Grandma's Folk Remedies

Modified on Nov 29, 2023 | Earth Clinic Team

MAMA TO MANY
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Tennessee, USA

As I have mentioned here and there, I have been out of town a lot lately. My mother was terminally ill and I was able to with her the last couple of weeks of her life. In memory of my mother, I thought I would share some of my mother’s folk remedies.

I was raised with pretty conventional medical treatment. However, Mom always came up with things here and there that were obviously passed down from her mother and perhaps her grandmother. Sadly, as a child, I didn’t really appreciate some of her medicines. And none of us liked her way of taking our temperature, if you know what I mean! :)

If I had a sore throat, Mom was sure to have me gargle salt water. Often. I hated to do it. How was salt going to help? I probably wouldn’t have admitted it even if it did. As an adult and mother I now see the wisdom in gargling salt water.

When I was four years old I got my first bee sting. It sure did hurt. Somehow, Mom knew what to do. She made a baking soda paste and covered the sting. She told me that my granddaddy would have put tobacco on it. I couldn’t imagine how that would help, but now I realize that plants do make great medicine!

I had a thumb sucking habit and later a nail biting habit. Mom sure tried to cure these things. When I was at my parent’s house recently, I found in a drawer a forty year old bottle of “Thumb.” It was that yucky stuff Mom would put on my thumb and then my fingernails to try to cure me of my habits!!! I was curious and read the label. It had cayenne extract in it! Apparently my mom used herbal remedies, after all.

I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was 18. I had it done the day before Thanksgiving when I was home from college on Fall break. After the surgery we went to the pharmacy to get medicine. Then we went home. Mom had me put plain old Lipton tea bags in my mouth and clamp down on them at the surgery sites to help the bleeding. And it worked! It helped the bleeding and probably helped the healing and swelling. I had no swelling at all. In fact, I was able to eat Thanksgiving dinner the next day. I ate everything on my plate with no problem. I am sure the tea bags and Mom’s TLC were part of the reason why. I was also blessed that my teeth had not been impacted and surgery was straightforward.

Good ole bedrest were prescribed for any sickness. If you were sick, you stayed in bed, or at least on the couch. If you stayed home from school, you surely did not go out and play. You ate lightly if at all and drake Coke. To this day, the only time I like to drink Coke is when I am sick.

Thanks for letting me share some memories of my mom here. The moral of the story is to listen to your ma! She is smarter than you think!

~Mama to Many~

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