Home Medical Remedies

My mamma must have been a good nurse with her home remedies. Our family never had a hospital bill until my older sister, Evie, had her appendix out. Then it only cost $100 for the hospital stay and all.

My folks believed Vicks salve, Rosebud salve, castor oil, turpentine kerosene, and a lot of love were a cure for everything. Turpentine was always used for stomach worms, three drops on a teaspoon of sugar.

Vicks salve was for colds, castor oil a laxative, and kerosene was good for cuts and bruises. For sprained ankles, you soaked a brown paper bag in vinegar and wrapped tightly for a day or so. If you had croup really bad, molasses mixed with baking soda was eaten slowly.

For congested lungs they made what we called an onion poultice. Onions were cooked and put in a small cloth flour sack and laid on your chest. The fumes and heat did the job.

If you had a really sore throat, a yarn sock was soaked in kerosene and the excess oil squeezed out. The neck was rubbed with Vaseline to keep the skin from blistering, and the sock was pinned around the neck overnight.

Quinine was always taken once a year, just in case of anything unknown. A ball of asafetida might be worn on a string around your neck to ward off contagious things, such as, mumps, measles, or whooping cough.