Forgotten Medical Cures


This is a compilation of forgotten medical cures and "yucky stuff" listed on the
Roots-L mailing list from October 1998. Some of these were listed many times
with different people. In those cases, I just used the first person who posted
it as the source to eliminate any confusion.

If, after reading through this, you know of any more, please consider sharing
them with us. Just e-mail me and I'll post them right away. Thank you, and
enjoy the memories!

Feel free to browse on through, or pick a subject to jump to. We have:


Ague Colds Dizziness/Sea Sick Iron for Blood Nosebleed Suntan Oil
Asthma Colic Dry Skin Jellyfish Stings Pain Swollen Tonsils
Athlete's Foot Complexion Dysentery Lice Poison Ivy or Oak Thorn/Splinter
Bags Under Eyes Constipation Ear Ache Menstrual Ring Worm Sty
Bee/Wasp/Hornet Stings Cough Fever Mosquitos Snake Bite Tooth Ache
Blood Poisoning Croup Fire Ant Bites Mouth Sores Sneezing Tooth Paste
Blood Thinner Cuts, Burns Gout Mumps Sore Throat Ulcers
Boil/Cyst Dandruff Headache Nasal Congestion Spider Bite Upset Stomach
Bruise Depression Herpes Nausea Splinters Vitamin D
Cold in the Eyes Diaper Rash Hiccups Nettles Stomach Ache Warts
Cold Sores Diarrhea Infection Neuralgia Sunburn

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor, nor am I in any type of medical profession. I'm
not advocating any of these cures. They are for entertainment only! If you
decide to use them, please do so at your own risk. :-)
You can also read through a list of Household Hints I found

Ague

Vicks Vapor Rub: Was smeared on back, chest, nose and soles of feet, then
bundled in hot wool blankets Barb

Asthma

Asthma relief from hot Tea or Coffee. Don Ryan

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.) Betty

Athlete's Foot

The quickest cure for Athlete's Foot is Ting. You get it at the pharmacy.
Chimes

Bags Under Eyes

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!"
Rosanna

Bee Stings

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. Stacie

Moist snuff: (Grandpa always had a supply handy) Applied to bee and 'yellow
jacket' stings. Dennis Palmer

Bluing: A dark blue liquid mother used in rinse water to make white clothes
whiter. Also applied to bee and wasp
stings. Dennis Palmer

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 stingss. Barbara

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 ... Verna

For bee stings we used airplane glue for relief and removal of the stinger.
Charles Diltz

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. Julie

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.
Charline Burress

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. Heidi

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. Terri Huston

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. Indiana Joan

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.
Barbara

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. Tina

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 Allan S

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. KW

Blood Poisoning

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. Gloria

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.
PickinFrawgs

Blood Thinner

Sassafras tea in the spring to thin the blood. Roy D. Hurley

Boil/Cyst

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.
Willa Dean "Dee" Sides

Cloverine in the tin can. Winnie Brower

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! Dorothy

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. Leon Plemons

My grandmother gave us sulfur and molasses for spring time purification of the
blood to help combat boils, etc. Joanne H. Boswell

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." Howard
E.Congdon

The thin skin of an egg to remove splinters, to bring a boil to a head, etc. Roy
D. Hurley

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 ... Verna

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. Charles Diltz

A kind reader sent additional information for this one. He/she writes:
I still use this stuff
New name
Ichthammol Ointment 20%
Mfg. Goldline Labs
Miami FL

Removes 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. Talpaulfl

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. Debi Evans
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. Nyla

Bruise

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..... Pam

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. Tom

Cold in the Eyes

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.Loretta Goss

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. Pam

Cold Sores

Lysine 100 mg.take twice a day....you will start seeing results in 4 days. It
can be found in any vitamin section. KI SSKI 88

Colds

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. Grover

(Mustard Plaster Recipe)

Cod Liver Oil: To prevent you from getting a cold. Grover

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.
Dennis Palmer

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. Diane McGee


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. Dolly Yates

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! Doris Goldsborough

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. Jinx Dopson

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! Pat Bales

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!! Peggy

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. Dorothy

In Appalachia, i often heard of thick slices of onion bound to the soles of the
feet for bad chest congestion too. Dorothy

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. Dorothy

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! Chas

Colic

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!! Cynthia

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. Amy Murphy


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.
Sharon Rojas

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. Tinybbrn2

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

Complexion

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!!
Doris Goldsborough

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."
Howard E.Congdon

If you feel a pimple coming up, rub in a little toothpaste and it practically
disappears overnight. Rhonda

Pimples can be brought to a head with hot, wet, washclothes. Don Ryan

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. Mike

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. -Claire Wilson

Constipation

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. Dennis Palmer

Castoria, it was a children's laxative. G C Bailey

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". Winnie Brower

Paprika Jinx Dopson

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!!!!Mary Kay Surguine

Eat a handful prunes or raisins, or drink prune or grape juice. A swig of
mineral oil will also help lubricate the system. Rosanna

