Grandma’s Home Remedies: The Good, The Benign, And The Dangerous
June 13, 2008 by Badbadivy
Ivy says:
When I was a kid, my grandma had one remedy for nearly every malady that befell us kids. If my brother and cousins read Home Ec 101, they’d be laughing right about now. See, no matter what was wrong with us, she had the same advice. Sick to your stomach? You’d better try to poop. Headache? Have you pooped lately? “Grandma! I have a broken arm!” “Your arm is fine, you just need to poop.” And if you told her you didn’t need to poop, she’d come running after you with castor oil, so you were pooping whether you wanted to or not.
Now, I don’t exactly get that excited about pooping, but I have noticed 9 times out of 10 when my kids come to me with a stomachache, they do just need to poop. Ah, well, grandma was right.
Now, pooping wasn’t my grandma’s only home remedy although it was the most frequent. There are a lot of home remedies that are actually good, some that are benign and may work by the “placebo effect”, and some that are downright dangerous. Let’s explore a few, shall we? (after the jump)
But before we do, let me say this: I’m not a doctor. I don’t even play one on TV. This should not be construed as medical advice and none of this info should ever replace the advice of a medical professional.
Now that I’ve said the stuff my e-lawyer (he’s not a lawyer, but he DOES play one on the internet) wants me to say, let’s get on with it:
Grandma’s home remedy: Got a burn? Put butter on it.
Status: DANGEROUS
More Info: Butter may hold the heat in, but the more important reason not to use butter on a burn is because it creates a good environment for bacteria to grow, causing infection. A better solution is to run cool (not cold, and especially not icy) water over the burn and wrap it in some sterile gauze to keep the affected area clean and dry.
Grandma’s home remedy: Stung by a jellyfish? Have someone pee on it.
Status: Works, but there are more hygienic methods.
More info: Growing up in central Indiana, jellyfish stings were a constant worry for us. Okay, they weren’t, but I had to include this one because it makes me laugh that it actually works. The point of peeing on a jellyfish sting is apparently to keep the tentacle from releasing toxins into you. It’s the acidity that does that, so instead of getting someone to pee on your leg, you can use vinegar with the same effects. Once it’s neutralized, you or a companion or a doctor can remove the tentacle. Make sure whoever is doing the removal is wearing gloves.
Grandma’s home remedy: Honey and lemon mixed together is great for soothing a cough.
Status: Works!
More info: Google “honey and lemon for cough” and you’ll get a million different variations on this. Some people swear by boiling the lemon intact and then adding honey to that water. Other people say honey and vinegar. Other people say honey and brandy or vodka. Me, I always take a coffee cup filled about 2/3rds with hot water, add a big squeeze of honey and several drops of lemon juice. It calms the cough right down.
Grandma’s home remedy: Put bacon (or onions or tomatoes) on a boil to make it come to a head faster and/or soothe it.
Status: Ehhh, not so much.
More info: As a very frequent sufferer of boils (I have hidradenitis suppurativa), I have heard 80 million different boil remedies. Let me tell you, internets. They don’t work. I did see one while researching for this post that I haven’t tried and that’s putting a wet tea bag on the boil. I haven’t tried that, but if I try it and it works, I’ll update this post. What works for me is soaking the boil in as hot water as I can stand, then covering it with gauze and antibiotic cream and letting it pop on its own. I usually take motrin for the pain, it makes it somewhat bearable most of the time. What I have found works really well to prevent boils is washing with body wash that contains tea tree oil. Ever since I have started using body wash with tea tree oil in it, I’ve had a lot fewer boils that last a shorter period of time.
Grandma’s home remedy: A cotton ball soaked in whiskey will soothe your toothache.
Status: Mixed results
More info: Although theoretically the sugar content in corn mash whiskey would irritate the toothache, I’ve had fairly good results with this, most of the time. A good friend of mine suggested using oil of cloves on a toothache and that works even better, and I don’t have to go around smelling like a drunk. Fab.
Grandma’s home remedy: Use hot water (or a hot compress) on mosquito bites to keep them from itching.
Status: Works!
More info: It doesn’t work for a terribly long time, but it does take the itching away for a little while. If you’re out of benadryl cream or aren’t in an area where you can get some (camping, anyone?), hot compresses work great for a mosquito bite.
Grandma’s home remedy: Pour kerosene on your hair if you get lice to kill all the lice and nits.
Status: DANGEROUS!!!
More info: Kerosene can be absorbed through the skin and can be very dangerous. Plus, what if you get lit on fire? I really like the info in this link for getting rid of head lice without chemicals. And once again, good ol’ tea tree oil to the rescue! Is there anything tea tree oil can’t do? I didn’t think so.
Alright, home eccers, tell me about your grandma’s home remedies and if they work!
When my daughter was little she used to get sores on her gums (mostly from eating sweettarts). I would get a tea bag wet on the corner and make her hold it on her gum for a few minutes. It actually worked in getting rid of the sore so it may work on boils too.
RE: Boils - I have cystic acne, and I find a good green tea compress helps, at very least, relieve the throbbing pain associated, while the hot water softens the skin. Additionally, finding a salicylic Acid cream helps - you can use anything from commercial zit creams and diaper rash remedies (about 5%-10%), or if you look at many of the generic creams, they come with 15%. I find these work best for cystic acne.
