I’ve had a bit of time this week. Just as I was getting over a bad cold, I fell down, and as many of you know, after a certain age, you don’t bounce like you used to. Long story short, I ended up with a badly sprained ankle. (Imagine a purple and blue ankle at least twice the size of a normal ankle.)
When I got home with my rapidly swelling ankle, I looked up what I was supposed to do to treat it and came up with RICE—Rest, Ice Compression and Elevation. I ended up doing RIE, because I didn’t have an Ace bandage for the C component.
Thankfully, I have lots of ice, but I started thinking about how people treated sprains and other maladies before ice was readily available. I discovered that if I sprained my ankle in the 19th century, I should take mud from a mud dauber nest, mix it with vinegar, place the mixture on my sprain and cover it with a stocking.
Here’s the thing–I do have remnant mud dauber nests on my house, but I couldn’t bring myself to try this. Why ruin a good nest when I have ice? But there was probably some science behind this cure, as there was behind a lot of 19th century medicine that did not involve superstitions such as tying knots in dishrags and burying them at midnight (my aunt’s cure for warts). I became curious and looked up a few more cures for common maladies, which I will list below:
Sore throat–rub outside of throat with a mixture of kerosene and butter.
Cuts–apply a spider web. Also, you can treat a cut by packing it with axle grease.
Rashes-treat with urine (I thought this was fascinating because urine is a form of acid which would burn like crazy. Ouch.)
Earache–blow tobacco smoke in the ear canal
Pneumonia–treat with a poultice of tansy weed
Dandruff–mix sulfur with water and apply to head daily
Lice–wash your head with kerosene
Poison ivy–treat with a paste of Fels Naptha soap. (I still use this stuff for laundry. It’s great.)
Bee sting–mix honey and mud from a mud dauber’s nest. (As a kid we used a paste of baking soda and water.)
Burns–put fresh calf manure in a flour sack and cover the burn for 24 hours.
There are so many more but I’ll leave you with these and ask what are some home remedies that you’ve heard of? Or used? I still put soda and water paste on my bee stings, but having read this, I may try honey and mud dauber nest the nest time I have a bad bee encounter.
Jeannie Watt raises cattle in Montana and loves all things western. When she's not writing, Jeannie enjoys sewing, making mosaic mirrors, riding her horses and buying hay. Lots and lots of hay.
It is amazing what old remedies were used. There is an old one that treats an eye infection. When tested the datned mixture worked, but only if left to sit for 2-weeks, sifted, and used. The question I have is how dud they develop it? OK, let us mix random stuff, hum it did not work, let us try it tomorrow, repeat until something works.
I’m with you on that, David. How did they come up with the cures? It had to be by trial and error. Hmmm.
My Mom always had us gargle hot salt water if we had a sore throat.
Science supports this.
My mom did that, too. It helped. 🙂
I enjoy learning about home remedies. Many of them work.
They do. I’m going to avoid kerosene, though. 🙂
Mustard poultice seemed to be a cure all for many things.
An influencer was sharing a mustard-based product from Amazon and was praising its healing. It was very similar. She wasn’t impressed when I mentioned it was related to the mustard poultice.
Good for you pointing it out, Denise. I guess she didn’t realize that the wheel had been reinvented in that case.
I harvest elderberries to use for cough syrup
My great grandmother did that, and once when I had a cough the doctors couldn’t help, she doctored me with her elderberry syrup and it worked. I’m glad that cure is still around.
My grandmother used mustard poultice on all of us. She’d apply it on us and grandpa’s bandanna and tie it around our neck when we would go to bed.
That’s really interesting. I like the bandana part.
I remember hearing as a kid from grandma that you can use broadleaf plantain leaves on small wounds. Never tried it myself, though.
When I have a cold (and a sore throat, like now =P) I add some Fazer Eucalyptus candies and honey (or just eucalyptus honey) to my tea.
I’m a big believer in honey and eucalyptus. I never heard about the plantain leaves, although I can see where they might have something in them to aid healing. Thanks for sharing that.
These were such fun, Jeannie!! I’ve heard of the benefits of using kerosene for lice – yikes! Can you imagine? Kerosene would kill anything, I think.
I remember vividly my aunt (who was an ardent smoker) would blow cigarette smoke into my ear when it hurt. I suspect it had more to do with the warm air going into the ear canal than the tobacco itself, but who knows?
I also remember my mother would fill an old peanut butter jar with hot water and I would sleep on it. Ditto with a heating pad. That warmth again. It really did give some relief.
My mother – as I suspect most mothers – didn’t rush us kids to the doctor for every ailment. Not only did most mothers not drive, there weren’t as many doctors around as there are now. We had to tough our way through those ailments, and we survived. 🙂
Sympathies on your sprained ankle! Hoping you’re feeling much better by now!
Thank you, Pam. My smoking relatives also used the smoke in the ear thing. I can see where the heat helps. I love the peanut butter jar hot water bottle. So inventive, as so many moms were back in the day.
I’ve heard that honey is good for cuts, scars, and many other things. We used to use the baking soda and water for stings, though I found out the hard way it doesn’t work if you’re allergic to what stung you!!
Ouch Trudy. I hope you avoid bees and that bees avoid you, too. I have a friend that had a lung transplant and when she got an infection, the doctors used medicinal honey to treat it.
I have always heard warm sweet oil for an earache, honey and whisky for a cough. I still use soda for a bee sting. Also hot toddy for the monthly cramps.
