otcures

Early settlers not only had to rely on their own wits to keep the body fed but had to be their own physicians.While some of these "cures" may seem odd now,considering the medical practices of the day,they were quite sensible for the time.

**Early Cures**
Rheumatism (In The Fall)	Arthritis Remedy	Curing Warts
Rheumatism (In The Spring)	Ague	Bites, Sunburn and Stings
Flu	Malaria	Headaches
Reducing fever	Colds and Coughs	Sore throat
Kidney ailments	Anemia	Tonics
Hiccups	Toothache	Infection
Poultices	Spring Tonic	Burns or frostbite
Bites, Sunburn and Stings	Burns and Scalds	Poison Ivy
Patient Menu	Asthma	Boils
Liniment.....1865	Cough Syrup

When I was a teenager my nephew had a really bad outbreak of warts on both of his hands. They were just one on top of the other. Our neighbor told my mother that if the 7th child of the family would rub the hands of the infected person that the warts would go away.

When i was a teenager I had boils constantly. My grandfather went out into the woods and he got some yellow root, cleaned them off and had me chew three of them over a period of 2 weeks, and each piece was about three inches long. After 2 weeks they went away and never came back again.

My mother told me this one and it has an interesting story to go along with it.

for children that suffer from Summer Complaint, an acute condition of diarrhea, occurring during the hot summer months chiefly in infants and children, caused by bacterial contamination of food. Use fresh blackberries and crush them for the juice.. Then have the child drink it. Within a few days it will clear up.

Now for the story behind this:

When I was a child I had Summer Complaint. Problem was, the doctors at the hospital were unable to stop it. Basically what it does is strip your intestines so you get no nutrients. I was dying and they couldn't stop it. They went so far as to shave my head for veins as they had blown my other veins and needed to keep me on an IV (mind you, this was YEARS ago) My grandmother came to the hospital and told my mother to use Blackberry juice. My mother tried it, and it didn't work the first time. I was getting weaker at this point and the doctors told my mother that I could go at any time, so she tried it again. As I am writting to you, it is proof that it works. Just my two cents about an old fashioned remedy that beat out modern medicine!!

Saretta Holdcroft

Try using chamomile tea for colicky babies.I add a pinch of sugar, (never honey) to the tea.
A W.VA .friend of mine believes in putting a dab of butter on the side of an infant's nose when they get a cold to help them breathe.

This verse is from the Bible that stops bleeding. I have had it in my wallet all my life . Mom gave it to me when I was old enough to have a wallet.Carla

" and when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live: yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood. Live."

You mentioned the cob webs for bleeding, she told me that chimney soot would also stop bleeding and Papaw Back use to read a verse from the Bible (unfortunately I can't remember the verse).

For a toothache she use to make us hold whiskey on the tooth and then make sure we spit it out.

Also she would soak a brown paper bag in vinegar and apply it to sprains to reduce the swelling and the pain, it really worked.

For warts, rub a raw potato on it (cut a potato in half and rub the raw side on the wart) and then plant the potato, as the potato spouted the wart would go away.

For headaches, tie a bandana around your head tightly and then sleep with the head at the foot of the bed. It is suppose to work, but never tried it.

She tried to teach me things that she knew, but most of the things she taught me, I have forgotten over the years. Oh, how I wish I could remember more of the things she said.

I am 71 years old and I remember the remedy my Grandma had for getting rid of warts on my little brother's hands.

She was also a great fan of poultices...I don't know what they were made
of ,but I had one on my chest all winter long it seemed. They were
smelly....

And she really believed in sulfur and molasses. [black strap, of course], UGHHH. But I took it when she said I should. I remained healthy in spite of it.

You don't argue with a woman who could shade her eyes, look at the sun and tell you want time it was any time of the year, and hardly ever be off more than 5 or 10 minutes.

My family had a valuable home remedy for the cold. Drink a mixture of tea, lemon, whiskey and honey as hot as you can drink it. Then cover up and stay covered all night. You will sweat it out of your system.

For sore throats, my grandfather used to use long cotton swabs and swab both sides of the throat with Iodine. It does work.... Also. when I was a little girl I caught poison ivy.. I had such a bad reaction to it, nothing my mom did would relieve it, but my grandfather used straight alcohol on a cotton ball, and dabbed each blister with it.. It healed up quickly.

--the stems or "straw" left after stripping the flowers can be burned like incense and have often been used as a means of deodorizing and disinfecting sick rooms.

--used to relieve, among other things; headaches, fainting, hysteria, stress, insomnia, muscle aches, bug bites, rashes, colds,chest infections, rheumatism and flatulence.

Headaches-Place large cabbage leaves on your temples, forehead, and the back of your neck.

For more serious throat ailments you'll need to breathe heavily on a frog. The frog's heart should start beating rapidly and you will feel instant relief. After eight to ten minutes the disease will have passed completely onto the frog.

Cut a raw potato in half and spread the sap over the sunburned area. It will immediately cool and relieve the pain. Use as often as needed.

Plantain is a common weed that can be found almost anywhere. For an insect bit,pull a piece of plantain,mash it and hold it on the sting. In a few seconds, the poison is drawn from the sting and the pain is gone.

