Anyone know of old home remedies for all types of diseases..

[butterfly77]

that seemed to work before the pharmaceutical industries started taking over. Example: My grandmother always gave us flour water to cure diarheaa . I know its spelled wrong.

[librechik]

1. Mama gave me milk with nutmeg and sugar for diarrhea

when I was a little squirt (so to speak)

[aquart]

5. Did it work?

[librechik]

12. as I recall, splendidly

nowadays I can swallow Pepto Bismol, so I haven't tried the nutmeg--seems like it might be an antispasmodic, just cuz it's a powerful alkaloid. But I don't know about the milk--that should be a nono, no?

[JuniperLea]

23. My grandma gave us weak tea with nutmeg and sugar to wash down

the banana.

It made sense when my pediatrician told me to give my one-year-old bananas as a natural cure for a runny bottom.

[Warpy]

24. Milk is how my mama gave me diarrhea

because I've been lactose intolerant since I was 5 or 6. However, she was convinced I was gonna die without three glasses of the horrible stuff a day, and she didn't always leave the kitchen long enough for me to pour it down the sink (I'm just putting my glass in the sink, Ma!).

Blackberry brandy was her cureall and I found it nearly as nasty as milk.

My pop, on the other hand, was convinced Epsom salts cured everything. It was an uphill battle to convince him otherwise, but I finally did.

[HereSince1628]

2. Limes for scurvy, mate.

[niyad]

3. rice pudding or cottage cheese works (works for animals, as well)

as does hard cheese.

[niyad]

4. ginger tea or ginger ale for upset tummies

[kestrel91316]

32. Candied ginger works well for car- or sea-sickness.

[HereSince1628]

6. Willow tea for aches and pains, also wintergreen.

[jdadd]

7. We were given

Coke syrup for Diarrhea...

[Warpy]

25. Coca Cola syrup over cracked ice

was an old southern remedy for nausea.

It worked.

What we need to remember is that back in the days before patented headache powders (aspirin, usually), people used laudanum for pain. It was tincture of opium, it was over the counter, and it worked.

Yes, there were laudanum addicts, but no more per capita than we have opiate addicts now.

[central scrutinizer]

8. hot toddys for sore throat

hot water, lemon juice, honey, plus a little bourbon - would fix you right up

[maxsolomon]

9. Cod Liver Oil for Dropsy

Beef Tallow for Gout

[StClone]

10. Most are general and I've used them

To induce sleep: eat a bunch of raw cabbage (on a scale of 0 - ineffective to 3 Effective) -> 3
Dizziness, queasiness or vertigo: chew Ginger Root (YOW! HOT) -> 2+
To prevent and ease colds: Elder Berry Flower tea -> 2 (2+ with L-Lysine, Acetyl L-Carnitine, Vitamin C & Rose Hips)
Great cold easer found in Natural Foods section Gypsy Cold Care tea to which you add Honey -> 2
Simple tooth pain: piece of Cinnamon stick, Cloves directly on spot -> 2+

[Maraya1969]

15. How much cabbage do you have to eat? I am thinking gas pains

would keep me up because of it. Maybe I am wrong.

[StClone]

21. I never have had a problem (gas)

I'd say a 1/2 cup or more shredded (but seems best whole leaves), the greener the better. Gas maybe but I've never noticed. It works best if you consume it an hour or two before bed after a average to bland meal.

[izzie]

22. The one I saw that I really liked was this

Back hurts so rags were tied under the knees and around leg on both legs. That lady came from an Island in the Middle of the Indian Ocean so I do not know how well it usually worked. Course that is hardly as bad as what they used to tell you when you were going to have a baby. In this country, I felt at times I would have to put my head in a bag if I did not want my children covered with birthmarks.

[OhioChick]

11. Archway Coconut Macaroon Cookies

work wonders for IBS, diarrhea, and in some cases Crohn's.

[StClone]

16. That is one of my favorite treatments

For coconut deprivation. HHhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[OhioChick]

18. Coconut

is also an aphrodisiac.

