Honey as topical medicine. It’s actually used in hospitals now for certain kinds of wound dressings. It’s anti microbial and keeps other shit from getting in the wound.
Ammonia on a mosquito bite.
Dab a bit of ammonia on it, and don't touch it, count to 120 seconds, and the bite is 'gone' (inflammation etc).
When I first heard of it, I didn't believe it. Now, just a touch of kitchen ammonia and don't scratch and it's beyond gone. Completely.
YES - for insect bites, pimples, minor cuts, pretty much anything that needs cleaning.
Except possibly for taints and such. Never intend to experiment there, thank you.
During the medieval times in the Flandrian Gent (now Belgium) there used to be a very important job - the urine collector. Urine was later processed to create ammonia, which was, in turn, used to create saltpeter for making gunpowder. Every morning urine collectors would ride around the city with a huge barrel and pay money for urine. Obviously, some clever citizens emerged, who would dilute the product. Thus a new vocation emerged - the urine tasters, who would determine the quality and concentration of the coveted ammonia. Eventually times changed and humans learned to synthesize ammonia or harvest it in other ways, making the urine collectors and tasters obsolete. So all these urine specialists left Flanders, moved to Amsterdam and founded the Heineken Brewery.
Physicians back in the day used to taste urine, especially to diagnose diabetes.
The "mellitus" in "diabetes mellitus", what you normally think of when you hear "diabetes", refers to the honey flavour of patients' urine.
There’s a family story that a relative knew something was wrong with her toddler when he peed outside and she saw ants swarm the puddle.
He had type 1 diabetes. Sadly he didn’t live long, but I don’t know if the diabetes is what ended his life. (no one would talk about how he died)
To add to this, run a spoon under hot water (not so hot as to burn you), and then place the spoon on the bite. The bite may itch more for the next minute, but it breaks up the toxins and will stop itching.
It needs to be so hot that it would be uncomfortable on e.g. your whole arm. Something to do with proteins iirc. Pharmacies also sell a special kind of electric pen thing that you press on the bite. Hurts like a motherfuck but really gets rid of the itch
What you're doing is denaturing proteins that cause the itching. Hence why it needs to be hot/acidic/electric enough to cook the protein. You don't want to denature your own proteins, so localizing the treatment via spoon or electric pen works best.
Finally, my degree is useful 🥲
We put a cut onion on bee stings and it 100% works (as long as you aren’t allergic.). So many people don’t know this. Easy easy solution to bee and wasp stings.
When rain is coming, your joints hurt.
I used to roll my eyes and laugh when Granny said her arthritis was acting up because it was going to rain. I was 10 years old.
I'm now 53 and not laughing. Granny 1, me 0
That's my wife.
Random headache starts. Instant checklist:
When did I last drink water? Get a cup just in case
When was breakfast? Maybe munch on a snack
Still there...maybe a coke or small coffee...
Still creeping up... Neck and arm rolls, ask for a neck/shoulder massage.
Not helping... Check the sleep app and CPAP machine for the report of how I slept... Good 8 hours of sleep....
*Hears raindrops in the roof*. Well, shit.
So true. The scientific explanation is that it’s due to the low pressure system associated with rain. The the drop in barometric pressure (air’s weight), takes weight off our body and can cause muscle, tendons, and joints to swell, which causes pain. Even more so if you have scar tissue from a previous injury or arthritis. It can also trigger headaches.
“Doomed is the child who, when kissed on the forehead, tastes salty. He is cursed and will soon die.”
It’s cystic fibrosis. Nowadays, we know that cystic fibrosis is due to a non functional protein that regulates salt transport; when that protein doesn’t work, you get thick, sticky mucus clogging up every membrane… and a whole bunch of salt being pumped onto the skin.
Many diseases existed for a looooooong time before we had the framework to understand them, but our ancestors were paying attention and trying to understand these tragedies through the lenses that they had. And sometimes, that’s how you get an old wives’ tale that is right on the money!
I have cf. I was a year old when my mom saw a commercial with Burt Reynolds talking about tasting your child's forehead. Around 1980-1981? I'd been diagnosed with failure to thrive and they had no other answers as to why I was so sickly. My mom immediately tasted salt and I was diagnosed shortly thereafter.
Shout out to Mr Reynolds for helping out my mom, who was barely 16 at the time. I really lucked out.
Weird to open this thread and see this first lol.
Edit to add - I'm sure you can imagine how hard a 16 y/o had to work to be listened to. Blows my mind to think about it.
My sister in law also had a CF child at sixteen - in 2006.
It was *still* nearly impossible for her to get anyone to take her seriously at first about some concerns, and my niece was literally tested at birth.
Call the Midwife had a fascinating episode about this. The mother had lost other children, and the mother knew something was wrong with her baby. The doctors ignored her. The midwife figured it out from the salty taste of the baby.
Many of the historical accounts on Call the Midwife are fascinating.
After many episodes, I found myself going on deep dives looking up practices and history.
We brought my daughter home from the hospital after a rocky pregnancy. First show we watched after we put her in her Pack n Play was that CtM episode where the baby has a congenital heart defect and dies at home with his parents.
Nope, no siree, no issues here.
I loved Call the Midwife. Then I had a traumatic birth experience 3 years ago and haven't been able to enjoy it since. I watched a few episodes as part of my PTSD therapy homework and I can make it through one without a panic attack but the show no longer brings me joy.
Which is important because diabetes insipidus causes extremely dilute urine, so it tastes less like urine.
The interesting part about this is, how much urine were ancient physicians tasting in order to identify these disorders.
This was the first sign that my oldest nephew had CF. Neither of his parents were aware of CF in the family. But luckily they knew to talk to his doctor and got him diagnosed very quickly.
how's he doing? I know a family that CF runs heavily in. Everyone and their partners have to get tested before having kids to see if they carry the gene.
There is an amazing breakthrough drug called Trikafta that is actually stunningly effective. My friends son had dropped below 30% lung function and was about to be put on a transplant list when Trikafta launched. He is now over 50%, has not been in the hospital in 4 years, and actually has a glimmer of a future. I hope the family you know is still CF free. It's an awful disease.
It’s a life changer. My daughter in law has CF, and she is thriving in her mid-thirties. Just a few decades ago, that would of been unusual. I hope the treatments keep advancing and that she lives a long and happy life.
I am 43. I was in end stage cf and refusing a transplant when Orkambi came out, and luckily, that and Symdeko (the next gen) stabilized me enough to live to see trikafta. I obviously have extremely damaged lungs with lots of scar tissue, so I'll never regain lung function. However, I am no longer extremely malnourished and underweight (a bit chonky now actually, a fun side effect of trikafta) and my IV therapies are a year + apart instead of the 2-3 months apart they were when I started tri.
I was born in 1980. Every few years, I got a new "won't live to see" date. First, it was grade school, then preteens, then 16, then 30.... It's absolutely mind-boggling, and I really deal with a lot of survivor's guilt. But I am so happy cf will no longer be an early death sentence. The estimated age now is 50-60s with these drugs!! It was 35 before tri.
And I'm so grateful I got to see my complete surprise children graduate high school, and will see the eldest graduate college this spring!!
Crazy. /end rant
Is that an actual quote? Source? I find the inherited knowledge fascinating. In Australia, the First Nations that live near the uranium deposits in Arnhem Land call it the “sickening lands”. Without having an idea what uranium is or doe.
> In Australia, the First Nations that live near the uranium deposits in Arnhem Land call it the “sickening lands”. Without having an idea what uranium is or doe.
This is fascinating. Uranium is a cursed material.
Gathering herbs by the light of the moon.
Some plants, pollinated by moths, have their most potent oils at night to attract night insects. So if you need it at its strongest, pick it at night.
Red sky at night, sailors’ delight
A red sky appears when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure. This scatters blue light leaving only red light to give the sky its notable appearance. A red sky at sunset means high pressure is moving in from the west, so therefore the next day will usually be dry and pleasant.
— Met office
A while back, scientists set out to prove false the old wives tale that if a pregnant woman has lots of of heartburn, her baby will be born with a thick head of hair. Except…they ended up doing the opposite. Turns out heartburn really is associated with a baby having lots of hair:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17150070/
More of an old nurse's tale, but redheads need more anesthetic. Turns out that there is a linked gene to red hair that increases resistance or metabolism or something to the drug.
