Old Wives cures.

If you've got cystitis talk to a pharmacist. Necking down lots of bicarb may not be a good idea for some people due to sodium content.
Aloe vera juice is soothing on small burns. Never tried it on a cut.
Lots of these OWT's are obviously nonsense - but the placebo effect can work on symptoms (but not diseases!)
Many of them are hang-overs from the days when we had no scientific understanding of the body, no scientific medicines and/or when people could not afford professional advice. My Nan used to tell me about all the remedies that were tried to cure her earache when a child in the early 1900s - the most extreme was her own wee poured in.

Bicarbonate of soda is very good for cystitis it stops the acid
Arrowroot for the runs
Aloe Vera rubbed on a cut
Toothpaste on a burn

Help. Any suggestions please for tinnitus..awful

The Germans have a lot of remedies. For a sore throat you put woollen sock round your throat. Probably soaked in something but I don't know what it is.
Raw onion placed on the ear for earrache.
Then damp cloths round the legs, to bring down temperature and with a load of quark - wrapped round an aching knee, takes the pain away and is a real messy affair.

I remember M&B but I thought they were sulphanilamide

Sounds crazy but a bar of ivory soap under the sheet really does work I wasn't convinced but I stopped for a while and the leg cramps returned.

My DF used to give me the real thing

Indian Brandee was only herbal though, wasn't it? I think you can still get it.

Not an old wives' tale though - M&B tablets were penicillin, the miracle cure.

I remember the doctor arriving with some miraculous new tablets which would get rid of my tonsillitis.
M&B tablets - so huge to get down when your throat was so sore and practically closed up.

M and B anyone ?It was the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted
Yes to Kaolin and Morphine
Still have my Wrights Vapouriser (rang GP in a panic when DD 1, now 30, was 6weeks and very snuffly First thing he asked was 'do you have WV)
Mum always gave me Indian Brandee for period pains Was discussing with suffering daughter only last night Don't think you can get it now Was quite successful

I think that the sugar thing works because the grittiness helps with clotting. When I was a child, I was running with a pencil in my mouth and it dug into the back of my throat. Blood everywhere, panic stations. An elderly neighbour used the sugar cure and it worked perfectly

I have two remedies: If it is machinery of some sort, give it a drop of oil. If you feel unwell, a hot drink - lemon and honey is good, a paracetamol and an early night. Sympathetic me.

I suppose taking bicarb as a regular thing is bad, I have only ever done it on very rare occasions.

I know some people take it for the latest 'health trend' of making the body more alkaline!
Although the body tends to adjust its own alkalinity, or so I thought.

I didn't realise that about coal tar, it was recommended by the health visitor after DD had whooping cough.

Jacky B my friend said this was because your brain realised that if you sneezed while holding there you would pull your lip off, so stopped the sneeze coming.

another cure for cramp is a cork in the bed under the mattress

Jalima the WHO thing is about using coal tar in treatments for skin complaints and NOT for inhaling!
Bicarb will indeed neutralise stomach acid and the reaction produces Cos gas so hence the burping. However Bicarb also contains sodium - so not at all good for blood pressure. Just as bad for you as the sodium in table salt. And you don't take table salt in spoonfuls. That's why it's not recommended for indigestion these days. Better to choose a calcium based product.

The brown sugar + vegetable one seems popular. When we moved into the village 35 years ago, our daughter came down with whooping cough. The local bobby,yes we had one then, recommended steeping turnip in brown sugar overnight. The juice worked wonders on her cough,

vq I take bicarb in water sometimes if I get indigestion - it does bring on a session of burping but it does seem to work! (never vomited from it!)

re the cinders and the gin - the baby probably slept because of the gin.

Although you may not get enough magnesium from your diet, it is rare to be deficient in magnesium. However, certain medical conditions can upset the body's magnesium balance. For example, an intestinal virus that causes vomiting or diarrhea can cause a temporary magnesium deficiency.
Symptoms of magnesium deficiency may include nausea and vomiting

so perhaps the 'old wives' had something after all

It might relieve constipation (magnesium causes diarrhoea)
Magnesium is a muscle relaxant that is why is could cause diarrhoea, it could relieve cramps too.
Magnesium may bring down high blood pressure too.

My grandma had three remedies known as kill or cures depending on the illness.

Anything to do with the stomach got bicarbonate of soda dissolved in water. It either solved the problem or made you vomit. If you got better than obviously it worked and if you vomited you were getting rid of whatever was making you ill.

Anything to do with pain or a sneeze got Beecham's Powders.

If you had cough she'd give you a drag of her cigarette to 'clear your chest'. I have to admit it did clear your chest for a while because one inhalation caused a massive coughing fit.

She also told me the recipe for gripe water. Put a hot cinder from the fire into a bowl of water. When cool remove the cinder and strain out the bits of cinder and dust. Finally add a slosh of gin. Give the baby a teaspoon full and he/she will soon settle and go to sleep.

My ex husband had insomnia which kept me awake too. I found an old cure and made chestnut leaf tea, which he did try but it made no difference. Later I read that chestnut leaves are poisonous
Women still drink raspberry leaf tea during labour and put cabbage leaves on sore breasts.

My ex mil, an Irish lady, was convinced if my dad drank cabbage water it would cure his terminal pancreatic cancer! It didn't work for her sadly ?
I find pressing my tongue on the roof of my mouth stops me crying.
For hiccups I drink through a straw whilst putting pressure on my ear canals with my fingers! Works every time.
Tonic water is meant to work for cramp, the quinine in it is the key.
I used a paste of bicarbonate of soda on chicken pox, it dried the spots up overnight. I seem to remember putting some in the bath too. ?

I've not been able to buy kaolin and morphine otc locally, even in Boots, but it's available online. You are only allowed to buy one small bottle though! I wish it was made without the morphine, but that's been discontinued apparently, apart from kaolin tablets at ten times the price!