Unconventional cures, preventions and other wacky practices

I'm six feet tall and my old man thrived on whupping my ass with various leather goods and implements.........so I guess there may be something to the "makes you grow taller" theory.
The girls in our family never got whupped.......and they're all way shorter than me.

 

The first (and usually the only) question I ask is: what's the science behind it?

If it's folk tales and rumor, I discount them. No science, no sale.

 

I went to a group birthing class with my wife, it's a class for couples who are going to have a baby. This nice couple next to us were originally from Slovakia. The husband had advice, old wives' tale, if you wanted to induce labor. That was to have the woman drink dark beer. He was 100% serious.

 

Welcome to Dr. Sharkbaits office. Please have a seat and the doctor will be with you soon. If you are female , please take all your clothes off.

Minor cuts and scrapes. I'm a plumber by trade and as a result am constantly getting cuts and scrapes and since this happens on construction sites , I can't always clean them up and the get a bit infected.
Solution.... dump some Old Spice after shave on them. Works great on the little stuff. If you have a serious infection , see a real doc. I only play one on an internet forum.

Cold sores. Yup , once again it's the Old Spice remedy. It's always knocked mine out in a couple of days. Tastes awful if you get it in your mouth though.

Seahag (my lovely wife) has problems with exema. When available , a couple of days swimming in salt water has cleared it up , sometimes completely.

Heartburn. This one's not for everyone but it might be worth a try if you can pull it off. I had trouble with it for years. Special diets , various pills and tums helped but never for long term. During one bout I had to see a doctor for some infection that I had. (Strep throat maybe but I'm not sure.) For whatever it was that I had , the doc prescribed liquid amoxocillin. I don't remember the other results of taking that stuff but the heartburn cleared up in a couple of days and didn't come back for over four years. My current doc is pretty cool and when I told him about this , he told me he would give me a script if I needed it . Might be worth a talk with your doc if you have problems with it.

Sweaty hands while playing. Corn starch baby powder. I've used it for years playing both bass , 6 stingers and my 12 strings. I use flats on the bass so no problems with gunking up the strings there. I guess with round wounds it might gunk up the strings a bit but it never seemed to be a problem on my 6 and 12's . YMMV

Thank you. Please pay the nurse on your way out and have a nice day.

 

+1 when I was ten,I got a rash on my back from a public swimming pool. Doctor couldn't cure it.

So dad drove us to the beach every day for a week. Cured the rash. Sea water is good stuff, just don't drink it and remember it's the sharks' home.

 

People stay away, rather than hanging nearby and coughing or sneezing on you. Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Was your heartburn related to too much stomach acid? I have acid reflux. I'll throw up if too much acid builds up... while eating.

 

That's what I was thinking! Let's not take the fun out of this so quickly.

 

I use super glue to seal cuts and to fill popped blisters or torn calluses. I even sliced off 4 finger tips in a deli slicer while I was in high school and glued back the three I found. It worked pretty good.

 

wasn't that what super glue was used for originally by the military, a patch-up for wounds?

 

I heard it was originally developed for the conflict in Vietnam as a waterproof bandage and liquid stiches.

 

To be honest , I'm not sure. I think I read somewhere that in some cases excess acid can be induced by certain types of bacteria. This was probably the cause in my case but again , I'm really not sure. What I do know is that I had problems for years and this took care of it long term. About 4 or 5 years after I tried it the first time , I started having problems again. I didn't have any of the liquid stuff around but I did have some amoxocillin pills (freekin horse pills , these things were huge.) I cut a few in half and took one half in the morning and one half at night for about three days. That was about six years ago and I haven't had any long term flare ups since. It was a couple years ago that I talked with my doc about it and it was at that time that he told me he'd be glad to help me out if it became a problem again. My daughter had some of the same problems and her doc wanted to do a series of very expensive tests before prescribing any antibiotics. She decided screw that and grabbed a few pills that I had laying around. Don't know if it helped her for sure but I haven't heard her complain since then.
Some docs are enlightened to this and some are not. You will need to find one that is or just by pass them like I did.

 

Scotch is great for a toothache. The tooth will still ache, but you just won't care.
In fact, I'm feeling like I may have a toothache next week. Time for a little preventative medicine.

 

Teaspoon of baking powder in a shot glass of water for heartburn
Gas on poison ivy
Upside down water for hiccups
That's a few off the top of my head

I've got a Vietnamese mother in law. She's got something for everything.

 

I have horrific heartburn. I generally take zantac (ranitidine).

How effective is the shot glass of water with baking powder? How long does it take to kick in and how long does it last?

 

Honey on deep cuts, under clean bandages until it heals enough to be exposed. Heals faster and with less scarring. Sugar works too but is less convenient.

Surefire hiccup cure is to take a mouthful of water, hold the glass right over your head with a straight arm while tilting your head all the way back, looking at the bottom of the glass, and swallow. Occasionally you have to repeat it but it really works every time.

Dried apricots, soaked in brandy over a few weeks, as a hangover cure. It helps, much better than just having some brandy.

An odd one that might become commonplace in the near future, fecal transplants to replace loss of intestinal flora in the gut due to antibiotic treatments.

Warm sterilized water compresses on your eyelid to prevent sties from getting larger- be very careful not to make them too hot or to come in contact with your eyeball.

Bizarre old-fashioned so-called remedy for arthritis here in Switzerland, wearing cat pelts on the afflicted areas.

 

Of course, some rashes will simply go away on their own regardless of whether or not you go into the ocean.

 

(Cut to the five Gumbys standing in a tight group.)

Gumbys: Thank you. And now a sketch about a chemist called The Chemist Sketch.

(A number of men and women are sitting around in an area by the counter where there is a large sign saying 'Dispensing Department'. A cheerful chemist appears at the counter.)

Chemist: (JOHN) Right. I've got some of your prescriptions here. Er, who's got the pox? (nobody reacts) ... Come on, who's got the pox ... come on... (a man timidly puts his hand up) . .. there you go. (throws bottle to the man with his hand up) Who's got a boil on the bum... boil on the botty. (throws bottle to the only man standing up) Who's got the chest rash? (a woman with a large bosom puts up hand) Have to get a bigger bottle. Who's got wind? (throws bottle to a man sitting on his own) Catch.

(Caption on the screen: 'THE CHEMIST SKETCH - AN APOLOGY')

Voice Over: The BBC would like to apologize for the poor quality of the writing in that sketch. It is not BBC policy to get easy laughs with words like bum, knickers, botty or wee-wees. (laughs off camera) Ssssh!

(Cut to a man standing by a screen with a clicker.)

BBC Man: These are the words that are not to be used again on this programme.

(He clicks the clicker. On screen appear the following slides
B*M
B*TTY
P*X
KN*CKERS
W**-W**
SEMPRINI

(A girl comes into shot.)

Girl: Semprini!?

BBC Man: (pointing) Out!

(Cut back to the chemist's shop. The chemist appears again.)

Chemist: Right, who's got a boil on his Semprini, then?

(A policeman appears and bundles him off.)