Alternative meds? You'll never believe this one!!

babynurselsa, RN · Apr 21, 2006

This thread is originally 5 years old.

Actually WD 40 contains small amounts of DMSO. This used to be widely used on racehorses for sore legs and bowed tendons. Because so many people were using for themselves it became more regulated and more difficult to obtain from the vet.

p.allen3 · Apr 21, 2006

Hi everyone - New to the site and apparently in the minority from the UK. Being a District Nurse (not sure what you call us in the USA) I have often joked with my patients about getting them a can of WD40 for their creaking joints, not thinking for a minute that anyone actually would.

Being from the UK there are a lot of terms used in replies that I don't understand - for instance the reply that said some people use M.O.M as deodorant. What is M.O.M.? Can anyone enlighten me please? :nono:

jschut, BSN, RN · Apr 21, 2006

Hi everyone - New to the site and apparently in the minority from the UK. Being a District Nurse (not sure what you call us in the USA) I have often joked with my patients about getting them a can of WD40 for their creaking joints, not thinking for a minute that anyone actually would.
Being from the UK there are a lot of terms used in replies that I don't understand - for instance the reply that said some people use M.O.M as deodorant. What is M.O.M.? Can anyone enlighten me please?

Hello and welcome!

M.O.M. is Milk of Magnesia

Has a drying effect...I've seen it used around a G-tube site before, but never under arms! LOL!

melrina75 · Apr 21, 2006

M.O.M.=milk of magnesia, it's a laxative

KJRN79 · Apr 21, 2006

A relatively new solution, you can use a bar of soap under the bottom sheet for leg cramps. My MIL quit using quinine when she found out about the soap!

My mom gets leg cramps. Does it have to be any certain type of soap? LOL, wait until she hears this one from "my daughter the nurse". lol...

Jamesdotter · Apr 24, 2006

This wasn't exactly an alternative med, but..

I once had a patient who came in jaundiced and really sick. He brought his own spring water from home and insisted on drinking it--he didn't consider the city water fit for man or beast. Well--you know where this is going. It turned out that his water was polluted and the source of his illness (and he'd been inviting the staff to drink his water for the several days he'd been hospitalized. Fortunately no one did)

elizabells, BSN, RN · Apr 24, 2006

I've always wondered about the Windex trick from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Anyone tried it? :lol2:

And in re kerosene for head lice: I knew a little boy whose mother did this, because he had beautiful long dreadlocks and she didn't want to shave his head. He wandered into the kitchen, where the gas stove was lit. He received 3rd degree burns all down one side of his body and lost three fingers. So no kerosene! :nono:

CHATSDALE · Apr 24, 2006

funny that this old thread should come up, just the other day i was talking to my db about my gouty toes..he told me that his neighbor uses wd40 for arthro flare ups...said the neighbor proudly shares the fact that he knows when it is working when he can taste it after he has sprayed on the knee

does this sound like systemic problems...i wonder what this does to the brain cells

babynurselsa, RN · Apr 24, 2006

IT definitely absorbs systemically.

http://www.dmso.org/articles/information/muir.htm

Now i DID LOOK UP THE msds for WD-40 and DMSO is not listed as an ingredient. I wonder if they changed the formula due to this or if it is one of the "other" ingregients. Or of course it could be Urban legend. I know I originally was told this by my old country vet more about 20 years ago. He was a pretty reliable resource.

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Apr 24, 2006

Regarding MOM for deodorant: aluminum and magnesium ARE active ingredients of most deordorants. MOM does the same thing but would seem to be much cheaper. . .

I had a male toddler come into the ED with adult panties tied so tight around his leg that it was cutting off circulation.

So, we are asking questions to determine if this is some weird punishment that child protective services needs to know about. . .

No. The child had constipation. The parents asked both their moms what to do about it. One Grandmom recommended tying the panties worn by a menstruating woman around the child's leg to help.

The other Grandmom recommended a sliver of soap suppository. When asked why they didn't go with the soap supp: "Well, that's just weird!"

~faith,

Timothy.

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Apr 25, 2006

my grandmother would use kerosene for head lice and cobwebs for deep laceratiions

One Kerosene was quite effective for head lice treatment, but dont smoke during or aftwerwards.

Cobwebs have been long used to treat lacerations, nothing new there. works effectively also.

kukukajoo, LPN · Apr 25, 2006

Mayonaise is the best headlice treatment I ever found. My poor daughter with three times the hair on her head than mine had an outbreak in elementary school a few years back. She kept getting it over and over and I was at wits end. I finally figured out that the school nurse was letting kids stay in school with active lice and not instituting a no nit policy!! You can bet I lobbied to change that!!

Anyhow- lice are chemical resistant these days and slathering mayonaise on the head GOOD then wrapping with plastic wrap and a towel suffocates the buggers! Of course I always did this after the chemical treatments and once I did this and changed the policy at school we never had a problem again!