How about your favorite Old Wives Tales related to health?

I had a patient who came in and said she feels fine but her mother had "the fish dream" this was said with great solemnity (is that a word? lol) Anyway, she said because of the dream, her mother told her to come in for a pregnancy test.
Sure enough, the test was positive.

If you have abundant hair, it sucks the strength from your body. :gandalf:

tonya, surprisingly a lot of our mums with "hairy babies" have had bad heartburn! maybe there is something in it after all! My Gran always told me about my Dad's birth ( home delivery, 10.5lbs!!) He was a hairy wee scottish boy, and throughout the pregnancy, she took loads of Baking soda(!!) to ease the heartburn. Well!!! He was seemingly born with a thick layer of baking soda on him!!!!!(?vernix??). but no, it WAS baking soda that she'd had to take for the heartburn from her hairy baby!(Loved her to bits!)

My favorite old wives tales are the ones on having a boy/girl or what you are having when you are pregnant. When I was pregnant w/ my first son my mom was POSITIVE that I was having a girl because his heart rate was high. Even after I had my ultrasound she couldn't get over the fact that his heart rate was to high to be a boy. (I think she thought the u/s tech was wrong about the sex.)

When we were trying to get pregnant w/ our 2nd child, I wanted a girl so badly we tried every "way" to get pregnant w/ a girl (position of the bed, conception position, etc) I was so positive I was having a girl because all the old wives tales were telling me that I was pregnant w/ a girl and my mom said the heart rate was for a girl. (the sting and ring test, hair and ring test, the way I was carring, web sites, etc) That when I had my u/s I knew that it was a girl. The tech asked me if I wanted to know what we were having and I told her it was probably a girl, she started laughing and said that I was wrong. I still secretly thought she was wrong that I bought 2 going home outfits (boy and girl), just in case.

Now I know that thoses wives tales weren't true, but they sure had me convinced. I can see how people can truely believe them after they have been told that they are true their whole life.

Erin

O.K. I give up. What does the pigeon have to do in order to cure the hepatitis?

It's a middle eastern thing. They put a pigeon on the hepatitis-sufferer's abdomen and the pigeon dies. Supposedly the pigeon sucks out the hepatitis.

How do they get the pigeon in the abdomen? :O

My mother and grandmother would never allow me to go swimming for an hour after I ate, since to do so would result in fatal leg cramps.

I also had a "very knowledgable" family member who insisted she was a nurse (turns out ten years ago she was a CNA) tell me that her mother could NOT be allowed to go more than one day without a BM because everybody knows that the stool will burst out your side and you will have to wear a bag for the rest of your life. Apparently she had seen colostomies and decided that's what caused them. Hmmmmmm.

Not in. On.

Here's a couple I have heard.

For a burn, coat in mud and wrap with a wet leaf

For a minor cut, use dried crushed mushrooms to stop the bleeding

For a charlie horse, hold a piece of silver against the area that is hurting

Native