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.
Gloria

Cough

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". Dennis Palmer

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. Dolly Yates

Grandpa swore by rock candy (crystallized sugar) dissolved in rye whiskey for
sore throat or coughs. Charles Diltz

My mother also used the sugar/kerosene remedy for coughs. (A few drops of
kerosene in a teaspoon of sugar.) Betty

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. S & P Tumey

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. Gerald Byrd

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. Dorothy

Croup

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. Nina Hall

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. Diane McGee

Rendered Skunk Oil for croup. A cold wet washcloth on the throat would have
made more sense. That stuff was terrible sickening. Wilma

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. Dorothy

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 RD

Cuts, Burns

Pine Tar: Puncture and/or severe wounds were dressed with pine tar. Barb

Coal oil and sugar bandages were another of my grandmothers remedies for cuts,
abrasions, stubbed toes, etc. Later, my mother's favorite cure all was Mar-Vel
oil--a light, all purpose liquid ointment. It went on cuts, bruises, burns,
scratches, whatever. We had 'progressed' from the coal oil and sugar. Nina Hall


Kerosene: My grandmother used kerosene to pour on and clean cuts and punctures
to prevent lockjaw, and I would not think it would be good for taking orally.
Joanne H. Boswell

"Monkey blood" - (merthiolate): Applied to scrapes and abrasions. Always with
the admonition to "blow on it and it won't sting so much". Dennis Palmer

We had a family doctor who always prescribed for cuts, even dog bites...to bathe
it in Lysol!!!! Doris Goldsborough

The very worst "sure and quick" way to stop bleeding of a cut was to pour salt
on it. Talk about pain.... Betty

Another good one, spider web will stop a cut from bleeding. Anne

When we cut our selfs she would pour Coal Oil (Kerosene) on it to stop the
Bleeding and take away the soreness... Verna

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. Jinx Dopson

For small burns: Keep an aloe vera plant growing in you home. Break a prong of
the aloe vera plant off and squeeze the gelatin like juice onto the burn. It
will stop the sting and heal fast.
Willa Dean "Dee" Sides

My grandfather (Indian and southern) would let his dogs lick scratches & stuff
on his hands. Said they made it heal faster. Grossed me out but recent
conversation with a dr. friend says that dog saliva is anti-bacterial.
Believe it or not. S & P Tumey

One night I got really drunk at home and as walking around bear footed.On one
those needed trips of relief I somehow kicked front end of the door and ripped
my big toe nail off. (ouch) To stop the bleeding was the frist call business and
not really caring how it was done. I had my wife get some Cayenne Pepper and
pour on the wound (see Back to Eden on Cayenne shown below under Remedies
Available) in seconds and with out any pain the bleeding stoped. Cool huh Mike

Dandruff

I started a whole fad in my college dorm for using Glovers Mange Cure (for Dogs
and Horses) and still available, for dandruff. On Saturday morning the whole
floor would smell of coal tar while we all walked around with towels on our
heads having a treatment. Philip Ingerman

Depression

Fish Oil 1000 mg 3xs a day will relieve the anxiousness. KI SSKI 88

Diaper Rash

This is relatively new but it works. Take Maalox and rub it on the babys bottom
before you put on anything else, this will neutralize the acid in the babies
waste. It works wonders as long as you apply healing agents over the Maalox.
Billy

We had an old fashioned pediatrician and when our daughter got a bad bout of
diaper rash we were told to mix maloxx (sp) or any antacid with cold cream and
put on I guess the antacid removes the acid from the skin and the cold cream
keeps it in place and cool...It worked the best !! and it was much faster to
help heal!! Debi

Diarrhea

Castor Oil: My mother honestly believed that mixing orange juice with castor
oil made it more palatable----which it DIDN'T!! Furthermore we received castor
oil whether we were constipated OR had diarrhea---in the latter case it was
supposed to "rinse out" all the germs. Howard Congdon

Add more cheese to your diet. Rosanna

If something is eaten that seems good and upsets the stomach, add vinegar to
water and sip it. It works immediately. If not taken right away and the toxin
passes thru the system and causes diarrhea the vinegar will still work as soon
as taken. I have personally used this and will swear by it. Vinegar is so
simple and cheap --- my favorite kind of remedy. Betty C

Dizziness / Sea Sickness

This really works! Eat crystalized ginger. Tastes good and also acts as a
breath freshner while it curbs all kinds
of motion sickness, dizziness, sea sickness, and vertigo. Connie Matejek

Dry Skin

Bag Balm: This was used for chapped skin on hands and face as well as it's
intended use which was as an ointment for cow's udders. I still keep Bag Balm
in the house because it really works better than most of today's lotions. Mary
Stuart Parks