[butterfly77]

36. Are you joking ...

I love coconut.

[OhioChick]

40. Nope

Archway Coconut Macaroon Cookies For Diarrhea

This is one of the tastiest and most unusual home remedies we have ever collected. Donald Agar had suffered from Crohn's disease for many years. Diarrhea was a constant problem. By accident he discovered that Archway Coconut Macaroon cookies helped control the diarrhea better than any medicine he had taken.

Lots of people have written to tell us that eating coconut macaroons has stopped their diarrhea.

This is the essence of home remedies. The discovery relied on serendipity, but Donald also paid attention to how his body responded.

We cannot promise that these cookies will work for everyone with serious diarrhea, but for some people they seem to be amazingly helpful. And for mild diarrhea, there is no reason not to try.

http://www.healthcentral.com/peoplespharmacy/408/19982....

Do a search and you'll find more....

[Maraya1969]

13. Caraway seeds made into a tea or soup is great for an upset stomach

and as a treatment for colds and flu. It makes you sweat. I also hear that it is good for digestion. (I have to put salt in the tea)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda in a glass of water is great for acid indigestion.

[TlalocW]

14. Eating cotton soaked in honey and lemon juice as a contraception

Oh, wait... That's too far back. Ancient Egyptians.

TlalocW

[Maraya1969]

20. When you are pregnant the doctor tells you not to eat any herbs

because they could terminate the pregnancy. I started thinking about using them as a contraceptive but I was advised that it might not be as effective as I wanted it to be. Years and years ago women would eat certain herbs to keep from getting pregnant. Sorry I don't know which ones might work.

[izzie]

17. Sounds like eating the right food was the thing.

We had a chart in school and I think in my parents head that we had to go by. But face it we live longer now and my guess it is part of cutting down on those childhood things that killed kids off and mostly on good eating. Just think N. Korea, if this is true, is having problems with men in the service under 5 feet. That is usually just bad early diets. I had a lot of classes in college on societies that are kept alive on a staving diet where people would normally die and what they thought these people would grow up to. It seems to have been a worry in social sciences. It also does things to your mind to be on the near side of dying for lack of food as a child. Pills are not the great thing drug Co. say.

[sandnsea]

19. mustard plaster for boils

I wish I knew the recipe, but a friend of the family used my grandmother's concoction and his boil went away in days. This was after he'd tried everything from doctors.

And chocolate cures everything. Honest.

[butterfly77]

37. I know of friends who have been having a problem with boils...

both of my grandmothers gave me their remedies and they worked for me. I haven't had a boil in years though. One remedy was take the skin out of the egg shell while it is still wet and place it on the boil and it will dry and squeeze the boil until it starts to drain. The other remedy is to take a piece of salt pork and sit it on the the boil and the salt will make it come to a head and then it will begin to drain.

[TygrBright]

26. Well, no, "home remedies" didn't have any effect on DISEASES, per se...

...as no home remedies I can think of offhand (at least in Western medicine) have sufficient anti-bacterial or anti-viral properties to kill disease organisms.

However, that said, there was a wide range of modestly effective home remedies that could be relied on to alleviate SYMPTOMS of various ailments, in some cases just as effectively as modern pharmaceutical products. In some cases the alleviation was perhaps not as swift or strong as modern pharmaceuticals, but neither did the home remedies carry the heavy side effects/risks of modern pharmaceuticals.

Among the more effective home remedies are:

Hot and cold packs to alleviate muscle aches, swelling, surface inflammation, etc. Also camphorated oil and other "hot/cold" liniments for muscular inflammation/soreness, etc.

Baking soda or mint tea for acid indigestion.

Hot, high-protein drinks such as chicken and beef broth to alleviate upper respiratory discomfort.

Dairy products and other sources of concentrated calcium for diarrhea.

Stewed prunes, raisins, and other dried fruits for constipation.