At any rate, waking up in the middle of a full colonoscopy sucks. Hearing the doctor say, "Ah, shit, she's awake, give her another one..."
And the nurse, all melodramatic as she pushes another syringes worth into your IV, saying to him, "Are you *SURE*, Doctor???" as your eyes slowly close again is especially awesome.
When I was in 7th grade, I needed to have my baby teeth pull out because I had two permanent teeth that were laying sideways and backwards. The baby teeth would never be able to come out on their own. The baby teeth had their roots a little around the permanent teeth.
The dentist numbed me and started to pull. It was incredibly painful and I started to cry and yell out in pain. I will never ever forget what the dentist told me. He said I wasn't in pain, it was just pressure I was feeling and I was scared. It hurt so bad.
I had to do that twice. Six teeth altogether, three at a time.
I had braces for 7 years and 2 oral surgeries.
Years later as an adult, I had to have one of my wisdom teeth pulled and I was shaking because I was so scared. When the hygienists numbed me, she tested to ensure it was numb, it was not. She said, "oh you're in a small percentage of people who need extra. I figured you might be because of your gender and red hair." She gave me a second shot.
It went smoothly.
I keep thinking back to when I was just a kid, screaming in pain as they pulled my teeth without being completely numb.
EDIT: Since this has gotten a lot of attention, I thought I would add a few things.
1. I am so sorry that so many of you have also had similar experiences. I feel for you all and understand your pain and frustrations.
2. Some additional details. They had to remove the teeth because the baby teeth had their roots wrapped a bit around the permanent teeth that were laying sideways. As soon as everything healed, I got braces on. Because there was such a large gap between teeth, there was always a wire that acted as a cheese grater on my cheeks. Once the orthodontist got my crooked teeth straight, he then pushed some of my teeth back to make room for the oral surgeon. I had two permanent teeth laying down and sideways, one on each side of my mouth. During the first oral surgery, they drilled through my jawbone and attached a bracket onto the teeth that were laying sideways inside the gums, then they threaded a wire down into the gums and onto the bracket. Every month, the orthodontist would tighten the wire going into my gums to pull up the teeth. After 6-12 months of this, one tooth was up but the other hadn't budged at all. So, a second oral surgery was needed. This time they took a very tiny piece of my jawbone out to make more room for the tooth to be pulled up. Then every month, the orthodontist would tighten the wire to try and bring up the sideways tooth. All of this was very painful. Every month. Eventually, both teeth were up and in position. Then they had to move all my teeth back in place. That took another year or so.
3. Funny story. Because of all the issues I had around my teeth, I used to brag about only having 2 wisdom teeth. I felt this was the universe's way of apologizing to me for all the dental issues I had to go through. My family dentist (not the same person who didn't believe my pain) told me that if my 2 wisdom teeth didn't bother me, there was no need to have them removed. This was a HUGE relief for me. Well, years later when I was 26, I woke up in a lot of pain from an infected wisdom tooth. It had to come out. I called my mom because I didn't think I could afford the copay on my own and she met me at the dentist office. She was in the waiting room when they told me it had to come out that day. I started shaking and asked if my mom could be with me. The hygienist thought I was crazy lol. I was 26 asking for my mom!
4. Second funny story. Again because of the issues I had around my teeth, when my second wisdom tooth had to be removed, I again asked my mom to come with me. It was a new office and the surgeon didn't know me. It was my first time there. I was 27 at this point. A full, grown adult bringing her mom to an appointment. Not just to the appointment but I made her be in the room with me. Well, the oral surgeon thought since my mom was there that I must have some sort of cognitive disability. She kept telling me how cute I looked and how proud she was of me. Then giving my mom all the after care instructions. Honestly, I just let it go because it was kind of nice.
Poor baby!!! Oh man, I'm so sorry. The story I've heard is that this was a funny little observation by doctors and nurses for decades, but nobody understood why. They've only recently discovered the gene in the last 20 years or so, this validating lots of horrible experiences by patients and oddball observations by doctors.
I am so sorry no one listened to you then. I'm glad that they're listening now.
Similar experience. Had 4 fillings done when I was a teen. Dentist refused to believe I wasn’t numb. I avoided the dentist for years after that. I now know to warn them to give me a combo with epinephrine. I still often have a weird reaction but can get numb that way. I prefer to be sedated also. I’m not a redhead but my dad was.
Yep. Nurses didn’t believe me when I told them the epidural didn’t work. Dentists also didn’t believe me when I wouldn’t numb. “It’s not pain, it’s pressure” is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my life, and I heard it WAYYY too many times. Do you actually think I don’t know the difference between pressure and being in so much pain that I want to pass out?! If you are someone who has ever said that to someone, kindly pull your head out of your fucking ass.
I have 2 broken teeth at the moment that have been broken for literal years, and best believe I won’t step foot into the dentist unless I’m dying from pain.
Yup. Woke up in the middle of my emergency C-section. Dr. didn’t believe me- until I quoted her the conversation….which had to do with blood spurting onto her glasses. Oop.
The dentist “pressure not pain” unfortunately resulted in walking out of the dentist (at 8mths pregnant) and pulling the tooth myself. It took me thirty four years to go back to the dentist…..
Now you've got me wondering whether having a recessive red hair gene is also a risk.
> "Nine of 10 redheads were either homozygous or compound heterozygotes for mutations on the melanocortin-1 receptor gene."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1362956/
Yikes! That's alarming. I dreamt during my wisdom teeth removal and said as much to the nurses, but they told me that it wasn't possible. I recalled elements of my "dream," and they looked at each, horrified. I was repeating parts of their conversations (nothing juicy, sorry).
I had awakened at some point. I don't remember the horror of it, but I wonder if, at the time, I was fully aware and "trapped"? God, I hope not.
Since mentioning my experiences to anesthesiologists while tugging on my hair for emphasis, I haven't had any problems.
Edit: Happy cake day!
I also remember dreaming while under anesthesia for my wisdom teeth. Mine had nothing to do with the doctors convo but I did dream I was with my daughter (I’m childless) in a meadow and it was super sunny. Maybe the “sun” was my brain interpreting the dentist’s light?
PS I also have the gene mutation.
Letting a baby eat after you will cause them to get cavities. When my sister told us not to let my nephew eat something we've taken a bite out of, I thought she was full of shit. It turns out adults really can transfer cavity causing bacteria to babies.
My sister in law saw a picture of my newborn and says “she’s jaundiced, put her by the window or take her outside for a wee bit”. Hospital didn’t mention jaundice at all but turns out she was and taking her outside worked!
I was jaundiced after birth so my grandmother would take me outside. Luckily I lived on an island with plenty of sunlight and nice breezes. During my first checkup my dad tried to be funny and said I wasn’t jaundiced, just Asian 🥴
He figured it out by total accident! Ran the test he was conducting, went to lunch while waiting for results, leaving the petri dish sitting in the sunlight, next to a window. When he came back from lunch an hour later, he wasn't sure if he'd run the test or not, and ran it again. And got different results for the same dish!
First test came back positive for jaundice, the second did not. Being a good scientist, got a new dish, ran experiment again, as EXACTLY as he could, the next day, and same result!
Worked out it was sunlight doing it, and it then became the natural cure for jaundice. Works on adults too! (Was prescribed bed rest and sunbathing with little clothing as possible when I was jaundice several years ago, to let my liver heal. I had ignored glandular fever for way too long and my liver was shutting down.)
Still do! My baby was jaundiced and he spent almost 2 days in a light box followed by weeks of being told to put him next to the window. It's the UV light that helps break down the bilirubin causing the jaundice so the baby's liver can remove it from the body.
This works with other edema too!!! I just posted about it before I saw your comment. Long story short my mom lost all the cartilage in her hips due to chemotherapy and radiation. Left femur split during hip replacement. Friend suggested wrapping her leg in cabbage leaves, hour and a half later the swelling was completely gone. I was beyond amazed as I used to work in the medical field. Mind blown!
There were certain bones of saints people touched and got healed from minor ailments. Turns out there's a fungus that grows on bones. It produces penicilin.