Dysentery

Red Oak boiled will stop Dysentery RD

Ear Ache

We had a teen girl that was in our care, by court order. We were foster parents.
This 14 year old girl whose family came from one of the deep southern states,
came to me and ask for a cup that was disposable. I gave her a paper cup and
ask why she needed it. Her answer was quite a shock to me. She said she had an
earache. She would urinate in the cup and pour it in her ear. That is how her
granny cured earaches. Has anyone else heard this cure? Rose Deal

Yes; my Dad (who is in his 70s) told me that was his mother's cure for an ear
ache. (My grandmother was from very rural east Texas, with Tennessee roots.)
Your foster daughter's granny had access to a modern refinement - the disposable
cup. Daddy said he learned, real young, to tilt his head a little to the back
rather than forward, because the warm urine usually trickled out of the ear and
ran a bit. I like to tell this cure to my children's pediatricians and watch
their faces. Marie

Yep...and actually, it serves the purpose (warm sterile liquid). The one I know
of but never had the nerve to try was the one where you roast an onion and then
use it as a poultice on the ear. Partially the same concept, I guess (hot
liquid) along with the fact that onions and garlic include a natural antibiotic.
Megan Zurawicz

Cigar smoke blown in the ear to cure earaches (it works) Roy D. Hurley

All thru my growing-up years I was plagued w/ ear-aches. Mom always heated some
camphorated oil in a teaspoon, soaked a small cotton ball in the warm
camphorated oil, & put cotton ball in my aching ear. Ah-h-h, such relief.
Didn't take the pain away altogether, but surely did help ear feel better & made
pain bearable. Mary

For an earache my father would take a puff on his pipe and blow tobacco smoke in
the affected ear! No idea why it worked but it did. Pat Bales

When I had an ear ache, she would bake an onion in the coals of the fireplace
and cool it and the put 2 drops of onion juice in my ear, with a piece of cotton
to keep it in. Anne

When a child, I constantly had an ear ache. Once my grandfather found out, he
immediately went into the woods, and found what he called a "Betsy Bug", which
looks like some type of beetle. He said there is one drop of blood in its
head, which he squeezed out, and placed inside my ear. I have never had the ear
ache since. I understand these can be found under old logs or large pieces of
wood. They are black in color and have a hard shell. K. B. Pate

Im 65 and as a kid had ear aches all the time. My Mom would heat regular table
salt and put in a terry towel. It gets really hot so you need to watch when
using on kids. I always felt it was the heat that put me to sleep. It was more
of a heating pad than anything else. My Doctor told me..in a pinch...heat
vegetable oil...test on the wrist, before using. This also gets very very hot.
Use an eye dropper to put in the ear. I read once where a lady heated and just
put it into the childs ear...Of course the child had severe burns and also went
deaf. I could never understand how this could happen....heat any type of oil
and it STAYS HOT. Rae Painter

When I was a small child I had a lot of ear aches, my mother would take a small
square of soft cloth (diaper) and put a small amount of black pepper then fold
over the cloth to make a small bag and tie it with thread. Place this in the ear
and in no time the pain is gone. Larry Long, Drury MO

Here is one i was told about a couple of yrs ago by an older lady, and i use
faithfully it works....Garlic is a natural Antibotic and I keep garlic oil in
gel caps on hand and take it orally. I take 1000 mg orally but have been keeping
a lower dosage on hand for this, 300 mg. I have used both mgs, You decide. But
poke a hole in the tip of the cap and put drops in the ear with child or adult
laying down so it will drain way down into the ear, cover with a cotton ball in
ear. We did this on a weekend when we were unable to get to a Dr. My son hadnt
slept in 24 hrs he was feeling so bad. Within 15 minutes of applying the garlic
oil to his ear he was free of pain and sleeping. In 3 days he had no infection.
Needless to say we no longer see the Dr for ear aches. You could also put a
heated wet wash cloth on or a heat pad these both help ease an ear ache. I also
add that if the problem continues that one should see a Doctor ASAP. Wouldnt it
be nice if Natural medicine and MD's would work together. Gayle aka Stormy

Couldn't resist sending this in after reading your section on earaches. I
didn't see what I thought would be a given. The Native Americans call it
coning, but in Argentina, where I grew up, my grandmother would roll up a sheet
of newspaper in the shape of a cone, with the small end tiny enough to fit in
the ear. I would lay on my side, aching ear up and she would stick that cone in
the ear and light the other end on fire! Then you just let it burn slowly and
the warmth at the end of the cone sucks out any water or air, just as a
fireplace sucks out the air from the rest of the house. Often you can hear the
air rushing out loudly! When done you flip over so the ear can "drain" (and it
does). I have done this to my children who both suffered from earaches when
young, much to the dismay of my pediatrician, but also to the relief of my
children. This really works and has spared my children many hours of pain. Dora
Schwemley

