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Weird / Quack Folk Remedies

When I was a child I used to suffer from travel sickness. My mother heard somewhere that an old cure for this was to sit on newspapers, so the next time I went on a long journey I was dutifully perched on a couple of copies of the local paper. As you might expect, it made absolutely no difference at all.
 
I thought it was phone books so you could see out of the window.

A couple of issues of The Times on Sunday might have done it. But the local rag would be too low.

Or maybe it was to stop you reading them.
 
My parents used to feed me and my siblings stale coca cola then we got sick in the stomach as kids...
 
escargot said:
In 'Tom Sawyer', the remedy for warts is spunk-water.

http://www.twainquotes.com/Warts.html

I loved that book as a kid. Glad I didn't try to start any scholarly conversations about spunk-water, though.

(Hahaha, wonderful Mark Twain- the drugged cat jumping out of the window shrieking. Beautiful.)
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Aqua spunkae (spunk water): This reagent is collected in the forest and is an eluent of rotten stump. :D
 
liveinabin said:
the best way to get rid on a stye (infection of the folicale (sp?) of the eyelash)
is to rub it with a piece of gold.

This is an old wives tale but it does work.

So if you get one try that for a couple of days and it should go. I've done it before and it works!!!!
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I always heard it was a silver USA dime from my dad, and it worked on him! Funny!
 
graylien said:
When I was a child I used to suffer from travel sickness. My mother heard somewhere that an old cure for this was to sit on newspapers, so the next time I went on a long journey I was dutifully perched on a couple of copies of the local paper. As you might expect, it made absolutely no difference at all.
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perhaps someone suggested that she sit you on newspaper to stop you making a mess of the car and she got a bit confused.
 
I remember my grandma telling me about how her parents put rabbit wee in her ear to cure an earache. :cross eye I was too young to ask how they actually collected the urine. :shock:
 
Afraid I haven't all of the threads on here, so forgive me if I'm repeating stuff...

My Grandma used to rub a piece of raw bacon on our warts, then bury the bacon in a secret place. The warts did go away, although they might have done that anyway ... and we never had much success with growing stuff in our back garden ...

She also used to drop a key down the back of our clothes, so that it was in contact with the skin, whenever one of us had a nosebleed.

For hiccups, she recommended drinking a glass of water from the opposite side of the glass rim ....

...and not exactly a remedy, but she always used to 'polish' my hair (very straight, very dark) with a silk handkerchief, once it had been washed and dried.
 
my grandfather told me some interesting stories from the Pennsylvania 'Dutch' tradition (Pennsylvania Dutch is actually Pennsylvania German, but the English mistook "deutsch" for "dutch")

before a baby's first ride in a carriage, (and later, even a automobile) it was passed under the leg of a table 3 times for luck

he also said that many in our family were known for being able to "stop blood": essentially if someone got a cut, you would lay your hand on the wound and recite a bible verse, i believe it was from Psalms (he was a bit unclear on what was said, there was also a specific invocation in the name of Jesus Christ as well), he learned this from his grandmother and apparently had done it a few times... of course, the pressure of your hand and the time required to recite a bible verse were probably enough to start coagulation ;)

the world-famous Amish are a subculture of Pennsylvania Dutch and have a huge population in my county. They are some interesting beliefs still practiced today, including the Pow-Wow, which is an odd mix of Chistianity and Pagan tradition (deriving only its name from Native American Indians). There were some legal problems here a few years ago concerning Amish parents not going to doctors and instead resorting to these rituals, many times paying money to the practicioners to have it done.
 
My mom used to administer a slug of whiskey mixed with honey for a persistent cough. Though whether the remedy actually cured anything or just made you sleep -- thereby "curing" the cough -- is up for debate. ;)

When one of my cousins was born, an elderly southern lady who was an acquaintance of my aunt told her that if she rubbed the girl's face with her -- no other way to say it really -- pee diapers for the first year of her life, it would guarantee her a clear complexion.
 
hecate said:
...and not exactly a remedy, but she always used to 'polish' my hair (very straight, very dark) with a silk handkerchief, once it had been washed and dried.
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My mother did the same with me if there was an important event or function on when I was younger.