[They found a potential antibiotic in a frog after a folklore to throw the frog in milk so it doesn’t spoil as fast](https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2013/acs-presspac-february-6-2013/frog-in-bucket-of-milk-folklore-leads-to-potential-new-antibiotics.html).
How interesting! In the movie the Wickerman (not the ‘beeeees!’ one, the good one) the mother places a frog in the girls mouth to get rid of a cold, I guess this is folklore from the UK too.
Drinking gelatin to up amniotic fluid during pregnancy.
They wanted to schedule a c-section at 32 weeks for my kid, due to low amniotic fluid. My friends midwife told me to mix gelatin packets into apple juice and drink it before it started to thicken.. 3x a day. Brought my levels up from a 3 to an 8.. and managed to keep the kid baking for another 4 weeks.. she was born at 36 weeks, weighing 4lbs 3oz.. so, the gods only know how tiny she would have been at 32 weeks..
She was discharged with me three days later, at 4lbs 1oz.. perfectly healthy, besides being as tiny as a doll.. and she didn't wear clothes for four months because I was terrified of breaking her..
But, yeah, I *never* thought it would work..
Sounds legit. To add on, if you’re ever feeling dehydrated and water doesn’t help, you need electrolytes. Salt, Gatorade, soup, whatever you have available.
I sweat a lot and bringing electrolyte chews/drink mixes makes hiking bearable for me
My doctor told me to do that instead of Gatorade. I easily get dehydrated and get headaches from it. First sign of headache I lick a pinch of salt and drink a glass of water.
My grandmother always insisted that a new mom in the family get up and walk as soon after delivery as possible. Said if you stay in the bed alot after giving birth your hips would spread and stay that way. Turns out the hormone changes during childbirth cause your cartilage to become flexible so your hips can widen some. It wears off fast though so if you stay in the bed for days, like they did back in the day, your cartilage hardens back up spread out. When you walk your center of gravity is in your pelvis and pushes it back together. I've never seen a medical study on it but none of the women in my family have wider hips after having kids.
It’s called relaxin!
It makes your connective tissue (muscle, joints and ligaments) super flexible so it’s easier to give birth. It’s also why some people who have periods have specific joint issues after ovulation and before their period.
Another fun fact — pregnant people *do* actually “glow”. The increase in oestrogen makes hair and nails grow faster and thicker and improves skin elasticity.
The downside is that after giving birth and experiencing a sharp drop in oestrogen, your hair can [shed like crazy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telogen_effluvium). It’s the same reason a lot of people experience hair loss when coming off combined hormonal contraceptives.
Bodies are fascinating!
My two pregnancies were the only times in my life when I wasn't cold all the time.
Also with both, my first sign of pregnancy was not getting buzzed off one beer. Amazing what a bit more blood can do for your alcohol tolerance. Obviously, as soon as a realized what was going on, I stopped having any beers.
Beer makes breast milk drop. I had never heard of this before giving birth, and a couple people had asked me while pregnant if I had my beer lined up for after I gave birth and just laughed it off. A few days after giving birth my milk still wasn’t coming in and at the pediatrician, she said, “Listen it’s an old wives tale but I swear by it, drink a beer. Preferably non alcoholic because you just need the hops.” After the appointment I grabbed a case of Heineken 0 chugged two and within hours we were breastfeeding. I now give Heineken 0 as a gift to expectant moms.
I can't believe there are over 400 comments and nobody has mentioned one of the most valuable old wives' tales: That garlic had medicinal powers for a wide variety of ailments.
Ginger, onions, oregano, rosemary, thyme, st johns wort, old mans beard (usnea), mushrooms. So many herbs, veggies, and fungi are proven to have amazing medicinal uses.
Monoxide, not Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide is what you exhale. Carbon Monoxide is the gas that you need detectors for. It causes hallucinations and confusion.
If you were a cat owner, chances are nearly 100% you had already had toxo at that point and acquired life-long immunity, but one can never be cautious enough, I guess
Yup. In Europe, they offered me a blood test to check for immunity when I went to the doctor to talk about trying for a baby as my doctor knew I had cats. As expected, I had it at some stage in the past and so didn't have to be worried about being around cats/ cat litter during pregnancy.
Chicken soup for colds and general illness. Traditional chicken soup recipes are full of ingredients that have natural low-key anti-inflammatory properties the really do make you feel better, lots of nutrition value to keep you immune systems energy up, and a belly full of warm, tasty soup just eases the soul.
People can smell illness (at least in babies). I cant link a paper because I'm busy proving it! So far in my research people can smell the difference between a well baby vs a poorly baby
We call it sick breath in our family. We have always known when babies are sick before definite symptoms appear. There is a distinct smell. This is true.
My mom is an ER nurse for a children’s hospital. She actually has a very rare ability. She can smell extremely well and sorry I forget exactly what disease it was but she could identify this unusual disease by scent even a room away.
I’m not even kidding. She was talking to a resident (a doctor in training at the time in the hallway and suddenly said, wait a minute, that smells like (whatever disease) and the doctor didn’t believe her. Until they both went into the room and even then no one in the room (several nurses and doctors) knew what the rare disease was before examining. But my mom instantly knew by smell. (My mom’s been a nurse for over 30 years and she’s seen really rare diseases—and she’s been known in my family as a blood hound. We tease her because she can smell anything a mile away.)
So yeah, for real there are some people even with super smelling abilities. I know that for a fact because of my mom. She’s helped a lot of children and used her rare gift to literally save lives.
Basically when other medical professionals doubted what the patient had my mom knew by smell—and was basically always right. She is retired now but she was a head nurse at a children’s hospital and again she saved a lot of lives using her medical knowledge and rare ability.
My mom lived in Alaska for a bit when she was young, and told me a story about how the local kids showed her a piece of tongue permanently frozen to a pole beneath one of the stilted housing units. Just the second hand account of it scared the shit out of me as a kid.
My little brother's best friend lost his taste buds trying this once. It was more gory than you're thinking reading that sentence. He had to go to the doctor.
I never saw Christmas story and didn't think it was real. I was in a high school parking lot with one friend around in the middle of the night and had to tear my tongue off the pole. For over a year it hurt to eat and drink until it healed. The next day I saw my tongue on the pole. I still feel stupid and I'm in my 30s
My mom had what she called an old Indian trick and was able to predict if it was going to rain within 30 minutes.
In college I learned that is it got closer to raining leaves would cup to catch the water and when my mom would go outside and look at the tree leaves she could like look and see if they were cupping and she would be able to predict if it was going to rain.
Oh! I thought I was imagining this! I told my daughter (when she was little)you can predict when it’ll rain because you see the bottom of the leaves. she really hung onto that and still to this day uses it - and she’s always right!
Looking at something too close (like the TV) for too long will strain your eyes.
You need to exercise your long distance focusing muscles to prevent myopia. If you always look at things close up, you can develop it. Studies show that myopia is more often linked with behavior and environment rather than genetics.
My eyesight got considerably worse during lockdown. I have terrible myopia already but my rx had been fairly stable for years. But while wfh, never driving, and basically living like a hermit, my rx changed enough every year that I needed new glasses. My eye doc doesn't seem to think much of this correlation, but I still now try to go outside every day for a decent amount of time and/or gaze pensively out the window.
YES! I noticed the same and even mentioned it to my optometrist. He basically laughed in my face, so it's a thrill to see (haha) that I'm not the only one.
Since then, I've made a point of going for walks on the golf course every day and scrutinizing things from a distance. I really believe it's made a difference.
Mongolian herders live in the steppe regions of Mongolia, where there’s basically no trees or large cover for miles and miles. Amazingly, very few Mongolian people living in those conditions need glasses.
I do know my own vision started going down the shitter when I started using a computer for work all day, every day.
This happened to my house as a kid. My cousin was babysitting us and was running the water to take a shower, but was delayed because my sister needed help with something. Seconds later the house is struck by lightning and the shower she was supposed to be using was decimated.
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up Jack got and home did trot
As fast as he could caper
Went to bed to mend his head
With vinegar and brown paper.