When my daughter was little, we'd fly across country several times a year to
visit family. She's invariably have pain in her ears during descent. The
flight attendant would take two paper or plastic cups and put paper towels that
had been placed in hot water and wrung out inside the cups. My daughter would
hold them over her ears, and, bingo, the pressure-change pain would go away! B.
Daniel

Fever

Aconite for fever. That remedy really worked. You took two drops per teaspoon
of water, if high fever. And usually one took two teaspoons every two hours.
If fever wasn't very high, one drop per teaspoon was given every two hours until
fever dropped. Wilma

I remember my mother telling me, when she was a young girl, she had a high fever
and her father took a large onion, cut it in half and put the cut part against
her feet and tied them there. She didn't remember the length of time but said
the onion turned black and her fever went away. Loretta Goss

As with the sunburn, the same ability of vinegar will also bring a fever down in
someone who is very warm. It appears to only work locally where it is applied.
CG482@a...

Fire Ant Bites

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.
Charline Burress

I live in Florida and want to pass on some information regarding 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! Jean Partridge

You can also pour bleach over an ant bite or put Vicks on it and it will stop
the festering. My sister-in-law Cecile taught me this. Joyce

Gout

Burdock root tea "may"(**) clean the uric acid out of the blood system. I have
heard of relief coming in as soon as 15 minutes. Mike

I read in a Prevention magazine that cherries would relieve gout. A number of
men that I worked with had gout and it helped them. Chimes

Headache

My wife puts Vicks Vapor Rub on her eyelids and temples as well as under her
nose for a severe headache. Rick Fogle

I have suffered from migraines and Arthritis for about 15 years. I finally came
accross a "Chi Machine" which I now have a distributorship, and it has been
almost a year since I have had any headache or suffer with arthritis. Any
problem that I have, I go lay on the Chi Machine for about 10-20 minutes and the
pain is gone. This machine is very expensive ($480.00 plus tax) but has paid
for itself many times over. Any one interested in this alternative to medicine,
please contact me at: chiforlife77@h.... I promise you it helps. It
also helps so many other problems. Thank you. Debi Evans

Sinus Headache? My grandmother that was full blooded Cheerokee Indian use to get
mustard seeds, put them on a cloth (long enough to reach around her head) and
beat the seeds to a pulp, roll up the cloth and place the mustard seed pulp on
her forehead and bring the cloth arround her head and tie the cloth in back. The
hot heat she said would ease her head and not knowing what was happening (it
opened up her sinuses allowing them to drain) said it would cause her "nose to
run". The headache would ease and stop. My mother said she had seen her do this
many times. when I was a boy of about ten years old I seen a rag tied around my
grandmother's head but did not knonw why. I thought sense she was an indian she
"just" liked it. Victor

For headaches; with you thumb and forefinger press the fleshy part between the
thumb and forefinger of the other hand. Do this as long as possible alternating
hands. If it hurts to press....that's good. Dora Schwemley

I have discovered that 'nasal snuff' especially 'Wilson's medicated no. 99' is
great for warding off the type of headaches that can develop after a day's
fishing and driving. It seems to create an outlet for the build up of tension
and fluids caused by getting too much sun reflection as well. Try it - it works
for me! 'Royal George' snuff is good for neck tention too. Regan Clan

When one happens to out in the Forrest and develops a headache (assuming you
didn't bring aspirins) Just chew on a willow twig. Aspirin is made with a base
of willow oil ..:) This also give relief from a tooth ache. Gwen

Herpes

If you take 2 lysine 100 mg daily it will keep you from having an attack can be
found in any vitamin section. KI SSKI 88

Hiccups

Sugar for hiccups. (Some people do better chasing it down with water,others get
better results dry.) Don Ryan

When you have the hiccups, light a match, drop it in a glass of water and drink
the water but do not swallow the match. I still use this cure today and it works
great. Judy G.

Doing this may be awkward to do by yourself, but if you plug both ears, and also
your nose as you swallow four or five gulps of water, your hiccups will vanish.
Having someone else to plug your ears is certainly helpful, but using your index
fingers to plug the ears, middle fingers for the nose, and then picking up the
short glass with your thumbs and ring, plus little fingers does work quite well.
JeanineAlyse

My niece taught me this trick for curing hiccups. It requires another person to
apply pressure to closing off your ears (stand behind the hiccup'ping person and
press as hard as possible to close off the ear passages) Slowly drink a glass of
tepid water and the hiccups will disappear. Never fails!! NytezGrami

A tablespoon of peanut butter ALWAYS stops my hiccups. Ferne

Infection

On larger, infected sores or wounds my grandmother applied some leftover mashed
potatoes and a bandage and the "infection" was sucked right out of one's body.
Howard E.Congdon

For any infection: Take a crust of bread, pour sugar over it until covered, and
soak it in a little milk. Bind this over a sore of any kind and leave it alone.
In no time at all you can feel it 'pulling' at the wound and it will clean it of
all infection. I have used this on my husband and it pulled so hard he took it
off! Don't ask me why, but it does work. This was passed down from my
grandmother. I swear by this one and use it to this day. Jela