Dandelion Milk. Cut the stem of a dandelion and squeeze the sap onto the wart. Rub in gently. Repeat for several days.

Raw meat. Use a small square of meat, rub it into the wart firmly, then bury the meat in the garden.Visualise the meat being the wart. As the meat breaks down the wart will disappear.

Silver coin. Rub a silver coin on the wart,visualising both as one, then bury the coin in the garden. As the silver tarnishes, the wart will disappear.

Spring Tonic - Sulfur, molasses, and cream of tartar tonics make very good blood cleaners. Mix 1 tsp. of sulfur with 1 tsp. of molasses and add a little cream of tartar. "Take daily until creek thaws."

Green Spanish moss can be placed in the shoes to fight high blood pressure, and tied around the neck to relieve a sprained neck.

The elderberry tree has been called "the medicine chest of the common people. The flowers, leaves, berries, bark and
roots have all been used in traditional folk medicine for centuries. Warm elderberry wine is a remedy for sore throat, influenza and induces perspiration to reverse the effects of a chill. The juice from the berries is an old fashioned cure for colds, and is also said to relieve asthma and bronchitis.

Whooping cough was treated this way.The person drank a boiling hot concoction of horehound,lemon or ginger tea mixed with honey.The patient was covered with heavy quilts to sweat out the poisons.

A cough syrup was made from boiled dried horehound leaves until a strong tea resulted. Add three cups sugar for each cup and a half of tea. Boil until syrup thickens. Whiskey may be added in small amounts. Bottle and take a teaspoonful several times a day to cure cough.

A treatment for colds and headaches was this:Boil ten corn shucks in water for 30 minutes. This brew was taken straight and not diluted.

Make a tea from this year's spruce tips and drink as hot as possible. Wormwood, boneset, and hemlock tea are all good.

If you wanted to prevent a chest cold you would cut off a piece of camphor ice about the size of the end of your thumb. The camphor was placed in a small cloth bag and hung around the neck and resting on the chest area.When the camphor had melted to the size of a pea,you replaced it.The belief was the vapors penetrated the membranes of the lungs and prevented winter colds.

One tablespoon of turpentine was mixed with two tablespoons of lard and rubbed on the chest and throat to relieve chest colds.This was also covered with a flannel rag.(I've had camphor oil used on me this way as a child and I can tell you it did help me breathe more easily.)

For chest colds and pains, mix one part mustard, one part flour with enough warm water to make a paste. Cut two pieces of cloth to same size and sandwich the paste between cloth layers.

Kidney ailments--Boiled watermelon seeds provided a tea that was used to cure kidney problems.

Bayberry leaves are often steeped for a tea to relieve back pains associated with the kidneys.

Irish potatoes were scraped finely and spread on gauze, good and thick.
This was applied over the burned area. This was considered a good treatment for third degree burns, causing healing from the inside out, without scabs forming which draw and make a scar.

1 c. ripe polk berries (now a known poison)
1 1/2 c. water
1 enamel or stainless steel saucepan

Wash berries; crush berries in saucepan. Add water and bring to a boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Cool, then strain liquid
in a glass jar. Close jar. Drink 1 cup of tea twice a day for 3 days.

1 qt. moonshine
2 medium polk roots about the size of a sweet potato (now a known poison)

Put roots in 1/2 gallon jar. Pour moonshine over roots.
Let stand 4 to 5 days. Remove roots and stir. Take one tablespoon twice a day for pain and swelling.

Another remedy was to remove the inner bark from willow trees. The bark was boiled in enough water to cover.Keep adding more water and boil several hours. Pour off water and bottle. Take a large swallow to kill aches and pains as needed.

Wild yams were also used in the treatment of rheumatic pain and rheumatoid arthritis.

1 lb. polk leaves (now a known poison). The early spring shoots of the polk plant are edible. Never use the leaves.
1/2 lb. smoked meat
2 c. water
1 small onion

Wash meat; dice and boil until tender. Wash polk leaves and add to cooked meat. Cook meat and leaves for 15 to 20
minutes. Peel and dice onion. Add diced onion the last 3 minutes leaves and meat are cooking. Remove from heat and
place in an airtight container. Heat and eat at least 3 servings during a week.

The berries, bark and roots of prickly ash were combined as a remedy for rheumatism.

Spanish Moss was boiled and the decoction was used for bathing swellings and rheumatism.

Crushed plantain leaves were considered good for this purpose. The following were often applied to boil to draw it to a head, or to any wound, sore spot, blister or bruise:

1. Stale bread soaked in hot milk. Wrap in cloth and apply to boil. Replace two or three times daily with fresh mixture.
Repeat as necessary.

2. Flaxseed, scraped beefsteak, hot salt, mustard, poke root were also used in poultices.

Foxglove (digitalis)	Belladonna (deadly nightshade)
Aconitum (monkshood)	Artemisia absinthium(wormwood)

Bloodroot	Tansy
Catnip	Burdock
Sarsaparilla	Smartweed
Snakeroot	Plantain
Spikenard	Mandrake