Home Remedies, let's hear 'em..

I would love to know some of the home remedies that our grandparents knew and used. Instead of going to the doctor, they would get a little of this and a little of that boil it, etc...

I'll start, my mom used to warm sweet oil and put it in our ear when we had an ear ache.
I've used brake cleaner to help dry up mosquito bites.




Barry

oatmeal porridge paste lathed on top of the rash/eczema/red area, or oatmeal in warm bathwater will soothe and calm the irritated skin down a bit and makes it looking less red and inflammed.

OTC medicine and a good "buck up" usually cleared up problems for me. We had to be way passed dead to go to the doctor when my sister and I were young. It's surprising how much the body can deal with on its own. My mother was fond of garlic as a miracle cure, but it never actually did anything...

You can make a mosquito/chigger bite stop itching for several minutes if you momentarily run it under water hot enough to be painful, but not burn.

Have a meal with some crushed red peppers if your nose is stuffy, you'll find it makes your nose run profusely. Or if you really want the complete sinus-clearing package, take some cold medication, then enjoy the red peppers meal with a cup of coffee - this will completely clear out your nose to the degree that it feels dried out, and it'll remain that way for a couple of hours. I did this while I had a cold for my last college walk-through, they had no idea I was ill.

The cure for acne is water; keep a large Taco Bell-sized cup near you at all times and consciously force yourself to drink from it every few minutes, after the first couple of cups you'll find you'll instinctively need to drink every few minutes, and you won't have to think about it. You'll have to pee every half hour, but you'll see notable improvement in your skin in 48 hours.

Wash your face and then apply shaving cream to shave, this will give you a closer, easier shave.

Hydrogen peroxide to treat a zit. It works far better than alcohol or over the counter acne treatments and it's dirt cheap.

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Hick-up's - eat a teaspoon of sugar ...... it really works !

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TooManyGizmos said:

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Hick-up's - eat a teaspoon of sugar ...... it really works !

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So does a teaspoon of cider vinegar. It tastes hideous but I think that's why it works.

Cherries and cherry juice help with Gout, from my mom....






Barry

Whenever I sense a sinus infection coming on I pick up a strange, slightly metallic odor. As soon as I notice this I rinse my nasal passages with saline water. Zaps it every time.

I've heard tales of neti pot used for cleaning out sinuses. I have a weird thing about water in my nose, I don't think I could do it without inhaling water or something.

I hear fingernail polish also helps with chigger bites. They say it suffocates the critter and once it dies, inflammation and pain go down.

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I know these aren't remedies, although they may keep you from going to the doctor.

*Always have extra hydrogen peroxide available*
Aleve
wash hands often + hand sanitizer
duck tape to keep band-aids on
3M Steri-strips
V8 juice
Vitamin D
I know this sounds silly, just keep hands away from face
early to bed, early to rise

__ ^ this kinda stuff works for me

To cure a headache,rub lavender oil where it aches and it will go,no pills and it works.

Have a nagging cough ? Eat a Dill Pickle or drink a teaspoon of the juice. Works better than over the counter syrups and drops for me.

Pickle brine for quick cramps fix too. I've not tried it, but I had an instructor who used to play volleyball too, who swore by the stuff and always brought pickles to tourneys.

Isn't pickle brine mostly vinegar and water? I wonder what the mechanism is.

When I had an ear infection as a child, my mom called a neighbor over to blow cigarette smoke in my ear. I can't remember if it worked or not but years later I saw the results of a study on this practice. It appears that the symptoms were temporarily relieved due to the warmth of the breath but had nothing to do with cigarette smoke.

StarHalo said:

You can make a mosquito/chigger bite stop itching for several minutes if you momentarily run it under water hot enough to be painful, but not burn.

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Also, a dab of Absorbine Jr. on the bite generally kills the itch for good almost immediately.

If you have no thyroid/iodine issues, putting a few drops of Povidone Iodine in a glass of water and swishing it around then spitting it out is pretty fantastic for oral health and puts the hurt on the tooth decay causing bacteria.

I'm in the process of trying the duct tape method of getting rid of a plantar wart on the bottom of my foot. Supposedly if you cover it for a couple weeks there might be success. After about ten days it's still there. When my son was little we did the daily hot water soak on his foot, which was recommended by his doctor, and it seemed to work. That will be my next approach if the tape fails.

Geoff

Flying Turtle said:

I'm in the process of trying the duct tape method of getting rid of a plantar wart on the bottom of my foot. Supposedly if you cover it for a couple weeks there might be success. After about ten days it's still there. When my son was little we did the daily hot water soak on his foot, which was recommended by his doctor, and it seemed to work. That will be my next approach if the tape fails.

Geoff

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place banana skin on a band aid over normal warts for as long as you can handle it it makes them fall off (not 100% of the time but often works you may have to repeat a few times) - while your at it rub banana skin on leather it cleans, moisturizes, protects.