My Father used to finely grate some Felsnaptha bar soap, add a little sugar and
enough water to make a paste. Put it on the infection with a bandage. It draws
out the infection. It really works. Sharon Cameron

Iron for Blood

Black strap molasses: A black, thick slightly sulfurous molasses taken from the
bottom of the vat when syrup was made. High iron content (?). Originally given
to our sheep when they were having miscarriages from "pregnancy disease". Found
to be good when mixed with butter or peanut butter and eaten on fresh bread,
biscuit or cornbread. An acquired taste. Dennis Palmer

I recall my grandmother putting large, iron nails in a glass jar of water on the
enclosed back porch for months. She called this her "spring tonic." Gary
Radcliffe

Someone mentioned nails in water. I always heard back then it was a way to get
iron in the
bloodstream. Joanne H. Boswell

It has been said to cook in iron utensils because the iron from them will be
absorbed into the blood. My grandmothers used them and all my grandparents
lived to be over 85 and most of their children lived past 80. Roy D. Hurley

I had an Iron deficiency as a child and the Doctor told my Grandmother to mince
raw ox liver
and silver beet or spinach together with pepper and salt to taste and feed it to
me twice a day
as is. I loved it. But, the rest of the family would not sit at the table when
I was eating it as it made them feel ill. A cousin told me I would turn into a
Vampire. I didn't and was cured. Marlena Zabel

Jellyfish Stings

Use regular household amonia (we use plain amonia so I don't know if the lemon
or other flavors work or not) and pour directly over the whelps. It doesn't
smell great but it instantly stops
the stinging. Terri

For Jellyfish Stings: Use meat tenderizer. Melissa

My experience at the time was with my daughter age 2. She had the unfortunate
experience of having a jelly fish tentacle attach to her leg. We used natural
ammonia, sort of embarrassing but very effective, we used urine. The relief was
immediate. Monica


Lice

Pine Tar: Grandma used pine tar on our hair as a lice preventative. Barb

Mayonaisse rubbed in your hair will kill lice. KissKi88

My Grandparents once told me that if you use peanut butter for your hair, it
will smuther the lice, Especially if they are starting to look like ants!
E-Mailer

Menstrual

My great great aunt was taking alum to reduce the flow of her periods I guess
they were too heavy she died at 16 wonder if that is the cause anyway alum needs
to be listed as a remedy for mentrual flow . Love Genia

Mosquitos

A "remedy" to keep mosquitos from biting ~~~ wet down a dryer sheet (like
Downey) and
rub it over your skin. Not only does it keep the mosquitos away, but also
softens your
skin!!! Jean Partridge

Mouth Sores

Gentian Violet Philip Ingerman

Canker sores (or Mouth Sores) Granny used a Chunk of alum tasted like the
dickens but worked Verna

Red Rasberry leaf dryed or fresh rolled and place into the mouth next to the
sore "may"(**) stop the discomfort in as little 30 seconds. Mike

Here is one that I use and is almost a guaranteed to work--table salt. No one
likes the little mouth sores called "mouth ulcers". A good remedy when one comes
to a full sore is to get some "Compound benzoien" found in a drug store. It puts
a coating on the sore allowing you to eat, but believe me "IT BURNS LIKE FIRE".
But if you feel one in the making, here is the best thing you can do sprinkle
some table salt in the palm of your hand, (it is best to wash your hands before
doing this) stick your tongue in the salt that is in the palm of your hand. It
does not take much salt. Just cover the tip of your tongue with some salt. Then
with the salt on the tip of your tongue place your tongue on the mouth sore and
rub the salt into the sore with your tongue. If the sore has just made a little
bump and has not turned white (open up), it will stop it from opening up and
within 24 hours it will be completely gone! But if you do not catch the sore
before it turns white (opens up) it will burn like down below and take longer to
heal. It
W O R K S for me and my house. Victor

Mumps

When I had the mumps, my Mom rubbed the oil out of sardines on my throat,
honest!!Anne

Nasal Congestion

For nasal stuffiness, or to release sinus pressure, pour 2 cups of vinegar in a
saucepan, add 1/3 cup of pickling spice and boil, then cover head with a towel
and lean over the boiling mixture for 10 minutes or so. (Pickle juice works
too, the more garlic the better.) Believe me, this works better than some
decongestants and doesn't dry you out completely. Stacie Braford

Nausea

For nausea, car or air sickness: put pressure on the underside of your wrist at
about 2 inches below the area where the wrist and hand meet. Hold until nausea
subsides. Dora Schwemley

Nettles

We have in this area of Texas two plants that have fine acid loaded hairs - Bull
Nettle and Stinging Nettle. If you brrush against them the effect is terrific
stinging. We used urine to conteract the acid. Charles Diltz