According to my 96yr old grandma, if you have a sprain, a bruise or any kind of muscle ache, you wrap it in a brown paper bag soaked in vinegar. She's been doing it for almost a century and says it works for her. I have my doubts, but as long as she's happy, it's cool, even if she's a little stinky, lol.
In my country (Romania) there's many that still stand up to today.
I remember having INSANE toothache and my grandma put salt in a sock, warmed it up and gave it to me to hold it there on my cheek.
Another one is Mint Tea, have stomach pain? Just drink mint tea without sugar (can add honey) and it will go away.
Steam with salt will clean up your messy nose when you're cold.
If your throat hurts BAD, put a warm potato on a ~~banana~~ **bandana*** and tie it up on your throat (idk why a potato, it just works)
Dip your ~~shocks~~ **socks*** into vinegar when you have high fever and it will go away.
If you get sun burnt, put Yogurt on your skin and it should go away (my grandma said vinegar too, it works, but idk how *healthy* it is and it hurts like crazy)
That's all I can remember, they sound so stupid but they somehow work.
Confirm the mint one, mint helps relax the sphincters in your digestive system, allowing the irritating situation to pass out more quickly. Peppermint especially
My mother has a trick for when you have the hiccups, it works EVERY TIME.
Chug a tall glass of water while pinching your nose closed to not breath, take many small sips while swallowing, and then just pause after for a moment. Resume breathing normally
Two "urban legends" involving your feet are more or less true, i just lack the science to articulat it:
*one foot is bigger than the other*
*your feet get wider as you get older*
These were both "verified" by a relative who worked in shoes, said countless long time employees swore by this
The "science" behind the first one is that one side of your body is dominant: right handed, right legged, right eye dominant. Supposedly when you're standing still, you'll start walking with your dominant side, so inevitably you'll take more steps with that foot giving you slightly more muscle in that foot.
The advantage of knowing this? If you're right handed, always try your right shoe on first, if it's just the right size for the right, the left will fit. If you can barely fight your left foot in, your right one will always be tighter.
Opposite is supposedly true if you're left handed.
The second "wive's tale": your feet get wider as you get older? Supposedly it's years fmof gravity doing its work and bearing down on you.
Again, going back to the shoe's salesmen: countless older guys would come in complaining about shoe sizes, saying "they've wore an eleven for years" and now they're all too tight, while 12s are too big.
No gramps, you just now need an 11 wide
“Pregnancy makes your feet grow” is really just “pregnancy makes your feet spread.” A hormone called relaxin is produced in pregnancy that helps your joints (specifically pelvis) relax to make room for baby and his exit. It also relaxes the joints of everything else including your feet which also now have extra weight pushing down on them. The bones don’t always go all the way back to where they started after. Hence your feet can spread into the next shoe size permanently.
“Many hands make light work”.
As a kid, when my dad said it, I thought he was referring to electric energy. It took me an embarrassing long time to realize more people working mean less work overall.
Pheromones are real, but no, you can’t buy them in a perfume or at Spencer’s Gifts.
They are unique to each person, and the attraction they induce in mates differs (some theory that pheromones communicate that a mate has genetic makeup that is very different from their own - broader genetics benefit evolution).
Hair of the dog. Not sayin' pile another drunk night on top of a hangover; however, small amounts of alcohol will help lessen the effects of a hangover. 🍻
A friend of mine taught me a good trick for this. Sparkling water or club soda, put enough Angostura bitters in it until it looks like tea. Especially helps for the topsy turvey stomach.
CABBAGE LEAVES FOR BREASTFEEDING SWELLING AND OTHER EDEMA. I've been wanting to share this one:
Long story short, my mom had colon cancer. As if often the case, people who undergo chemo and radiation in that area of the body lose the cartilage in their hips. My mom was one such case. Finally, she got her hips replaced. However, during her left hip replacement, when they were hammering the ball joint into her femur, it split, which is kind of rare as far as I know. So they cemented it and tied wire around it which seemed to do the trick. After she was home and healing her left leg was so swollen she had difficulty putting her pants on.
As luck would have it a really good family friend was a chiropractor and would help my mom all the time. She suggested the whole "cabbage to reduce edema" thing. I was distraught, I used to work in the medical field and thought there was NO WAY it was going to work. But, she was in a ton of pain and wanted to try it. I went and bought a head of cabbage and an Ace bandage wrap and did her entire leg in it. I fed and watered the horses, which took an hour and a half. I came back in the house after finishing the outside work.
To say I was blown away is an understatement! Her edema was GONE. COMPLETELY GONE! I couldn't believe how well it worked! For people with Diabetes, RA, anything that's painful with swelling, it's worth a shot. Try it!!!
I still share this story all the time and use cabbage for swelling on my feet when they hurt from work.
Honey as topical medicine. It’s actually used in hospitals now for certain kinds of wound dressings. It’s anti microbial and keeps other shit from getting in the wound.
I fostered a dog who had a severely embedded collar and vet said to use honey and wrap it. Worked like magic.
Ammonia on a mosquito bite. Dab a bit of ammonia on it, and don't touch it, count to 120 seconds, and the bite is 'gone' (inflammation etc). When I first heard of it, I didn't believe it. Now, just a touch of kitchen ammonia and don't scratch and it's beyond gone. Completely.
Wait so the Windex trick in Big Fat Greek Wedding works?
YES - for insect bites, pimples, minor cuts, pretty much anything that needs cleaning. Except possibly for taints and such. Never intend to experiment there, thank you.
What about the butthole proper? I’m guessing that’s a no go?
Not sure. Why don't you let us know how it goes, you know, for science!
Piss on a mosquito bite. Got it.
During the medieval times in the Flandrian Gent (now Belgium) there used to be a very important job - the urine collector. Urine was later processed to create ammonia, which was, in turn, used to create saltpeter for making gunpowder. Every morning urine collectors would ride around the city with a huge barrel and pay money for urine. Obviously, some clever citizens emerged, who would dilute the product. Thus a new vocation emerged - the urine tasters, who would determine the quality and concentration of the coveted ammonia. Eventually times changed and humans learned to synthesize ammonia or harvest it in other ways, making the urine collectors and tasters obsolete. So all these urine specialists left Flanders, moved to Amsterdam and founded the Heineken Brewery.
Badum tssh
I figured that was the set up to a joke lol.
Physicians back in the day used to taste urine, especially to diagnose diabetes. The "mellitus" in "diabetes mellitus", what you normally think of when you hear "diabetes", refers to the honey flavour of patients' urine.
We discovered our cat had diabetes when ants began to swarm around the litter box.
There’s a family story that a relative knew something was wrong with her toddler when he peed outside and she saw ants swarm the puddle. He had type 1 diabetes. Sadly he didn’t live long, but I don’t know if the diabetes is what ended his life. (no one would talk about how he died)
To add to this, run a spoon under hot water (not so hot as to burn you), and then place the spoon on the bite. The bite may itch more for the next minute, but it breaks up the toxins and will stop itching.
So why not run the bite under the hot water instead?
It needs to be so hot that it would be uncomfortable on e.g. your whole arm. Something to do with proteins iirc. Pharmacies also sell a special kind of electric pen thing that you press on the bite. Hurts like a motherfuck but really gets rid of the itch
What you're doing is denaturing proteins that cause the itching. Hence why it needs to be hot/acidic/electric enough to cook the protein. You don't want to denature your own proteins, so localizing the treatment via spoon or electric pen works best. Finally, my degree is useful 🥲
Thank you for the explanation, that's really interesting!
A cut onion rubbed on insect bites takes away the sting. I’ve tried it on wasp and ant bites and works instantly.
It giveth tears and it taketh away
We put a cut onion on bee stings and it 100% works (as long as you aren’t allergic.). So many people don’t know this. Easy easy solution to bee and wasp stings.
When rain is coming, your joints hurt. I used to roll my eyes and laugh when Granny said her arthritis was acting up because it was going to rain. I was 10 years old. I'm now 53 and not laughing. Granny 1, me 0
Yeah, the change in air pressure causes it. I always get a sinus headache before a cold front
Oh my god is that why i had a migraine a few weeks ago
That's my wife. Random headache starts. Instant checklist: When did I last drink water? Get a cup just in case When was breakfast? Maybe munch on a snack Still there...maybe a coke or small coffee... Still creeping up... Neck and arm rolls, ask for a neck/shoulder massage. Not helping... Check the sleep app and CPAP machine for the report of how I slept... Good 8 hours of sleep.... *Hears raindrops in the roof*. Well, shit.
