The Russians insist for gastroenteritis vodka with black pepper. A couple of kids even got out of detention when they found vodka in their rooms, because the parents explained it was medicinal. It turns out this was not just an excuse, but is widely believed. They use vodka for many of their health problems. I've never tested this theory out, but they truly believe it, Who knows?
A grain of sugar in a hard to get out splinter - a Zimbabwean nurse showed me this, and it really worked. The sugar apparently draws in fluid, and the splinter works its way out. Never used it myself, but watched the result when my colleague has. There have been some stories in the papers about the use of sugar lately, so they might have some hard evidence soon.
Fractured clavicles - we had some problems because the Russian parents insisted a middle clavicle fracture should be operated and put back in alignment, while local doctor's said no. Parents still angry despite 3 doctor's recommendations, and flew child home for surgery.
Bedrest - for minor coughs/colds, Russian parents insist on complete rest in bed, and the insist that a temp of 37.0 centigrade is a fever.
Just some of the interesting things I've come across.
I don't know about the enlarged livers . . but some people still rub alcohol on baby's gums when teething. I've only heard of whiskey though.
Tequila over here... My mother in law suggested it for my teething baby. I rather thought that if I just took a couple of shots myself, I wouldn't care if the baby was teething. Just kidding. Sort of.
I see you are from Portland Oregon. My eldest son and his wife lived there with their baby until recently. My daughter is still there and she works at a restaurant learning to be a chef. We love it up there.[/quote']
This is the place to be if you like food, so I can only imagine it's a great place to learn how to make food. Is she planning to open a food cart some day? We have a lot of places that started as really talented chefs in food carts and blossomed into restaurants. Or I guess she could just open/work at a restaurant, but, as the locals say, that's "not very Portland."
Speaking of which... garlic has interesting medicinal properties, including being anti-platelet. I just learned that gravediggers used to drink crushed garlic in wine to ward off the plague, which sounds like a waste of good wine.
My husband's urine is way stickier when he is in ketoacidosis than normal everyday urine . . . . . and I know that because I'm the one who has always cleaned the toilet.
I knew I'd found someone special when my new boyfriend came over to my apartment, used the toilet, then took toilet paper and wiped the lid "just to be sure." 26 years of marriage and that dear guy still wipes the toilet lid every time. :)
Ginger for an upset stomach of course. Lavender oil on the temples for stress headache. DMSO for sore muscles. My mother maybe what I call a raging hippie redneck who thinks that medication is a trap and always did herbal first.
Tequila over here... My mother in law suggested it for my teething baby. I rather thought that if I just took a couple of shots myself, I wouldn't care if the baby was teething. Just kidding. Sort of.
I agree.. I always teased that everyone gets some.. sip for the baby and a few shots for me.. By the end we would all be oblivious to teething pain.. Luckily my young'n didn't go crazy with teething so we were all spared.
This made me lol. You're trying, OP. Keep fighting the good fight!
I had an impossible to remove splinter once and trusting my body would do its job, I gave up and waited. Rather than simply push it out, my body broke it down. So, so gross! I do wonder about the sugar - I imagine the sugar encourages bacteria which then promotes an immune/inflammatory response. That's interesting.
We used to use a paste of H2O2 and a packet of ordinary white sugar in pressure ulcers. It's hypertonic and used to just fry the bacteria. We used to cover it up with a cardboard denture cup with an O2 catheter running in it, and this set-up did a bang-up job of closing small wounds in a few days. Really.
Honey is still a great antiseptic, as bees secrete a substance to keep their work product from getting rotten with pathogens. I know people who use it in hospice for nonhealing wounds, keeps down odor and pain.
Doesn't happen anymore (that I know about) but doctors would taste urine to diagnose diabetes. I'm thinking they could just spill it and let it dry . . . very sticky.
It was diagnosed in Greek medicine when somebody noticed the ants swarming around the pens of sick dogs-- the sugar in the urine attracted them.
Diabetes means "passing through," referring to the large amount of urine made
I don't know if this counts as an old wives tale, but whenever I would get the hiccups as a kid my grandma would give me a spoonful of sugar and water to wash it down. It always works without fail for me. Not just water, not just sugar, but sugar followed by water.
Yep, hypertonicity again, stimulates the vagus nerve, which is the one making your diaphragm twitch. No, not that one, you perv.
musingmom
77 Posts
Tequila over here... My mother in law suggested it for my teething baby. I rather thought that if I just took a couple of shots myself, I wouldn't care if the baby was teething. Just kidding. Sort of.