Take a Pine fern (not cone) brake it in half and rub broken the ends on the
effected area. Mike

Neuralgia

>From an old book that I have - copyright 1879 -Home & Health and Home Economics
by C.H. Fowler,D.D., LL.D., and W.H.DePuy, A.M., D.D.........: "Temporary relief
for neuralgia: A New Hampshire gentleman says: 'Take two large tablespoonfuls of
cologne, and two teaspoonfuls of fine salt; mix them together in a small bottle;
every time you have any acute affection of the facial nerves, or neuralgia,
simply breathe the fumes into your nose from the bottle, and you will be
immediately relieved." Doris Goldsborough

Nosebleed

Vinegar will stop a nosebleed in its tracks. Just take a small sip and get it
to the back of your throat, and breathe the vapors out your nose. No more
nosebleed. It appears to cause the blood vessels of the nose to contract or to
clot the blood rapidly. CG482@a...

Fold a piece of tissue(small not to large) and tuck it under your upper lip (See
Boy Scout fieldbook pg.247) Mike

Pain

Willow Bark: Indians (American aborigines) chewed willow bark before the
"white" man arrived to alleviate pain. I think I've heard that some tribes in
Africa have found other plants that serve the same purpose. Aspirin is a
derivative of acetylsalicylic acid which occurs naturally in many plants
including willow. The remedies may have been "yucky" but they worked. Gil
Murray

Poison Ivy or Oak

My grandmother told me of this:
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. Suseann VanLiew

Salt dries up poison ivy and other rashes. Merry

Monistat 7 Cream applied to the affected area, Monistat for itching. Mike

Hemmoroid cream works wonders, dries up the oozing of poison ivy and oak and
also stops the itching. A couple of applications and it's eradicated! Julie

My mother used this remedy for poison oak many, many times over the years. She
was 89 when she died in l993 so you know it's an old remedy. Mix together sour
cream and baking soda and apply to affected skin area morning and night. Use
until skin is healed up. Healing should be seen within a day or two. This
mixture is drying to the poison oak. I think you could use this for poison ivy
also. It would be worth a try. Sandy

Dab Lysol on the infected area...will alleviate itch and allows it to heal.
KissKi88

Poison Ivy or Poison Oak -It used to be shown on the bottle but not lately which
probably means if you're not careful it can burn some people. Clorox or liquid
bleach (diluted) brings relief to the itching. Grew up in central California
and it was poison oak there and got it a lot. KW

Ring Worm

Our family doctor, having nothing that truly worked on ring worm, (this was
before the wonder drugs-post WWII) adopted the use of green walnut hull juice
applied directly to the skin. (black walnut) That truly worked| Charles Diltz

My sister constantly was getting ring worms on one or another part of her body
and in order to get rid of them my Mother would draw a dark circle around it
using an ink pen. They would disappear within usually a week after doing this
every day as the ink supposedly would smother them. Heidi

When I was a little girl I had a wring work appear on the top of my foot. My
mother spent hundreds of dollars on doctor bills and medicines that didn't work.
Finally, she remembered an old cure for chigger bites. Fingernail polish!
Every day, she would put clear fingernail polish around the outside edge of the
wring worm and it got smaller and smaller until it disappeared. The nail polish
smothered it. Priscilla Bickley, West Virginia

In high school during Gym. class, the teacher noticed a ringworm on the back of
my thigh. The school nurse confirmed this, and I was sent home , and told not
to return until it was gone.
(contagious?) After almost 2 weeks of some ointment the doctor had prescribed, I
still had the darned thing , and it actually seemed a bit larger , and itched
like crazy! Finally, my Grandmother told me to take a penny and set it in a
small container with WHITE VINEGAR over night. In the morning, I was to take
that WET penny and lightly rub it on the ringworm, and repeat it before I went
to bed. I was told NOT to cover it, just let it "dry" . ( smelled awful .....)
That ringworm was gone in 2 days! Donnajean

My grandmother would tear off a piece of brown paper bag and put it on the blade
of an ax and light it on fire, blow off the ashes and take the sweat off the ax
where the bag burned and put it on the ring worm, it would go away in 2 days.
Colleene

Snake Bite

My old hound dog came in from one of his solitary hunts whining and in pain with
a swelling around his right eye. Examination showed rattlesnake fang marks both
above and below his eye. Dad wanted to shoot him to "get him out of his misery"
(which he soon had in abundance --- his head "swole up to the size of a water
bucket"). I tearfully interceded and then 'doctored' Duke (my hound) with
kerosene (we called it coal oil) dabbed gently to the fang marks with a chicken
feather. Amazingly, the dog survived --- the only dog we ever heard of who
survived a rattlesnake bite on the head --- and lived for many more years. He
bore tthe 4 little scars of the fang marks until he died but was panicked by
anything that sounded anything like a rattlesnake rattle. Kerosene or
constitution ?? You decide. Dennis Palmer