I have also had my hair ironed on an ironing board as a child. It got to a point where I would not let my mother touch my hair (I would run screaming) and my father was the only one who was allowed to comb it after it had been washed.

A good sore throat/cough remedy that I loved as a child and still do, is Raspberry vinegar and olive oil.

I still make my own on occasion.
 
Renigirl said:
My mom used to administer a slug of whiskey mixed with honey for a persistent cough.
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And lemon juice, some sources say!

Any excuse for whiskey, I say! :D

It's certainly very pleasant, and must help with several related conditions!
 
rynner said:
Renigirl said:
My mom used to administer a slug of whiskey mixed with honey for a persistent cough.
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And lemon juice, some sources say!

Any excuse for whiskey, I say! :D

It's certainly very pleasant, and must help with several related conditions!
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I have that, I get very bad coughs (my lungs are scarred), I mix hot water with whiskey, honey and lemon juice. It works wonders and really does stop you coughing
 
A home remedy for Athlete's Foot. Rub Gibbs SR Toothpaste between the toes. Ensure the toothpaste has green stripes, or it won't work. This was discovered by a friend's Father, how I don't know, but he swore by it...
 
I think this fits here.

FDA plans crackdown on homeopathic drugs aimed at infants, cancer patients
USA TODAY NETWORKJosh Hafner, USA TODAYPublished 12:17 p.m. ET Dec. 19, 2017 | Updated 2:56 p.m. ET Dec. 19, 2017

A booming homeopathic industry has prompted the Food and Drug Administration to announce a crackdown on potentially risky alternative remedies that now slip through its regulatory cracks.

The homeopathic drug market grew "exponentially" over the past decade into a nearly $3 billion industry, the FDA said, resulting in a flood of products manufactured without the agency's approval.

New plans announced Monday place scrutiny on products aimed at children and infants, as well as those marketed for life-threatening ailments like heart disease and cancer.

“In recent years, we’ve seen a large uptick in products labeled as homeopathic that are being marketed for a wide array of diseases and conditions, from the common cold to cancer," said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in a statement.

"In many cases, people may be placing their trust and money in therapies that may bring little to no benefit in combating serious ailments, or worse — that may cause significant and even irreparable harm because the products are poorly manufactured, or contain active ingredients that aren’t adequately tested or disclosed to patients."

The FDA's move follows a string of warnings issued on specific homeopathic products, such as baby teething tablets, and actions from the Federal Trade Commission to improve such products' labels.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...pathic-drugs-aimed-children-cancer/964494001/
 
Anonymous said:
My parents used to feed me and my siblings stale coca cola then we got sick in the stomach as kids...
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Funny, I was just talking about this with my friends. Also, in China, boiled coke with ginger can be used to treat colds.
 
Where does Lucozade fit into all this? Fizzy drink supposed to make you feel better through glucose and... maybe just glucose?
 
Lucozade was marketed for years as a drink for invalids. It came in a distinctive orange shroud of cellophane. Along with grapes, it was the traditional offering to accompany a hospital visit. It was high in glucose.

Twenty or thirty years ago - still seems new-fangled to me - it was repositioned as a sports-drink with the advertising adjusted accordingly. I would guess the glucose has been scaled down or even eliminated for the health-aspirational crowd*.

It may be nostalgia merely but I think it was nicer in the days when you believed it could be your last drink. :boozing:



*High-glucose drinks were prescribed for my mother in her last weeks. Those "empty calories" may have their uses.
 
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I think the way it was presented and the fact that it's loaded with glucose just meant that it was a 'comfort' drink to cheer you up while ill. Glucose may have some benefit in propping up the immune system, but I think Lucozade has more of a psychological effect.
 
GNC said:
When I was a kid, I'd only drink Lucozade when I was ill, because it had mysterious recuperative powers that nobody really was clear on. They promoted the glucose in the TV adverts, though.
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I had a friend who swore by pure glucose for her daughter's hot drinks and cereal - nothing but the best! She wasn't buying that inferior ordinary sugar!
 