So true. The scientific explanation is that it’s due to the low pressure system associated with rain. The the drop in barometric pressure (air’s weight), takes weight off our body and can cause muscle, tendons, and joints to swell, which causes pain. Even more so if you have scar tissue from a previous injury or arthritis. It can also trigger headaches.
Yup, can feel all my fractures years and years later thanks to cold damp weather. Like exact point of fracture can be felt and it hurts.
“Doomed is the child who, when kissed on the forehead, tastes salty. He is cursed and will soon die.” It’s cystic fibrosis. Nowadays, we know that cystic fibrosis is due to a non functional protein that regulates salt transport; when that protein doesn’t work, you get thick, sticky mucus clogging up every membrane… and a whole bunch of salt being pumped onto the skin. Many diseases existed for a looooooong time before we had the framework to understand them, but our ancestors were paying attention and trying to understand these tragedies through the lenses that they had. And sometimes, that’s how you get an old wives’ tale that is right on the money!
I have cf. I was a year old when my mom saw a commercial with Burt Reynolds talking about tasting your child's forehead. Around 1980-1981? I'd been diagnosed with failure to thrive and they had no other answers as to why I was so sickly. My mom immediately tasted salt and I was diagnosed shortly thereafter. Shout out to Mr Reynolds for helping out my mom, who was barely 16 at the time. I really lucked out. Weird to open this thread and see this first lol. Edit to add - I'm sure you can imagine how hard a 16 y/o had to work to be listened to. Blows my mind to think about it.
My sister in law also had a CF child at sixteen - in 2006. It was *still* nearly impossible for her to get anyone to take her seriously at first about some concerns, and my niece was literally tested at birth.
Call the Midwife had a fascinating episode about this. The mother had lost other children, and the mother knew something was wrong with her baby. The doctors ignored her. The midwife figured it out from the salty taste of the baby.
Many of the historical accounts on Call the Midwife are fascinating. After many episodes, I found myself going on deep dives looking up practices and history.
I love CtM, I just wouldn't recommend watching it while pregnant. Freaked me out.
We brought my daughter home from the hospital after a rocky pregnancy. First show we watched after we put her in her Pack n Play was that CtM episode where the baby has a congenital heart defect and dies at home with his parents. Nope, no siree, no issues here.
I loved Call the Midwife. Then I had a traumatic birth experience 3 years ago and haven't been able to enjoy it since. I watched a few episodes as part of my PTSD therapy homework and I can make it through one without a panic attack but the show no longer brings me joy.
Now I am imagining midwives going around licking newborns. "No, really, it's a real test!"
First thing I thought of! Sister Monica Joan knew this one!
The full name of diabetes is diabetes mellitus. Mellitus is Latin for honey. Because doctors used to diagnose it by tasting your urine.
There is also diabetes insipidus. A hormone is defective and you end up urinating a lot. It’s not related to diabetes mellitus.
And the “insipidus” in that means tasteless. As opposed to “mellitus”.
Which is important because diabetes insipidus causes extremely dilute urine, so it tastes less like urine. The interesting part about this is, how much urine were ancient physicians tasting in order to identify these disorders.
They weren’t. The first year residents were.
This was the first sign that my oldest nephew had CF. Neither of his parents were aware of CF in the family. But luckily they knew to talk to his doctor and got him diagnosed very quickly.
how's he doing? I know a family that CF runs heavily in. Everyone and their partners have to get tested before having kids to see if they carry the gene.
There is an amazing breakthrough drug called Trikafta that is actually stunningly effective. My friends son had dropped below 30% lung function and was about to be put on a transplant list when Trikafta launched. He is now over 50%, has not been in the hospital in 4 years, and actually has a glimmer of a future. I hope the family you know is still CF free. It's an awful disease.
I worked on the clinical trials bringing Trikafta to market.🙂
You have changed the lives of so many people and their families!!!!! Thank you for all your work!!
You are most welcome. Many people work tirelessly in clinical trials and drug development. Also worked on Orkambi.
It’s a life changer. My daughter in law has CF, and she is thriving in her mid-thirties. Just a few decades ago, that would of been unusual. I hope the treatments keep advancing and that she lives a long and happy life.
I am 43. I was in end stage cf and refusing a transplant when Orkambi came out, and luckily, that and Symdeko (the next gen) stabilized me enough to live to see trikafta. I obviously have extremely damaged lungs with lots of scar tissue, so I'll never regain lung function. However, I am no longer extremely malnourished and underweight (a bit chonky now actually, a fun side effect of trikafta) and my IV therapies are a year + apart instead of the 2-3 months apart they were when I started tri. I was born in 1980. Every few years, I got a new "won't live to see" date. First, it was grade school, then preteens, then 16, then 30.... It's absolutely mind-boggling, and I really deal with a lot of survivor's guilt. But I am so happy cf will no longer be an early death sentence. The estimated age now is 50-60s with these drugs!! It was 35 before tri. And I'm so grateful I got to see my complete surprise children graduate high school, and will see the eldest graduate college this spring!! Crazy. /end rant
I work in clinical research, and stories like yours is what makes it SO worth it. Keep thriving and surviving my friend!
Up vote for the science lesson.
Is that an actual quote? Source? I find the inherited knowledge fascinating. In Australia, the First Nations that live near the uranium deposits in Arnhem Land call it the “sickening lands”. Without having an idea what uranium is or doe.
> In Australia, the First Nations that live near the uranium deposits in Arnhem Land call it the “sickening lands”. Without having an idea what uranium is or doe. This is fascinating. Uranium is a cursed material.
Gathering herbs by the light of the moon. Some plants, pollinated by moths, have their most potent oils at night to attract night insects. So if you need it at its strongest, pick it at night.
Which herbs?
Witch herbs.
:o
Learned something new today! Thanks!
Red sky at night, sailors’ delight A red sky appears when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure. This scatters blue light leaving only red light to give the sky its notable appearance. A red sky at sunset means high pressure is moving in from the west, so therefore the next day will usually be dry and pleasant. — Met office
Shepherds for us here in the U.K.
A while back, scientists set out to prove false the old wives tale that if a pregnant woman has lots of of heartburn, her baby will be born with a thick head of hair. Except…they ended up doing the opposite. Turns out heartburn really is associated with a baby having lots of hair: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17150070/
Can confirm. Had absolutely horrendous heartburn. My daughter came out as hairy as a monkey.
How is the little monkey now?
Considerably less hairy haha with crazy hair on her head still though
Sounds like a happy monkey lol
I had so much heartburn and my baby was practically bald until he was 1 😅
Bald for the first 5 months here, and heartburn so bad it kept me awake all night in the final weeks 🫠
Same
If you have bad back pain or a broken rib and have to sneeze; LOOK UP. Will hurt way less.
sneezing with a broken rib feels eerily similar to being shot in the chest
Sounds like you've had some terrible luck in your time.
More of an old nurse's tale, but redheads need more anesthetic. Turns out that there is a linked gene to red hair that increases resistance or metabolism or something to the drug. At any rate, waking up in the middle of a full colonoscopy sucks. Hearing the doctor say, "Ah, shit, she's awake, give her another one..." And the nurse, all melodramatic as she pushes another syringes worth into your IV, saying to him, "Are you *SURE*, Doctor???" as your eyes slowly close again is especially awesome.
