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

[darla80]

I am an office nurse and these are "daily doses of a patients reality"!!!

A familiar scene in the office!!

A new patient arrives and the "Med List" needs to be created.

One day I asked a new patient about her medications.

The patient listed

Accupril

HCTZ

Asa

and WD40!

Now...This is the truth..

I cautiously asked her what she did with the WD40..???

Fearing the worst I held my breath,

She gave me a toothless smile and replied:

"I use it to grease my joints every two weeks!!!!"

Her daughter grinned and attested to the fact saying ...

"Mama always keeps WD40 in her drug cupboard to grease her elbows and knees."

They were both serious :-)

PS. I do live in TN!!!!! :-)

Share your funny med stories!!!!

have a great day!!

Joy and Smiles *Darla**

[onarie]

Working down here in the South, I have had several patient's ask for rubbing alcohol to treat sore muscles. They swear it works, but the doctors don't want to let them use it.

In reference to head lice, saturating the head with olive oil, putting on a shower cap for several hours. Then wash the hair as usual. The nits all come out and the hair has also received a deep conditioning. Trick I learned when my daughter had lice several years ago.

[Mimi2RN, ASN, RN]

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...

I think the article by Dr. Gott said that Dial didn't work. I don't know what my MIL uses.:)

[goats'r'us, ASN, RN]

i've heard of WD-40 working. sounds funny, but hey, if it helps then you're the one laughing!

[porterwoman]

In reference to head lice, saturating the head with olive oil, putting on a shower cap for several hours. Then wash the hair as usual. The nits all come out and the hair has also received a deep conditioning. Trick I learned when my daughter had lice several years ago.

You can even do this trick with LOTS of hair conditioner & put the bag over it. I got that remedy from the local health dept--living in a southern mountain community, people can't necessarily afford chemical tx and may be suspicious of them, but the hair conditioner is a really simple, affordable solution. I think it's pretty cool that the HD would give out such an accessible tx for a common problem.

[lisalau]

coming from Itaian descent, my grandfather (Nonno) used grappa as a cure for everything

got aching legs...rub some grappa on them

a stye in your eye....look into the grappa bottle

a cold...a shot of grappa will fix it (well, it never felt as bad after....)

a toothache...rub some grappa int the gums

get the idea?

throw out the pharmacy, bring on the brewery

[lisalau]

oh i forgot

nauseated? a Tablespoon of sugar with.....grappa (you'd never have guessed, would you?)

[Dink75]

For head lice, we use 1:1 mixture of vegetable oil and white vinegar. The oil kills the lice and the vinegar makes the nit come off the hair easier. Mix the two together in a bottle and pour on the hair. Place a shower cap on or plastic wrap and sit. Leave it on as long as possible (at least 1 hour). Works like a charm. It it safe enough to use everyday where the chemicals can only be used once a week. This is good for those schools that don't follow through with the "no-nit" policy. The only drawback is trying to get it out of the hair. I use Dawn dishwashing liquid. It cuts the greasy oil fast. The hair is so much softer and shinier afterward.

[veegeern, BSN, RN]

Not all of these are home remedies...just unusual ones...

My uncle swears by raisins soaked in gin for arthritic joint pain. The locals say you should eat 9 a dad. My uncle is 6-4 and large boned. He says that he eats 18 because he's such a large man.

A mixture of 1:1 red vinegar and water as a rinse is supposed to help seborrheic (sp???) dermatitis of the scalp.

We've had orders to apply MOM to a sacral ulcer.

Epsom salt in glycerin applied to the legs and then wrapped to decrease edema.

Had a man say that he was treating his diabetic foot ulcer by "trimming those leaders." He was literally "trimming" the tendons in his heel. I was told that it goes back to something that is done to livestock.

And last...There were 8 of us grandkids about 1 year apart in age. When we'd fight/fuss while playing, Grandma would bring out the apples. If that didn't straighten us out, then she'd bring out the Castor Oil. Her theory was that children fought when they were constipated! We learned really early that we should quit whatever it was that we were doing once the apples came out!!

[lisalau]

For baby's sticky eye (conjunctivitis) squirt breast milk into it. Sounds funny but when you think about it, a sterile proteinaceous fluid is about as good as it gets for cleaning it! ofcourse babys whole face gets covered when you squirt straight from the breast but i guess you could think of it as a moisturiser then.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Working down here in the South, I have had several patient's ask for rubbing alcohol to treat sore muscles. They swear it works, but the doctors don't want to let them use it.

IIRC, it says on the bottle that it can be used as a massage for sore muscles...And there was a movie a few years ago... Horseman on the Roof? Juliette Binoche has, um, either typhoid or cholera, and Olivier Martinez rubs her down with some strong alcohol in front of a hot fire. Maybe to break the fever? Or, you know, maybe because it looked really naughty, I don't know...

[blkdawn]

Rubbing alcohol rubbed down on a person with a fever will cause the fever to break, BUT you're not supposed to do it, but I don't know why. I know it will break a fever because it's been used on me and I've used it on my husband (prior to finding out I shouldn't be).

[kukukajoo, LPN]

It is very dangerous to use rubbing alcohol. Many years ago there wa a beautiful model who gave herself a rubdown and was accidentally lit on fire!