Caffeinated beverages to relieve bronchospasm.

Mentholated steam inhalers for bronchial congestion.

Baking soda paste for stings and bites.

Witch hazel for other skin irritations.

Hydrogen Peroxide to clean minor wounds.

Oil of cloves for toothache.

Warm pack for earache.

Beyond this, a number of cheap over-the-counter products are effective "second lines of defense" in the case of more severe discomfort:

Buffered aspirin for headache or joint/muscle inflammation.

Calamine lotion for skin irritations.

Iodine for disinfecting wounds.

etc., etc., etc.

I agree with your main point, which is that we rely far too much on the equivalent of a sledgehammer (most modern pharmaceuticals, including over-the-counter remedies,) when in many cases a tack hammer will do.

And I am no friend at all of today's pharmaceutical megacorporate profiteers, who should be ashamed of themselves for the sleazy money-grubbing games they play with something as essential as health care.

Nevertheless, the advent of modern pharmaceutical science is the direct cause of human lifespans increasing, much pain and misery being alleviated, and many lives being saved. We would be foolish, indeed, to condemn all modern pharmaceutical products based on the disgusting excess of today's vile corporate profiteers.

judiciously,
Bright

[butterfly77]

35. My mother use to give us ...

camphorated oil or turpintine I am not sure on a lump of sugar for colds. I haven't seen that in years. Some of those things you listed we also used. I suggested this subject because some can't afford health care and some suggestions may be of some help.

[Mrs. Overall]

27. For an ear ache-- my mother would slightly warm some

vegetable oil, pour about half of a teaspoon in my ear, and plug it with cotton. It took away the pain.

Also, we would gargle with salt water (very salty) at the first sign of a sore throat and that seemed to work as well.

[butterfly77]

38. we used sweet oil..

[schmuls]

28. My boyfriend told me "Granny" would tie a dirty sock around their

throats when they had a sore throat.

[JuniperLea]

30. I've heard that one too! eom

[JuniperLea]

29. My great-grandma had 15 kids... during the depression

There was no money for fancy store bought medicine. They are hard to remember right now, but whenever my b/f has an ailment, the proper home remedy nearly always comes to mind.

Warm salt water can be gargled for a sore throat or swished around in the mouth to sooth a toothache.

Grandpa preferred Irish whiskey for toothaches. He would make us hold about a tablespoon on the affected tooth, then spit it out. We almost always swallowed it... I think it aided in soothing the pain

Brown paper soaked in vinegar applied directly to the skin for bruises.

For ringworm or chiggers, paint with nail polish. Keep it covered with the polish for several days and it will cut off the oxygen and kill the little buggers.

For the barfs, wait until you haven't vomited for at least 30 minutes. Then eat one saltine cracker very slowly. When you can do that and not vomit again, have more crackers and some 7Up. If that stays down for an hour, eat an apple without the skin.

For a runny bottom, bananas and cheese, tea with sugar and nutmeg, with a pinch of salt. I think the tea was to counteract dehydration.

Let a dog lick your feet to cure athlete's foot.

For a sinus headache, sniff warm salt water up into your sinuses and let it drain as you lean forward.

Those are just a few off the top of my head...

[Maraya1969]

39. Did you hear Rosie O'Donnell say on "The View" that her doctor

said to let their dog lick her baby's butt to cure diaper rash. Now that you said that about athlete's foot I think there may be something to it.

[JuniperLea]

41. Dog saliva has anti-bacterial qualities

That's why they can eat rotten meat and we can't.

[irislake]

31. Baking soda

For acid reflux and sometimes for nausea.

[dweller]

33. an apple a day

was good for something... i forget what?



dp

[Maraya1969]

42. lol it "keeps the doctor away"

[Celebration]

34. For colds

Eat spicy Mexican food, and then wash your hair in a steamy bathroom.

[NotGivingUp]

43. Lots of remedies here for diarhhea. Any more for constipation??

[butterfly77]

44. Black Strap Molasses....