chunk of alum tasted like the dickens but worked
When my father was just a wee lad or 4 or 5, they all lived on the Indian reservation at Paradise, Michigan. (Gramma was a school teacher and taught the children of the Chipewa tribe there). My father was out playing with his brothers and somehow tangled with the dreaded poison ivy. When he began to have difficulty breathing his older brother took him home. By this time Dad could barely breathe and his whole body was swollen almost beyond recognition. Gramma knew he was going to die. (She had just lost a 2 year old boy to the dreaded influenza the previous fall). She prayed and sent one of the boys to fetch the medicine man. He arrived and saw the trouble. Left, and quickly returned with leaves which he dried over the fire only briefly and made a tea. He instructed Gramma to give Dad a spoonful every hour through out the night. (No shaking of rattles or feathers and dancing around). Next day my Dad was out playing with the rest of kids and Gramma went on with her teaching. To this day, my Dad can walk, crawl thru or burn the dreaded poison ivy and it does not affect him, nor does it affect me or one of my brothers. I don't know about my sister or my baby brother, if it affects them or not.
Now, you wonder what was in that tea. It was made of poison ivy leaves! When I related this story to my Dad, he said he didn't know. He knew that he was no longer allergic to Poison Ivy, but didn't remember why.
I am a nurse and related this story to one of the docs I worked with 10 years ago, and he knew of this cure, but was always afraid to try to it, as he didn't know the ratio: leaves to water. Law suits prevent drs from "experimenting" on real people. The Native American Indian didn't have that hanging over them.
Back around 1950 my mother was diagnosed with an ulcer. Our elderly family doctor told her to eat a baked potato hot from the oven every night before dinner. One night she let the potato sit for a time while she attended to a child, and later was doubled over with pain. The doctor scolded her, saying his instructions were to eat the potato hot from the oven. Thereafter she followed his orders religiously, and the ulcer went away.
Well, Tea Tree Oil is a great antiseptic and we keep it in the house all the time. Several years ago I had a large wart on my face, and the doctor wanted $100 to remove it. I used the Tea Tree Oil every night, and in two weeks the wart was gone.
So, I used the Tea Tree Oil on my daughter's plantar warts. It worked great! The warts were gone in about two months. A doctor would have used expensive treatments or lazer surgery. All it took to get rid of them was a couple of $6 bottles of Tea Tree Oil from the Natural Health
store, and some patience.Tea Tree Oil is from Australia. I purchase mine at the local Natural Health and vitamin store, for about $6 a bottle and it lasts a long time (we've had our current bottle for about two years). The one I like best is in a dark brown bottle and is by a company called NOW. Tea Tree Oil is great for lots of things --- warts, acne, etc.