Almost any vernom except the kind which attacks nevious system (corel snake) can
be immediatly altered to nontoxic. People bit by cobras have been know to go
back to work the same day. Works on stings too. Greg

Sneezing

Many times while driving I would sneeze. I found if you rub your ear lobes it
would suppress the sneeze.Don't pull on them, just rub them. Try it at home
before a sneeze, it really does work for me and others that I have told. Chimes


Sore Throat

A small bag of plain kitchen salt heated in the oven until very warm and cradled
around a sore throat for relief. Nina Hall

Tonsaline: A very weird-tasting, yellow-colored liquid in a tall, skinny bottle
with a picture of a long-necked giraffe on the label. This medication was for
sore throat. It was a bit like taking a swallow of alum water. Nina Hall

Kerosene: Taken internally (with or without sugar or honey) for sore throat.
Dennis Palmer

Voice of Caution: I enjoyed this sight a lot but wanted to suggest that you put
in a warning on the one for kerosene for a sore throught. My daughter spent 2
weeks in the hospital with chemical phenmonia from a teaspoon of ingested
kerosene. I wouldn't want anyone to try it. ShirlRay

Argyrol: You'd get your sore throat painted with argyrol which was on a cotton
swab at the end of a stick? My dad was the official swabber in our house, and
he was pretty gentle, but it sure tasted bad. Philip Ingerman

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. Dolly Yates

>From an old book that I have - copyright 1879 -Home & Health and Home Economics
by C.H. Fowler,D.D., LL.D., and W.H.DePuy, A.M., D.D.........: "Cures for Sore
Throat -l. Powdered potash held on the tongue and allowed to dissolve is very
good for sore throat when there are 'white spots' 2. Take the whites of two
eggs and beat them in with two spoonfuls of White Sugar ; grate in a little
nutmeg, and then add a pint of luke-warm water. Stir well and drink often.
Repeat the prescription, if necessary. A practical physician thinks it will cure
the most obstinate case of hoarseness in a short time." Doris Goldsborough

Grandpa swore by rock candy (crystallized sugar) dissolved in rye whiskey for
sore throat or coughs. Charles Diltz

My mother's cure for sore throat is to gargle with warm salt water. It really
works. Cindy

One morning I woke up with a sore throat, so bad that I had no voice. My Mom
told me to have a hot cup of tea with a piece of dry toast. To my surprise, it
worked immediately. smooth3333

When I was a child, I got a lot of sore throats, and at the first sight of a
little sickness, they would get a long swab and Gentlin Violet and paint your
throat...just enough to cover it. Tonetta Marrero

Gargling with salt water is good for sore throats. Merry

For a sore throat, it only takes a small chip of garlic,,,,or taste a drop of
garlic juice. But chew this very small chip of garlic, & if you do not have
strep throat,,,you will feel better in minutes. Lee Geiger

Peroxide - - See "Swollen Tonsils" This remedy is for both. From Rebecca from
Georgia

Spider Bite

This is a remedy that has helped when my husband had a spider bite that was
growing bigger and was forming a knot under the skin. I went and picked a couple
plantain leaves and chewed them up slightly. Actually, the person with the bite
should chew it, as it has detoxifying properties. But, since my husband
wouldn't, I chewed it and then put it on the bite. I placed a Band-Aid over it
and changed it twice a day for 2 days-after that, the bite, the knot, everything
was healed. I believe I found this remedy in a Native American herbal remedy
book. I also use a chewed plantain leaf on places I have that start bleeding a
little. I just place it on the cut or whatever and hold it there for a short
time. the bleeding stops. Betty Black

When a spider bit a friend of mine on her face, she used a tea bag (just regular
tea). She soaked it in water and applied it to the bite. With in 10 minutes,
the swelling was almost completely down! LL

I saw tobacco used for bee stings, it also works on mosquito bites, spider bites
& anything else you want to "draw" out of body. About 13 yrs ago I had friend
that got bit by spider on back of hand. Within few hours it was very red & she
had golfball size knot. I put wet tobbaco on it, about 1 hour after that there
was no redness & knot was completely gone. Sincerely,
Joy T.