RE: Mosquito bites and hot rags. Scientifically, this works because it temporarily breaks up the enzyme in the mosquito’s spit (yes, I know, ew) that make their bites make us itch.
I used to scuba dive a lot and jelly fish stings were plentiful. We would make a paste with adaofs meat tenderizer and put it on the sting and it would take the sting right out.
Trish
http://www.herbals-unlimited.com
When I was around 8 or 9, Grandma had me rub baking soda on the wart that plagued my ring finger, then bury it in the yard during a full moon. (I buried the baking soda, not the ring finger.) That almost completely failed - the “almost” bit being that it made me feel like I was doing something about it.
RE: Burns — I didn’t get this from Grandma, but we have had good success by smearing raw honey over burns and covering with guaze. They heal up nicely, and quicker than with any burn creams we’ve tried.
Meat tenderizer & water for bug bites. The tenderizer has an enzyme (papain) that breaks down the protein in the insect bites. Works.
Eat your bread crust. It will give you curly hair. Doesn’t work.
For Lice (and I know this works because we used it this year), cover the hair with mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip), cover that with a shower cap, leave it on for 30 minutes, then wash it out. I swear it works.
Hugs,
Melinda
my college health center used to make everyone take a pregnancy test.
oh, you got a sprained ankle there, better take a pregnancy test!!
I like raw honey for wounds, it’s antibacterial and will keep a bandage from sticking. (has to be raw honey- the cooked stuff wil breed bacteria, not kill it)
and i like tea tree oil for bug bites, boils, cystic acne, atheletes foot, ring worm, and more. it stings but it works.
I freaking LOVE tea tree oil.
Here is my tea tree oil story:
While frolicking on the rocky coast with photographic intentions a couple of years back, I had the unfortunate luck of slipping on the wet, crumbly shale. Slipping, and sliding towards imminent death feet first, my friend grabbed me, saving my life, but not my left leg which was serious scraped up from ankle to bum. Did I mention I was wearing a dress at the time?
The type of rock I slipped is gravel-like, and so as soon as I got home I made a salt scrub with kosher salt, vitamin e oil (popped a few capsules), tea tree oil, peppermint oil and a little sweet almond oil and scrubbed the hell out of my leg. This got the bits of rock out of my leg, and upped the circulation. The tea tree oil is anti-bacterial and along with the peppermint oil, tingly enough to keep the itchies at bay, which meant my legs could heal unencumbered. I also applied a mixture of hydrocortisone and neosporin post-shower. I don’t remember if there was more tea tree oil in it or not, but I do know that my legs healed with almost no scar evidence of the incident. Yay for tea tree oil!
My dad’s was gargling with salt water. Yuck.
Now wouldn’t you know it. My children’s dentist and ortho both suggest that as the first line of defense after dental work. Dad knew best.
For mosquitoes. Cover with clear nail polish. Works perfectly. Don’t use color, you’ll look stupid.
For sore throat, I either take calamundin with with warm water or ginger ale.
Both of them works for me. But I still take medicine prescribed by my doctor.
Here is one that has been going back and forth.
Grandma used to say (and it was marketed for it): Noxema for a sunburn.
Later, it was said that Noxema “held in” the heat and was actually NOT good for a sunburn.
But in looking this up again now, it seems that Noxema has joined the “beneficial” list again. So I Can’t actually say at this point if it works or not.
my grandma also used salt water. Warm as a gargle for sore throats, congestion, mouth ulcers or wounds from brace wires. Rinse well after. Status: works for me. (My brothers doctor recently had him irrigate his sinuses with a prescription that was essentially fancy salt water. Not a pleasant task daily for two weeks, but it worked.)
As a soak for just about anything else. Cold salt water soaks for burns (assuming blisters, if any, haven’t burst!), and wounds. For sprains and strains. Warm for athlete’s foot or just about any other skin condition. Status: variable.
You can safely and effectively kill lice with salt water or a sauna - learn how to kill lice without killing yourself or the earth……
Pediculicide POISONS do not remove nits and are dangerous. Among the reactions to poison shampoo or lice “treatments” are seizures, mental retardation, many different allergies and respiratory problems, strange tingling, burning, itching, attention deficit disorders, brain tumors, leukemia, cancer and death.
I have used a sauna and/or salt water to safely and effectiely kill lice (but the nits remain).
I have also used ½ oz. of Safe Solutions, Inc. Lice R Gone® Enzyme Shampoo and/or their Enzyme Cleaner with Peppermint per shampoo-type application to safely remove both lice and nits.
Read how to safely control all pests at http://www.thebestcontrol2.com
For mosquito bites (I don’t know if this works for other bugs) - make an X with the end of a fingernail on the bite. I think it helps to break up the enzyme (or whatever the previous poster was talking about). I used to do this and it seemed to help, then I read that it does help!
Your grandma make fuss for you to poop? For me it was my grandpa.
The one on putting onions(makes me cry) on boils sounds cool. I’m gotta try it !
Honey definitely works WONDER for sore throat.