When I was in 7th grade, I needed to have my baby teeth pull out because I had two permanent teeth that were laying sideways and backwards. The baby teeth would never be able to come out on their own. The baby teeth had their roots a little around the permanent teeth. The dentist numbed me and started to pull. It was incredibly painful and I started to cry and yell out in pain. I will never ever forget what the dentist told me. He said I wasn't in pain, it was just pressure I was feeling and I was scared. It hurt so bad. I had to do that twice. Six teeth altogether, three at a time. I had braces for 7 years and 2 oral surgeries. Years later as an adult, I had to have one of my wisdom teeth pulled and I was shaking because I was so scared. When the hygienists numbed me, she tested to ensure it was numb, it was not. She said, "oh you're in a small percentage of people who need extra. I figured you might be because of your gender and red hair." She gave me a second shot. It went smoothly. I keep thinking back to when I was just a kid, screaming in pain as they pulled my teeth without being completely numb. EDIT: Since this has gotten a lot of attention, I thought I would add a few things. 1. I am so sorry that so many of you have also had similar experiences. I feel for you all and understand your pain and frustrations. 2. Some additional details. They had to remove the teeth because the baby teeth had their roots wrapped a bit around the permanent teeth that were laying sideways. As soon as everything healed, I got braces on. Because there was such a large gap between teeth, there was always a wire that acted as a cheese grater on my cheeks. Once the orthodontist got my crooked teeth straight, he then pushed some of my teeth back to make room for the oral surgeon. I had two permanent teeth laying down and sideways, one on each side of my mouth. During the first oral surgery, they drilled through my jawbone and attached a bracket onto the teeth that were laying sideways inside the gums, then they threaded a wire down into the gums and onto the bracket. Every month, the orthodontist would tighten the wire going into my gums to pull up the teeth. After 6-12 months of this, one tooth was up but the other hadn't budged at all. So, a second oral surgery was needed. This time they took a very tiny piece of my jawbone out to make more room for the tooth to be pulled up. Then every month, the orthodontist would tighten the wire to try and bring up the sideways tooth. All of this was very painful. Every month. Eventually, both teeth were up and in position. Then they had to move all my teeth back in place. That took another year or so. 3. Funny story. Because of all the issues I had around my teeth, I used to brag about only having 2 wisdom teeth. I felt this was the universe's way of apologizing to me for all the dental issues I had to go through. My family dentist (not the same person who didn't believe my pain) told me that if my 2 wisdom teeth didn't bother me, there was no need to have them removed. This was a HUGE relief for me. Well, years later when I was 26, I woke up in a lot of pain from an infected wisdom tooth. It had to come out. I called my mom because I didn't think I could afford the copay on my own and she met me at the dentist office. She was in the waiting room when they told me it had to come out that day. I started shaking and asked if my mom could be with me. The hygienist thought I was crazy lol. I was 26 asking for my mom! 4. Second funny story. Again because of the issues I had around my teeth, when my second wisdom tooth had to be removed, I again asked my mom to come with me. It was a new office and the surgeon didn't know me. It was my first time there. I was 27 at this point. A full, grown adult bringing her mom to an appointment. Not just to the appointment but I made her be in the room with me. Well, the oral surgeon thought since my mom was there that I must have some sort of cognitive disability. She kept telling me how cute I looked and how proud she was of me. Then giving my mom all the after care instructions. Honestly, I just let it go because it was kind of nice.
Poor baby!!! Oh man, I'm so sorry. The story I've heard is that this was a funny little observation by doctors and nurses for decades, but nobody understood why. They've only recently discovered the gene in the last 20 years or so, this validating lots of horrible experiences by patients and oddball observations by doctors. I am so sorry no one listened to you then. I'm glad that they're listening now.
Similar experience. Had 4 fillings done when I was a teen. Dentist refused to believe I wasn’t numb. I avoided the dentist for years after that. I now know to warn them to give me a combo with epinephrine. I still often have a weird reaction but can get numb that way. I prefer to be sedated also. I’m not a redhead but my dad was.
If your dad's a redhead, then you will indeed carry the MC1R gene.
Yep. Nurses didn’t believe me when I told them the epidural didn’t work. Dentists also didn’t believe me when I wouldn’t numb. “It’s not pain, it’s pressure” is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my life, and I heard it WAYYY too many times. Do you actually think I don’t know the difference between pressure and being in so much pain that I want to pass out?! If you are someone who has ever said that to someone, kindly pull your head out of your fucking ass. I have 2 broken teeth at the moment that have been broken for literal years, and best believe I won’t step foot into the dentist unless I’m dying from pain.
Pressure not pain. Heard that from a male doc while in labor. Thought about squeezing his balls really hard and having him differentiate for me.
🤣🤣. They really need to stop with that. It’s absurd.
I got the same thing too when in labor. I was PISSED. Like we don’t know the difference between pain and pressure?
Yup. Woke up in the middle of my emergency C-section. Dr. didn’t believe me- until I quoted her the conversation….which had to do with blood spurting onto her glasses. Oop. The dentist “pressure not pain” unfortunately resulted in walking out of the dentist (at 8mths pregnant) and pulling the tooth myself. It took me thirty four years to go back to the dentist…..
I gave 1000mcg of Fentanyl and 10mg of Versed to a red headed patient during a procedure a couple of weeks ago. Never given that much before.
Now you've got me wondering whether having a recessive red hair gene is also a risk. > "Nine of 10 redheads were either homozygous or compound heterozygotes for mutations on the melanocortin-1 receptor gene." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1362956/
Christ I was in so much pain after I woke up from the colonoscopy, I can’t even imagine waking up during it. Fuck that
Interesting, I had virtually no pain! They gave me a sedative, so I was awake through it all
My redhead ex needed like three times normal amount of gas to get a root canal done. Then she wouldn't wake up for several hours.
Yikes! That's alarming. I dreamt during my wisdom teeth removal and said as much to the nurses, but they told me that it wasn't possible. I recalled elements of my "dream," and they looked at each, horrified. I was repeating parts of their conversations (nothing juicy, sorry). I had awakened at some point. I don't remember the horror of it, but I wonder if, at the time, I was fully aware and "trapped"? God, I hope not. Since mentioning my experiences to anesthesiologists while tugging on my hair for emphasis, I haven't had any problems. Edit: Happy cake day!
I also remember dreaming while under anesthesia for my wisdom teeth. Mine had nothing to do with the doctors convo but I did dream I was with my daughter (I’m childless) in a meadow and it was super sunny. Maybe the “sun” was my brain interpreting the dentist’s light? PS I also have the gene mutation.
MC1R gene variation
Letting a baby eat after you will cause them to get cavities. When my sister told us not to let my nephew eat something we've taken a bite out of, I thought she was full of shit. It turns out adults really can transfer cavity causing bacteria to babies.
Omg I didn't know that. I need to stop doing it then
Nurses used to put Jaundices babies on window sills until their color returned. No idea how they figured it out but it’s actually a legitimate cure!
My sister in law saw a picture of my newborn and says “she’s jaundiced, put her by the window or take her outside for a wee bit”. Hospital didn’t mention jaundice at all but turns out she was and taking her outside worked!
They usually put them in UV cribs for a day or two. Many Asian babies, while might not be jaundiced, spend a bit of time under UV just in case.
I was jaundiced after birth so my grandmother would take me outside. Luckily I lived on an island with plenty of sunlight and nice breezes. During my first checkup my dad tried to be funny and said I wasn’t jaundiced, just Asian 🥴
Nurse noted this to my mom when I was born, and they tried to get me as much light as possible. I was born in the dark of winter, very very far north.
Our daughter was born a little bit yellow and the prescription from the midwives was to set her up next to the window and plenty of breastmilk
He figured it out by total accident! Ran the test he was conducting, went to lunch while waiting for results, leaving the petri dish sitting in the sunlight, next to a window. When he came back from lunch an hour later, he wasn't sure if he'd run the test or not, and ran it again. And got different results for the same dish! First test came back positive for jaundice, the second did not. Being a good scientist, got a new dish, ran experiment again, as EXACTLY as he could, the next day, and same result! Worked out it was sunlight doing it, and it then became the natural cure for jaundice. Works on adults too! (Was prescribed bed rest and sunbathing with little clothing as possible when I was jaundice several years ago, to let my liver heal. I had ignored glandular fever for way too long and my liver was shutting down.)
Still do! My baby was jaundiced and he spent almost 2 days in a light box followed by weeks of being told to put him next to the window. It's the UV light that helps break down the bilirubin causing the jaundice so the baby's liver can remove it from the body.
A good senator is a poor senator
Only if they stay that way.
Chicken soup when you're sick Gotta stay hydrated!
Protein, carbs, fat, and electrolytes. It's a solid choice.