Splinters

How about cutting a potato in half and putting it at the sight of a splinter.
It really works, splinters seem to suck into the potato, but was a little
awkward to be walking around with a potato strapped to you. Michelle Ferretti

Splinter - To cure splinters my Grandmother would cutt a piece of fat from bacon
and place it over the splinter (with a Band-Aid). As long as the splinter was
wood, it would come out, usually overnight. It works! Sabrina Barton

Stomach Ache

Wild Cherries: My grandmother made a wonderful concoction from wild cherries,
which are darker, smaller, and more bitter than domestic cherries. She let it
ferment :0) and mixed it with sugar and hot water for a stomach ache. I loved
it! I had regular stomach aches, until my parents put a stop to the "cure."
Patricia I. Shaw

Paregoric: taken for stomach aches, etc. My mother would add a little sugar and
water to the Paregoric for me to drink. Doris Goldsborough

Nutmeg Jinx Dopson

For stomach ache drink the juice of one whole lemon mixed with 2 tsp. of sugar.
Instant cure! Dora Schwemley

A quick cure for a stomach ache: Squeeze out one inch of tooth paste ( any brand
) and down the hatchee. Swallow it , with or without water , and in a few
minutes the stomach ache is gone!
( Without causing nausea or sickness - - - actually it doesn't taste bad at all
..) In 1958 , while in the United States Air Force , as a Flight Engineer , on
a survival training exersize , 100 miles from a doctor or medicine ( except a
snake bite kit ) , my Aircraft Commander , bless his heart , suggested this
treatment . I've had very few stomach aches since then , but when & if they do
occur ; I Grab the toothpaste! Floyd E. Hodges

Sty

When I was small and would get a sty on my eye, my mother would take a an Irish
potato, cut it in half and scrape out about 3 or 4 tablespoons of the raw
potato. Then she would put the gooey mess in a clean, white handkerchief and
put it over my eye. She'd leave it about 30 or 45 minutes, take it off, wash
the area around my eye and in about an hour the sty would be gone. It has been
a really long time since I was a little girl, but I still use this remedy to
this day. Don't know how it works or why; but, it works. Betty Giblin

Sty - Rub a gold ring on the sty. I have not hadd great luck with this one.
Sabrina Barton

I work in a beauty salon with a lady who is 79 years old. I had a sty on one of
my eyes and she told me to take my gold wedding ring and rub it on a towel or
some type of material to get it hot then touch it to the sty until it cools off.
I thought to myself "yeah right" but my eye was bothering me so bad so I tried
it. My husband rubbed my ring on his blue jeans then put it on my sty. I could
feel the heat from the ring going in the sty. It was very soothing and believe
it or not the sty was gone by the time I got in the bed. Amy Murphy

My mother in law taught me this. When I have the beginning of a stye (in the
eye) I take a piece of smooth gold jewelry (mother said it should be your
husband's wedding ring) and press it against the stye. Now gently move it across
the stye in one direction. Picking it up off the eye and starting over again. Do
that several times and as often as you think of it. It has always healed my eyes
right up. It works like a charm! Gold has healing properties in it. I always
wash the jewelry before and after I do this. Donna Cravillion

Sunburn

Being a redhead who sunburned so-o-o easily, I learned early how soothing &
beneficial vinegar gently & liberally applied to burned areas can be. Mary

Vinegar does soothe sunburn, more importantly it will reduce or stop the
severity of the burn if epeatedly applied for an hour or so, immediately after
the incident. The burning usually continues for quite a while afterwards once
someone is over exposed to the sun. Vinegar will stop the pain and heal in its
tracks. CG482@a...

For sunburn try dabbing on vanilla. It takes the sting out and keeps it from
peeling and smells good. I have used both real vanilla and imitation and they
both work the same. Phyllis

For Sunburn use cold brewed tea on the sunurn (unsweetened of course.) it also
puts the fire out in your mouth when eating hot peppers. Luvy

There isn`t anything better for sun burn then cold tea...Tea has tinactin in it
and brings the fire right out..My husband was badley burnt when he spent a day
on the water,I soaked towels in cold tea and let them set on him,when they got
warm soaked them again, he never even blistered..I have used this for years..
wonderless

I burn easy. I use Aloevera gel on my sunburn. I keep a very large plant in my
house at all times. Its great for burns of all kinds. Jen

I get laughed at a lot when i tell people this, but preparation H or it's
generic equivalent works the best for sunburn. Someone who worked in a burn
unit in a hospital told me about this. Chill it in fridge, stops the sting and
you don't peel afterwards either. Just smooth on the cream . I've used it many
times. It Works!!!!!! Barb

Suntan Oil

For a great suntan oil, try mineral oil instead of baby oil. (Baby oil has
mineral oil in it. Plain mineral oil is thicker, doesn't have any perfumes, and
leaves the skin moisturized as a bonus.) Rosanna

Swollen Tonsils

Merthiolate: I had puss pockets on my tonsils and he punctured them with a long
wire and then painted my throat with merthiolate. Talk about nasty! Glenda Todd


Salsalic acid (used for canning) could be used to swab swollen tonsils. It was
like aspirin. Wilma

There was a mixture of iodine, aconite and glycerin that cured swollen tonsils.
Wilma

I had bad tonsils and, more than once, with an applicator had to have them
swabbed with Tincture of Merthiolate. It smarted a bit but it did seem to
help,..at least for a while. Doris Goldsborough

Iodine & rubbing alcohol mixed together painted on the outside of throat and
dab