I can see where warm oil would help an ear ache, and I’m always up for the whisky and honey cure. It helps!
welcome. hope you are feeling better soon. I have heard of some of these. mom found a book when I was in middle school and it had a lot of these old remedies. she used baking soda and water with a dab of honey for bee/wasp stings and for splinters. it seemed to draw the splinter to the surface so she didnt have go digging with a needle and make a bigger mess. thanks for sharing
Thank you, Lori. I wish I had known about the honey and the soda/water paste for slivers when my kids were young. It might have made things easier. Thank you for passing this along.
good old white vinegar on a sunburn will ease the sting and prevent blisters and peeling! Used this for as long as I can remember!
I’ve never heard of this, Teresa, but I will try it next summer. Thank you!
I have an Appalachian-Mountain heritage, and folk medicine was crucial for many years in such remote locations. Not only did my Mom have a ton of home remedies, but I’ve researched the topic and have several books on them. I find it all quite interesting.
Hi Janice–I think the Appalachian Mountain culture is a treasure trove of folk medicine cures. Like you say, it’s fascinating. My Grandma Lillie Belle was of Appalachian descent and she had a lot of cures. I wish I could have spent more time with her.
I have heard and used quite a bit of these home remedies over the years and My Mother and Dad used these when I was growing up!
Home remedies often work as well as a trip to the urgent care–especially back in the day when getting to the doctor was more difficult. (Although probably cheaper. 🙂 )
Jeannie, these are soooo interesting! My mom talked about how her dad would blow cigarette smoke into my aunt’s ear when she had earaches, which she had a lot as a kid. And with those cigarettes back in the day, I bet that nicotine would really deaden about anything! One thing she told me too, was that her mother would put sugar in a teaspoon with one drop of turpentine on it–that was to help a sore throat.
Yikes, I’m so sorry to hear about your fall and your poor ankle. That gave me shivers to read about it. My dogs were running in the backyard a couple of years ago, full of playful puppy energy, and knocked me down. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I wasn’t hurt, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to get back up, either! LOL
Yes, Cheryl, falling down is not like it used to be, and I also have to keep an eye on rambunctious dogs. I just read where doctors are using sugar where antibiotics fail. Fascinating.
Jeannie, I wonder how many of these “cures” often made things worse by causing infection. Like packing axle grease in a cut. That couldn’t have been good. Chewing tobacco was supposed to draw poison from a rattlesnake bite and some back in the old west made a poultice of gunpowder to put in wounds. My mom used a lot of Vick’s Vapo-Rub especially when we had a cold or cough.
Yes, Linda, I bet some of these cures were worse than the injury. I wonder if fresh axle grease would work like petroleum jelly, which is a good treatment for wounds. But it would have to be uncontaminated and that probably wasn’t the case back in the day. And Vick’s Vapo-Rub–I read those words and flashed back to my nightgown glued to my chest, lol.
I, too, use baking soda paste on bee stings. My cousin’s Slovakian grandmother told us to use clay mud when I stepped on a bee walking to her house one day when I was 10. It helped.
I am fascinated with all of these elderberry remedies now days. We grew up with elderberries growing wild and in our backyard. We ate them and played with them making purple mud pies and other messes. Elderberry pie was a winter staple in our home because we would freeze some. They were often mixed with apples for pies and jelly or just plain for jelly. We never heard of them being used medicinally. Most of the neighbors didn’t use them at all.
I laughed out loud at the burn remedy….calf manure? Great way to introduce bacteria. Maybe some of them were the helpful kind.
Honey and hot lemonade was one of my mom’s favorites for sore throats. She would warm a wool sock on the wood or coal stove for us to lay our head on when we had an ear ache. Now days I warm a rice pillow in the microwave…it helps.
I’m with you on the calf manure, Alice. They did say that you had to “make” the calf defecate–heaven knows what that involved. But still–e-coli. Right? I love all the other cures you mentioned. I’m a big elderberry fan for sure.
Minna mentioned plantain leaves for small wounds. I have used them when I was outside and got a small wound. The bleeding stopped but I was never sure if it was the leaf that stopped it or if it would have stopped anyway. It did keep the blood from dripping down my leg.
Interesting, Alice. I want to believe in the power of the plantain. 🙂
I hold an ice cube on a sting, it works good, it keeps it from swelling up much, and the cold numbs the stinging.
That’s a good remedy, Connie Lee. Thank you for sharing.
Hi, for upset stomachs my mom would always make us a Spearmint tea.
That’s a good idea, Alicia. I grow spearmint. I’ll try that. 🙂
As a child when I had issues with my ear, I am not sure who, but someone blew smoke in my ear. I have to say that it did not do anything to help me. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
That’s interesting, Debbie. Good to hear from the recipient of the treatment. Thanks for sharing that.
Take a bean seed and rub it on your wart. Take a ride and have someone throw it out where you don’t see. As the seed decays (or grows) your wart will go away. We did it with my little sister and it worked. i have also heard of using a new penny the same way. As it tarnishes, the wart will go away.
My mom used warm clove oil in our ears for an earache. It smelled and felt wonderful.
My mom told me they picked on her younger sister when the was a young teen. They told her to wash her face with a urine wet baby diaper to cure her acne. Don’t think it worked.
I don’t think there are any you listed above that I would like to try. The treatment for lice back in the late 40’s and 50’s was lye shampoo and evidently it burned. If the infestation was really bad, they shaved your head.
My aunt had us rub real gold from wedding rings on styles on your eyes and they would go away in a day or two! For bee stings, everyone said we needed chewed up tobacco to draw out the sting, but, unfortunately, nobody but one uncle smoked and he wasn’t there when I got into the bee hive!