Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Old Timers Only/Medicines-Concoctions your mom put on you

just bourbon... cause that's what she was having....

Regularity was a priority when I was growing up.

Learned to lie at an early age, and to my mother to boot! That was the only thing I could do to avoid the enema. I was monitored a lot closer than my sister or so I thought because if I missed a day the enema was an inevitable "reward" to clean me out. Oh how I dreaded that gallon or two of soapy water. Castor oil was the other treatment I dreaded.

Ah, memories.

A laxative named Syrup of Black Draught was pretty much my mom's go-to cure-all for just about anything internal including when I was showing out and being rowdier than usual. It worked, too.
As I recall the taste was sort of like a cross between plain old root beer and Dr. Pepper soda fountain syrup.

For ear aches and various other aches and pains she'd sometimes heat up a cup of salt, dump it in the middle of a handkerchief or wash cloth, tie the ends up around it making a ball and use it like a heating pad.

All the above plus got cod liver oil pills every day. That stuff kept my pooper lubed.

Also got to partake of a concoction of honey, white lightening and mint oil whenever I got sick.

Always had Vicks rubbed all over me.

Ditto Ken on most of your list. Our live-in aunt used to make a Hot Totie for us too for colds. Hot tea, lemon, honey, and about 2-3 shots of Seagram's 7. Didn't get rid of the cold but you slept like a babe and sweat like crazy.

Qtip
Soli Deo Gloria!

Kezer salve (We still have a tin of it)
Clove oil (for a toothache)
Tobacco gob and a rag for a soothing poultice bandage.
A sprinkle of sand/dirt on a bleeding cut to stop the bleeding.
A switch sometimes when a young fella complained too much about the application of any of the above.

Vicks Vapo - Rub,Ichthyol ointment,Belladonna, Mercurochrome,Iodine, Paregoric...among others I can't remember. Probably gonna die young.

lots of cod liver oil, my parents apparently got a doctor to say once that it was the best thing for us kids, I would have to choke the horrid stuff down once a day and to clean the taste out afterward would get a reward of 1 Ritz cracker, still can't stand either one...

Tincture of iron for poison oak / ivy. And of course they needed logging chains to hold you while they used a chicken feather to paint it on. But it would dry it up overnight.

They also had a plant called balsam that they would cut into lengths that would fit into a whiskey bottle and then cover with kerosene and let it soak for a week. They used that for cuts or scrapes.

Something called camphor was used in the Virginia mountains for bruises, sore backs, & any sort of muscle pain. I'm not sure what was in the home remedy, but shine was one of the ingredients. I cut my hand severely & today would have been off to the hospital for stiches. Some gauze & butchers tape was used to hold the wound closed(about 2 inches). It took several weeks to heal. For warts mom called the local witch. The witch told me to rub the wart with a broom straw during a full moon & bury it in the shade. The wart disappeared. The witch sold all sort of potions & was a sort of mid-wife.

If I was bleeding, it got washed out with coal oil. If I was coughing, a drop of coal oil on a sugar cube. Hell, the live stock got better medicine than we did.

If a calf had the "scours" (diarrhea) it got a Pepsi bottle half full of Pepto-bismol. When I had the same, I got a dose of some nasty tasting oil concoction.

I guess it's true, "what don't kill you makes you stronger".

My Grandpa Russell was big o wintergreen oil. It wasn't really like an oil, it was clear and light and packed a punch when you took a whiff of it. Mostly used for muscle soreness and aches.

There's a family story about Grandpa sipping a beverage at the Eagles club, probably in the sixties, and o er hearing a stranger, but fellow member complaining of muscle aches or cramps of some flavor or other. Grandpa went to his car and retrieved a bottle of the wintergreen oil and gave it to the stranger with instructions on its' use.

The stranger was so thankful and happy with the results that he gave Grandpa a brand new Shakespeare Presidential model fishing reel as thanks. Turned out that the stranger was some high level executive type from the Shakespeare company.

Now medical research proves the mentholated rub is actually an irritant to mucous membranes and we can't comprehend how grease could have been considered beneficial for burns.

Even as a kid I could tell wearing grease on a burn didn't make it feel any better.

Same here, Mom would rub in chest, then wrap with cloth. And, that's the way it was!!

Respects,
Richard

"Pepto Bismol" is what the label says, but the real name of the stuff is "Pepto Abysmal."

I'd forgotten about that Icthammol ointment. Mom would use that to draw a boil.
Also forgot all about that damn Phillips Milk of Magnesia. Dang that was nasty stuff.
Absorbine Junion for aches and pains. Made the mistake ONE time, of putting that on jock itch. Wow!

I still use icthammol ointment to draw out tough slivers. Works great, smells bad.

You need to ask yourself how many of our remedies and treatments from our youth have been pulled from shelves or eliminated from home brewing as a result of people finding out they were going to make it worse or kill them with prolonged use... I know that regulatory agencies go too far but think on it...kerosene taking internally?

Funny Schittt!

Coal oil!!! (kerosene). several drops on a spoon of sugar for the croop. Or if you stepped on a "rusty" nail. Wound got a good washin' with same!

Oh yeah! Forgot. All kinds of crap from the "Watkin's" man.

We still keep the Ichthamol at work and at home for stickers... will pull one right out!