Kathleen wrote:
> flitterbit wrote:
>
>> Blinky the Shark wrote:
>>
>>> flitterbit wrote:
>>>
>>>> Blinky the Shark wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I feel like shit. I may have about ten minutes, here, before I
>>>>> have to
>>>>> go back to bed. Can't sleep, but don't have the energy to do anything
>>>>> else, either -- not even read. (And that just kills me.) So I've
>>>>> been
>>>>> flashing back to little home remedies from growing up in the 1950s...
>>>>>
>>>>> I think sometimes Mom would give me small amounts of what I
>>>>> remember as
>>>>> a weak solution of sugar in water. Ever heard of that?
>>>>>
>>>>> Burnt Toast: I distinctly remember Mom burning a slice of toast and
>>>>> scraping the ashes into a glass of water. I guess this was to
>>>>> settle a
>>>>> stomach (the charcoal or whateveer) -- probably more from acid upset
>>>>> than from feeling urpy.
>>>>>
>>>>> Liquid Jell-O. I guess that was a variant on sugar water; it's not
>>>>> like
>>>>> there was sugar-free Jell-0 in 1953.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Sorry you're feeling poorly; is it some kind of flu? I had a bout
>>>> of that
>>>> at Christmas and spent Christmas Day in bed with a fever of 102 -- such
>>>> fun!
>>>>
>>>> When we were little, for nausea, Mom used to give us flat gingerale,
>>>> and
>>>> if that stayed put, a half orange to suck on. The flat gingerale
>>>> may very
>>>> well be an analogue of your mom's sugar water remedy. For chest colds,
>>>> Vicks Vaporub on the back and chest.
>>>
>>>
>>> God, how I hated Vicks. Felt awful, and that tee shirt all gooey
>>> with it
>>> and stuck to my chest and back made it ten times as awful.
>>>
>>>
>> I liked it because it seemed to make it easier to breathe; I wasn't
>> fond of being stuck to a t-shirt either, but I suspect a lot of what
>> it offered was simply the feeling of being cared for.
>
> The other thing my mother was fond of was potassium iodide for chest
> colds. 20 drops in a glass of water. It was supposed to help you cough
> up the crud but dear god it was vile. Once I got my psycho cat (2nd
> grade, I think), I never actually swallowed a dose of that crap, I just
> poured it out carefully into the cat's litter box - it was my
> responsibility to keep it clean, sick or well. And I always got well
> anyhow.
>
> Good thing, too. My sister had no such recourse or at least it never
> occurred to her and her doctor blames her current thyroid issues on our
> mother's favorite remedy. I never shared this particular tactic with
> her because the first thing she would have done would have been to rat
> me out for spite. Being a shit has its consequences...
>
>
Indeed; I've never heard of using potassium iodide as a remedy for
anything, but in retrospect and given your sister's current health
issues, that's probably a good thing!