GNC said:
When I was a kid, I'd only drink Lucozade when I was ill, because it had mysterious recuperative powers that nobody really was clear on. They promoted the glucose in the TV adverts, though.
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Yes, my mother told me it was a cure-all, (late 1960s) and every time we went to a cafe, I'd have Lucozade and a toasted tea-cake.

I was in one of those antique centre things today and they had a little silver thing, apparently used to have smelling salts in. I had utterly forgotten, but when I was a kid, if visiting my great aunt (born in the 1890s) you'd never admit to feeling slightly ill because she'd whip out the smelling salts and Jaysus, they were vile.
 
LOL - I've written this before somewhere here - my Mum was a little girl in England and consistently had a huge wart growing between the knuckles on her hand.
It would grow so large that it would get 'knocked' off while she was playing, it was painful and would bleed.
My Grandmother took her to the 'witch doctor' in the village who was known to cure all kinds of ailments.
This woman told my Mum to take a potato that evening, cut it in half, rub both halves on the wart, put the halves together, and then bury the potato in the garden after dark.
Well of course she did this, but didn't expect much - but on waking the next morning, this huge wart was gone!
My Mum said she searched the bed looking for it, but never found anything, and the wart never returned.
How do things like this work, anyone know??
 
carole said:
There is a sister thread about unusual medical contraptions, which set me thinking about unusual remedies.

Like the smelly sock tied around the throat to cure a sore throat.

And I read about dead pigeons being tied to the feet of a plague-sufferer.

What's the most bizarre folk/quack remedy you've ever come across (or indeed been subjected to:) )

Carole
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When my mother was an infant she had pneumonia and her grandmother made a poltice of onions and rubbed it on her chest. Onion is good for opening up swollen air ways, but it seemed like that would have burned a baby's skin to rub onion on it.
 
Ronnie Jersey said:
LOL - I've written this before somewhere here - my Mum was a little girl in England and consistently had a huge wart growing between the knuckles on her hand.
It would grow so large that it would get 'knocked' off while she was playing, it was painful and would bleed.
My Grandmother took her to the 'witch doctor' in the village who was known to cure all kinds of ailments.
This woman told my Mum to take a potato that evening, cut it in half, rub both halves on the wart, put the halves together, and then bury the potato in the garden after dark.
Well of course she did this, but didn't expect much - but on waking the next morning, this huge wart was gone!
My Mum said she searched the bed looking for it, but never found anything, and the wart never returned.
How do things like this work, anyone know??
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It would be interesting to know what chemicals are in a raw potato that could cause that. I was told by my mother that warts indicated a lack of vitamin C. That was her cure, take vitamin C and wash your hands excessivley (more than our OCD excessive that her mother taught us). She believed it was a virus of some sort.
 
JahaRa said:
It would be interesting to know what chemicals are in a raw potato that could cause that. I was told by my mother that warts indicated a lack of vitamin C. That was her cure, take vitamin C and wash your hands excessivley (more than our OCD excessive that her mother taught us). She believed it was a virus of some sort.
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Irony is that potatoes get warts (a soil-borne fungus) and you have to rub them against a small child.
 
On a serious note, when I was younger my father (Farm Manager) knew of a local 'Wart Whisperer' who was very effective in treating warts in cattle caused by Warble flies. If there were only one ot two warts in an obvious place like on the udder sack of heifers going to Market, these were neatly removed by Dad with a Stanley knife. More widespread infestation of these parasitic grubs required the laying on of hands and a 'prayer' from the Wart Whisperer and the warts dropped off within a couple of days. According to my elder brother (also in farming), the Whisperer did not even need to be in attendance on the last consultation - the prayer was said from his home and the warts dropped off.
Obviously this could all be a coincidence or the warts were a short period in the Warble larvae life-cycle - but bear in mind, Farmers are not idiots, they talk to each other and they don't like spending money on remedies that don't work.
 
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