I was recently reading one of my favorite two magazines, Good Housekeeping. There was mention of the old wives' tale that being out in the cold will give you a cold. Many people have argued over the years that this is not the case. Actually fresh air and pure sunshine are two of the greatest proponents of wellness. Having said that, when the body gets chilled for an extended period of time I have also read that it becomes taxing on the immune system making catching a cold easier if you have been exposed to the virus.
It seems in today's world we are more alert and aware of good hygiene and health practices. My grandmother never said going out in the cold would give you a cold, but she did have some very interesting remedies passed on to my mother that have been practiced throughout the years.
My grandmother did say that you should not go outside when you have just taken a hot bath because your pores are open and you are more likely to get sick. They did not believe in washing your hair if you were running a fever. Mother would use baby powder on my hair to draw out the grease and keep it fresh. She believed fresh vegetables from the garden had more vitamins than those in a can but was raised on jarred vegetables from the garden preserved in the home.
She often told the story about working out in the garage when she was bitten by a Black Widow spider and she instantly put a powerful cleanser on the bite. I want to say it was Bon Ami and she did not have a bad reaction. She explained the doctor thought the spider didn't get her, but she stood by her story and claimed the cleanser helped the symptoms.
When I was little and horrible bouts of tonsillitis would get me down, I would develop these swollen lumps she called colonels. She and mother would take soot from the fireplace to rub onto the inside of your leg in order to draw out the swelling. I never came across antibiotic cream when I was little. Mother would dab "monkey blood" on the open wound. Later in life I found out this was mercurochrome which was used as a disinfectant to clean the wound and help prevent infection from beginning.
There were also a multitude of do's and don'ts when eating and drinking. Do not drink milk with fish. Do eat grapefruit to lose weight. Don't eat bananas if you can't go to the bathroom. Do drink Castor Oil or Cod Liver Oil if you happened to eat too many bananas. I will never forget the taste and texture of that liquid Vaseline.
Mom and Grandma believed in chicken noodle soup, aspirin, and hot black coffee or tea. Mom used Apple Cider vinegar for just about everything that dealt with gas, indigestion, and the gallbladder. They both used honey as a cough syrup straight out of the jar in a tablespoon. They would bathe you in Vicks salve that opened your nose clear up to your brain, and they would say, "Feed a cold and starve a fever."
In reflecting on all of these home remedies what occurs to me the most is how healthy we were growing up and how little medicine I ever remember taking. Most things they believed in were to prevent and not exactly cure. Mom did have to have her gallbladder eventually removed and I would occasionally have to take a round of penicillin for my throat infection, but aside from that these home remedies must have carried some merit.
I guess necessity is the mother of invention after all and with a pharmacy on every corner we may have forgotten the importance of those simple home cures.
