My favorite is the chicken soup cure-all. Mom used to make it with chicken leg quarters, because they were often cheaper, provided a lot of meat, and she swore the leg bones had more of the minerals a sick person needs to replenish.
DH and his side of the family swears that a cup of yogurt and a handful of peanuts will cure the runs.
A hot water bottle and/or a heating pad , along with a furry bathrobe and comfy pair of slippers, are essential in fighting off the chills of a cold. I have always suspected that the act of getting all this stuff piled on the patient means they are simply forced to rest, which is in reality the most important step on the road to recovery.
In our house, anyone with a sore throat gets a (sugar free) popsicle or a frozen fruit bar, maybe two. Probably this comes down to act of forcing the fluids that helps healing, while regular drinking is too painful with a sore throat.
Here’s a weird one - I think it’d be considered a remedy. When I was young, I lived in a humid area in the south and if you went into the woods or fields in warm weather, you’d get infested with chiggers. No fun.
So when we came home from an outing where we had to go off the beaten path, my mom would throw us all into a bath that had about a quarter cup of bleach added to it. It supposedly killed them. I don’t know how close it came to killing us. So I can’t say that it’s a remedy that I like.
My Dad’s family must have had some pretty bad cases of chiggers because they were very paranoid about potential chigger attacks. Every orange wildflower was a “chigger flower” and was to be avoided (stomped and burned preferably). A few years ago, I googled “chigger flower” and found that several flowers had that common name, including Queen Anne’s lace, which is white. I think it’s an old wives’ tale about any of them being chigger habitat (more than any other plant) though.
I had a bad experience when I tried using a Neti pot. I used to have bad allergies (I don’t anymore for some reason) and someone told me I should try using one. I did and it made the inside of my head feel like it was on fire for over an hour. It was BAD. So later, I went to my doctor for a check up and I was telling him about my allergies and he suggested a Neti pot. I told him about my experience with it, and he just looked at me and calmly said “Well don’t do that again.”
Using Vicks on my sinuses and chest right now, with a winter cold.
But I don’t do what my mom and grandmom did to us – lather up your chest with Vicks, cover it with a wool cloth (why wool?), pinned to your nightgown to keep it covered at night. In the morning, wash it off with hot water, then pour rubbing alcohol on your chest (to close the pores, maybe?) I can remember standing in the bathroom, as the freezing alcohol dripped down, wondering which was worse, the Vicks or the alcohol.
I’d forgotten about hot jello, thanks for those memories! We were also given hot lemonade, before we were old enough for a hot toddy, then it was hot toddies. May be why alcohol seems like a perfectly appropriate element of taking care of a deep cough to me now . . .
As I recall being told, the rubbing alcohol was used to kill off any germs that spread through your skin when you had a fever. Grandma and Mom always swore that a rubbing alcohol back rub was a swift way to make you feel better. There may be truth to it, but I think everyone feels better with TLC, and a back rub is always welcome. They also swore that for a fever, putting a damp washcloth dipped in rubbing alcohol in the freezer for a half hour, then place it over the patients’ forehead.
As a parent, when my pups were sick, I desperately wanted them to feel better, and would not spare any comfort I could give them. Some of these TLC efforts at least let me convince myself I was doing my best for them.
The other think Mom used to give us, after any nausea/vomiting, was coke syrup. The pharmacy had a soda shop and she’d give us a couple tablespoons to help calm the stomach.
I’ve heard the local honey thing also, and it does seem to make sense. My mother started having horrendous seasonal allergies when they lived on Hilton Head, and taking a Tbs of local honey year round apparently helped significantly. (She is an RN and very rational when it comes to this sort of thing. )
Adding on to what 3 puppies mention of hot water bottles. I love them. Muscle aches , head aches or just feeling cold. You can take them anywhere and are not tied to an electrical outlet. You can fall asleep with one and no worries about turning them off.
Heat does not cure pain -but it interferes with the signals that transmit pain to the brain. (Cold does as well)
I had terrible seasonal allergies, started taking local honey each day and the next spring my allergies were gone. I’ve stopped the honey and they haven’t returned.
Zinc interferes with replication of the cold virus and shortens the duration of your cold. Everyone in my family uses it at the first sign of a cold and no one’s cold has lasted more than a day or two.
Oregano oil can help cure a sore throat. You can mix a few drops with water and gargle. I’ve also mixed it with honey so that it coats my throat and soothes it…
Vitamin C for heart disease. This is even less mainstream but my dad was a strong believer in Linus Pauling’s theory about heart disease being a result of vitamin c deficiency. My dad took no meds and had low cholesterol and no signs of heart disease, despite having smoked 2 packs a day for over 20 years. So, I sprinkle some vitamin c powder into my OJ every morning - just in case
For splinters and blackberry thorns that are so deep into a fingertip that it is impossible to get the whole thing out, my grandpa had this remedy: roast a whole small onion, take a few middle layers out while it is still warm, put onto the finger, and bandage in place. The next morning, the redness and pain would be gone. He should have invented Mederma.
I wouldn’t say what I do is a home remedy, more of a home technique. So besides keeping hydrated, I put on sweats, socks, heavy blanket, get in bed and try to sweat whatever I have out of me. Whether it’s what I’m doing (sweating), or because my body’s immune system is just doing its thing in spite of what I’m doing, I seem to recovery quickly.
@Nrdsb4
My kids would not take fresh raw ginger/turmeric so the berries/honey were used to get those things down them easier. But I would just eat them raw when I am a bit under the weather. Ginger is my go-to herb (I cook a lot with it along with garlic and turmeric and cumin and cayenne pepper! Lol). Honey/pear are good combo for sore throat/coughs. Ginger is also great for upset stomach.
I have also heard about putting Vicks at the bottom of feet to cure persistent coughs but have yet to give it a try.
Local honey has been good for mild seasonal allergies, but we are now doing allergy shots for DS’ severe seasonal allergies.
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