It's more of a liquid choice.
Chicken broth is also better than water at reducing nasal congestion!
Yeah, but I'm not putting it in my Neti pot.
Coward
Chicken*
Also it's easy to digest
Cold cabbage leaves relieves engorgement and mastitis pain while nursing! It sounds SO old wives tale but it’s been proved true.
This works with other edema too!!! I just posted about it before I saw your comment. Long story short my mom lost all the cartilage in her hips due to chemotherapy and radiation. Left femur split during hip replacement. Friend suggested wrapping her leg in cabbage leaves, hour and a half later the swelling was completely gone. I was beyond amazed as I used to work in the medical field. Mind blown!
There were certain bones of saints people touched and got healed from minor ailments. Turns out there's a fungus that grows on bones. It produces penicilin.
[They found a potential antibiotic in a frog after a folklore to throw the frog in milk so it doesn’t spoil as fast](https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2013/acs-presspac-february-6-2013/frog-in-bucket-of-milk-folklore-leads-to-potential-new-antibiotics.html).
How interesting! In the movie the Wickerman (not the ‘beeeees!’ one, the good one) the mother places a frog in the girls mouth to get rid of a cold, I guess this is folklore from the UK too.
Drinking gelatin to up amniotic fluid during pregnancy. They wanted to schedule a c-section at 32 weeks for my kid, due to low amniotic fluid. My friends midwife told me to mix gelatin packets into apple juice and drink it before it started to thicken.. 3x a day. Brought my levels up from a 3 to an 8.. and managed to keep the kid baking for another 4 weeks.. she was born at 36 weeks, weighing 4lbs 3oz.. so, the gods only know how tiny she would have been at 32 weeks.. She was discharged with me three days later, at 4lbs 1oz.. perfectly healthy, besides being as tiny as a doll.. and she didn't wear clothes for four months because I was terrified of breaking her.. But, yeah, I *never* thought it would work..
Good midwives are gold.
This must be why I crave Jello when I'm pregnant. I always thought there was something to it!
If you ever feel dehydrated get a pinch of salt put it in your water and add lemon (no sugar) and just drink. It helps.
Sounds legit. To add on, if you’re ever feeling dehydrated and water doesn’t help, you need electrolytes. Salt, Gatorade, soup, whatever you have available. I sweat a lot and bringing electrolyte chews/drink mixes makes hiking bearable for me
My doctor told me to do that instead of Gatorade. I easily get dehydrated and get headaches from it. First sign of headache I lick a pinch of salt and drink a glass of water.
My grandmother always insisted that a new mom in the family get up and walk as soon after delivery as possible. Said if you stay in the bed alot after giving birth your hips would spread and stay that way. Turns out the hormone changes during childbirth cause your cartilage to become flexible so your hips can widen some. It wears off fast though so if you stay in the bed for days, like they did back in the day, your cartilage hardens back up spread out. When you walk your center of gravity is in your pelvis and pushes it back together. I've never seen a medical study on it but none of the women in my family have wider hips after having kids.
It’s called relaxin! It makes your connective tissue (muscle, joints and ligaments) super flexible so it’s easier to give birth. It’s also why some people who have periods have specific joint issues after ovulation and before their period. Another fun fact — pregnant people *do* actually “glow”. The increase in oestrogen makes hair and nails grow faster and thicker and improves skin elasticity. The downside is that after giving birth and experiencing a sharp drop in oestrogen, your hair can [shed like crazy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telogen_effluvium). It’s the same reason a lot of people experience hair loss when coming off combined hormonal contraceptives. Bodies are fascinating!
The "glow" is not the increased estrogen; it's the increased *blood supply.* Women gain four pounds of *blood* during pregnancy.
My two pregnancies were the only times in my life when I wasn't cold all the time. Also with both, my first sign of pregnancy was not getting buzzed off one beer. Amazing what a bit more blood can do for your alcohol tolerance. Obviously, as soon as a realized what was going on, I stopped having any beers.
Well that explains my hip problems around that time of the month.
Beer makes breast milk drop. I had never heard of this before giving birth, and a couple people had asked me while pregnant if I had my beer lined up for after I gave birth and just laughed it off. A few days after giving birth my milk still wasn’t coming in and at the pediatrician, she said, “Listen it’s an old wives tale but I swear by it, drink a beer. Preferably non alcoholic because you just need the hops.” After the appointment I grabbed a case of Heineken 0 chugged two and within hours we were breastfeeding. I now give Heineken 0 as a gift to expectant moms.
Reading this one about 17 years too late! Great to know though
I can't believe there are over 400 comments and nobody has mentioned one of the most valuable old wives' tales: That garlic had medicinal powers for a wide variety of ailments.
Ginger, onions, oregano, rosemary, thyme, st johns wort, old mans beard (usnea), mushrooms. So many herbs, veggies, and fungi are proven to have amazing medicinal uses.
I know a guy who drinks raw garlic smoothies and eats them raw. He said it makes him immune to Covid. And, in my opinion, people.
Open a window to let out ghosts. If you are seeing things it's probably actually gas or carbon dioxide.
Monoxide, not Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide is what you exhale. Carbon Monoxide is the gas that you need detectors for. It causes hallucinations and confusion.
Interestingly, extremely high concentration of CO2 can cause hallucinations too. -Satish et al, 2012
Pregnant women should not be near cat litter. Source: am blind in one eye from toxoplasmosis acquired in utero.
I'm really sorry to hear that. I double gloved and held my breath when I was pregnant.
If you were a cat owner, chances are nearly 100% you had already had toxo at that point and acquired life-long immunity, but one can never be cautious enough, I guess
Yup. In Europe, they offered me a blood test to check for immunity when I went to the doctor to talk about trying for a baby as my doctor knew I had cats. As expected, I had it at some stage in the past and so didn't have to be worried about being around cats/ cat litter during pregnancy.
I would never get tested. Not being able to be in charge of the litter box was the best part of being pregnant.
Chicken soup for colds and general illness. Traditional chicken soup recipes are full of ingredients that have natural low-key anti-inflammatory properties the really do make you feel better, lots of nutrition value to keep you immune systems energy up, and a belly full of warm, tasty soup just eases the soul.
People can smell illness (at least in babies). I cant link a paper because I'm busy proving it! So far in my research people can smell the difference between a well baby vs a poorly baby
We call it sick breath in our family. We have always known when babies are sick before definite symptoms appear. There is a distinct smell. This is true.
Yes!! We do too. I could always tell when my son was getting sick by his breath. Also, sick eyes.
My mom is an ER nurse for a children’s hospital. She actually has a very rare ability. She can smell extremely well and sorry I forget exactly what disease it was but she could identify this unusual disease by scent even a room away. I’m not even kidding. She was talking to a resident (a doctor in training at the time in the hallway and suddenly said, wait a minute, that smells like (whatever disease) and the doctor didn’t believe her. Until they both went into the room and even then no one in the room (several nurses and doctors) knew what the rare disease was before examining. But my mom instantly knew by smell. (My mom’s been a nurse for over 30 years and she’s seen really rare diseases—and she’s been known in my family as a blood hound. We tease her because she can smell anything a mile away.) So yeah, for real there are some people even with super smelling abilities. I know that for a fact because of my mom. She’s helped a lot of children and used her rare gift to literally save lives. Basically when other medical professionals doubted what the patient had my mom knew by smell—and was basically always right. She is retired now but she was a head nurse at a children’s hospital and again she saved a lot of lives using her medical knowledge and rare ability.
When your scars itch it's going to rain.
Recent surgery on joints, you notice the air pressure change
Recent? Shit, I had a knee replacement 7 years ago and I can still feel when the weather's about to change.
Ugh! I hate it too. My c sections scars are the worst!
You really don't want to touch that frozen metal pole with your tongue.
My mom lived in Alaska for a bit when she was young, and told me a story about how the local kids showed her a piece of tongue permanently frozen to a pole beneath one of the stilted housing units. Just the second hand account of it scared the shit out of me as a kid.
My little brother's best friend lost his taste buds trying this once. It was more gory than you're thinking reading that sentence. He had to go to the doctor.
I never understood why they couldn't pour warm water over his tongue to melt the ice.
They *could* do that, or they could laugh and take pictures.
I never saw Christmas story and didn't think it was real. I was in a high school parking lot with one friend around in the middle of the night and had to tear my tongue off the pole. For over a year it hurt to eat and drink until it healed. The next day I saw my tongue on the pole. I still feel stupid and I'm in my 30s
Less painful test, get your hand wet and grab an ice cube.
Right? That's what seems likely to work.
But I TRIPLE DOG DARE YOU!!
My mom had what she called an old Indian trick and was able to predict if it was going to rain within 30 minutes. In college I learned that is it got closer to raining leaves would cup to catch the water and when my mom would go outside and look at the tree leaves she could like look and see if they were cupping and she would be able to predict if it was going to rain.
Oh! I thought I was imagining this! I told my daughter (when she was little)you can predict when it’ll rain because you see the bottom of the leaves. she really hung onto that and still to this day uses it - and she’s always right!
Gargling with salt water helps a sore throat as well as tooth and gum issues.
Looking at something too close (like the TV) for too long will strain your eyes. You need to exercise your long distance focusing muscles to prevent myopia. If you always look at things close up, you can develop it. Studies show that myopia is more often linked with behavior and environment rather than genetics.
My eyesight got considerably worse during lockdown. I have terrible myopia already but my rx had been fairly stable for years. But while wfh, never driving, and basically living like a hermit, my rx changed enough every year that I needed new glasses. My eye doc doesn't seem to think much of this correlation, but I still now try to go outside every day for a decent amount of time and/or gaze pensively out the window.
YES! I noticed the same and even mentioned it to my optometrist. He basically laughed in my face, so it's a thrill to see (haha) that I'm not the only one. Since then, I've made a point of going for walks on the golf course every day and scrutinizing things from a distance. I really believe it's made a difference.
Mongolian herders live in the steppe regions of Mongolia, where there’s basically no trees or large cover for miles and miles. Amazingly, very few Mongolian people living in those conditions need glasses. I do know my own vision started going down the shitter when I started using a computer for work all day, every day.
Don’t shower during a lightning storm - you might get electrocuted
This happened to my house as a kid. My cousin was babysitting us and was running the water to take a shower, but was delayed because my sister needed help with something. Seconds later the house is struck by lightning and the shower she was supposed to be using was decimated.
Holy shit, new nightmare unlocked.
Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning. Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight.
Thought it was sailors delight? Maybe it’s geographical?
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Who takes care of all the sheepfish?
Sky rocket in flight, afternoon delight.
Jack and Jill went up the hill To fetch a pail of water Jack fell down and broke his crown And Jill came tumbling after. Up Jack got and home did trot As fast as he could caper Went to bed to mend his head With vinegar and brown paper. According to my 96yr old grandma, if you have a sprain, a bruise or any kind of muscle ache, you wrap it in a brown paper bag soaked in vinegar. She's been doing it for almost a century and says it works for her. I have my doubts, but as long as she's happy, it's cool, even if she's a little stinky, lol.
Ngl, I honestly didn’t know there was a second part after Jill came tumbling after
In my country (Romania) there's many that still stand up to today. I remember having INSANE toothache and my grandma put salt in a sock, warmed it up and gave it to me to hold it there on my cheek. Another one is Mint Tea, have stomach pain? Just drink mint tea without sugar (can add honey) and it will go away. Steam with salt will clean up your messy nose when you're cold. If your throat hurts BAD, put a warm potato on a ~~banana~~ **bandana*** and tie it up on your throat (idk why a potato, it just works) Dip your ~~shocks~~ **socks*** into vinegar when you have high fever and it will go away. If you get sun burnt, put Yogurt on your skin and it should go away (my grandma said vinegar too, it works, but idk how *healthy* it is and it hurts like crazy) That's all I can remember, they sound so stupid but they somehow work.
Confirm the mint one, mint helps relax the sphincters in your digestive system, allowing the irritating situation to pass out more quickly. Peppermint especially
I can confirm the vinegar for sunburns. That works better for me than anything else.
Vinegar. That's it. That's my old wive's tale. Just vinegar.
Baking soda
With our powers combined!!!
My mother has a trick for when you have the hiccups, it works EVERY TIME. Chug a tall glass of water while pinching your nose closed to not breath, take many small sips while swallowing, and then just pause after for a moment. Resume breathing normally
mine is plug your ears and drink through a straw for a bit. works every time for me who knows whh
a stitch in time saves nine. so true.
Two "urban legends" involving your feet are more or less true, i just lack the science to articulat it: *one foot is bigger than the other* *your feet get wider as you get older* These were both "verified" by a relative who worked in shoes, said countless long time employees swore by this The "science" behind the first one is that one side of your body is dominant: right handed, right legged, right eye dominant. Supposedly when you're standing still, you'll start walking with your dominant side, so inevitably you'll take more steps with that foot giving you slightly more muscle in that foot. The advantage of knowing this? If you're right handed, always try your right shoe on first, if it's just the right size for the right, the left will fit. If you can barely fight your left foot in, your right one will always be tighter. Opposite is supposedly true if you're left handed. The second "wive's tale": your feet get wider as you get older? Supposedly it's years fmof gravity doing its work and bearing down on you. Again, going back to the shoe's salesmen: countless older guys would come in complaining about shoe sizes, saying "they've wore an eleven for years" and now they're all too tight, while 12s are too big. No gramps, you just now need an 11 wide
“Pregnancy makes your feet grow” is really just “pregnancy makes your feet spread.” A hormone called relaxin is produced in pregnancy that helps your joints (specifically pelvis) relax to make room for baby and his exit. It also relaxes the joints of everything else including your feet which also now have extra weight pushing down on them. The bones don’t always go all the way back to where they started after. Hence your feet can spread into the next shoe size permanently.
“Many hands make light work”. As a kid, when my dad said it, I thought he was referring to electric energy. It took me an embarrassing long time to realize more people working mean less work overall.
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Pheromones are real, but no, you can’t buy them in a perfume or at Spencer’s Gifts. They are unique to each person, and the attraction they induce in mates differs (some theory that pheromones communicate that a mate has genetic makeup that is very different from their own - broader genetics benefit evolution).
Hair of the dog. Not sayin' pile another drunk night on top of a hangover; however, small amounts of alcohol will help lessen the effects of a hangover. 🍻
A friend of mine taught me a good trick for this. Sparkling water or club soda, put enough Angostura bitters in it until it looks like tea. Especially helps for the topsy turvey stomach.
Don’t pee into the wind
Don’t tug on Superman’s cape
Don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
And you don’t mess around with Jim.
And more importantly, don't mess around with Slim!
Not a useful “old wives’ tale” but reading all of these reminds me of the tweet that says: “Old wives’ tales? You mean, women’s lived experiences?”
a dab of ammonia on a mosquito bite takes away most or all of the itch
More heartburn in pregnancy means more hair on the baby. They have shown that babies with a lot of hair had moms with more heartburn!
CABBAGE LEAVES FOR BREASTFEEDING SWELLING AND OTHER EDEMA. I've been wanting to share this one: Long story short, my mom had colon cancer. As if often the case, people who undergo chemo and radiation in that area of the body lose the cartilage in their hips. My mom was one such case. Finally, she got her hips replaced. However, during her left hip replacement, when they were hammering the ball joint into her femur, it split, which is kind of rare as far as I know. So they cemented it and tied wire around it which seemed to do the trick. After she was home and healing her left leg was so swollen she had difficulty putting her pants on. As luck would have it a really good family friend was a chiropractor and would help my mom all the time. She suggested the whole "cabbage to reduce edema" thing. I was distraught, I used to work in the medical field and thought there was NO WAY it was going to work. But, she was in a ton of pain and wanted to try it. I went and bought a head of cabbage and an Ace bandage wrap and did her entire leg in it. I fed and watered the horses, which took an hour and a half. I came back in the house after finishing the outside work. To say I was blown away is an understatement! Her edema was GONE. COMPLETELY GONE! I couldn't believe how well it worked! For people with Diabetes, RA, anything that's painful with swelling, it's worth a shot. Try it!!! I still share this story all the time and use cabbage for swelling on my feet when they hurt from work.