Old time medecine?

[XingMing]

Am I being unreasonable to suggest that people investigate old time frontier medicine and treatments first for everyday ailments before asking the doctor?

From personal experience 40 years ago, in the USA, I had a blocked ear canal. My then MIL laid my head on a table on a towel, and poured in hydrogen peroxide and told me to stick it out for five minutes. After which my ear was much improved: I could hear again. In rural NZ, an old nurse suggested a salt water gargle for a sore throat for my seven year old. For coughs and colds and low level ailments, we should be trying such treatments before the GP. Do you think I'm bonkers or should we go straight to high tech expensive treatments?

Why on earth would you go to A&E immediately, not bothering first with a pharmacist/nurse/nurse practitioner/doctor or 111?

You're one Extreme to the other.....old time recipes straight to A&E.

Everything in moderation.

I'll give my ear 24 hours before calling the doctor, I absolutely would not use any form of drop or spray or liquid in my ear that isn't prescribed - because in my personal case this will 100% make my problem worse.

DH on the other hand would happily, and can happily, try alllll the old school recipes.

Raw garlic clove in the ear is amazing for pain.

I do use old treatments, the cabbage leaf for boob pain etc etc.

I do agree people need todo more at home. However I don't know a single person that would go to the doctors for a cold...or a cut etc.

I'm a student nurse and just finished a placement in UTC. We saw a lovely chap who decided a bulb of garlic rammed down his ear was a good idea to cure an infection...! 😂
But I do see what you are saying. People seem to have lost knowledge as well as the faith in their own judgement - I'd say 75% of the patients I saw in my time there did not need to be seen and could've sorted the problem themselves. However, we all know that will inevitably result in deaths as people will miss and mistreat things.

Hydrogen peroxide once saved me in the US when I had a bad burn on my leg that had become infected. Applied every day for a week under a nurse friend's advice.
It also kept one of Bonnie and Clyde's gang alive for a few days who had been shot in the head...

I try alternatives options, had tonsillectomy due to quinsy’s, was told to expect significant blood loss, took emergency dose of arnica 3 days before surgery, hardly lost any blood. I was suffering with UTI on a very regular basis, my MS nurse suggested trying D-Mannose, been life changing for me, rarely have a UTI now. I drunk raspberry leaf tea at the end of my pregnancies, has very easy births each time. Old fashioned remedies from relations, rub gold on a stye, it works. Tie a horse hair around a wart, not tried that one! An elderly person I knew swore by slippery elm, not tried it personally. Hot poultice, a slice of bread on a boil. Grease put on grease proof paper and tied to the chest of the sufferer. TCP on everything or germolene, I can still remember the unmistakable smells of these!

Really? Nettles work through stimulating antihistamines, I think. Why not do that (prob with fewer side effects than actual medicine)

I'm on the fence with this op, some home remedies can do more harm than good and if you don't see a doctor, a more serious condition might be missed.

Having said that, tons of treatments are just more expensive versions of stuff in your cupboards or hedgerows, but pharma companies don't get a cut from your cupboard stocks! I needed ear drops for an ear infection the other day, they were acetic acid aka vinegar. About £7 for a thimbleful!

Mind you, I'd rather have an aspirin pill than chew willow bark, which is where it comes from! Or have hrt rather than drink horse piss, etc etc

Always try home remedies. I fucking hate going to the doctors and hospitals!

a few I’ve done would be better if a doctor did it but the NHS moans on about doing anything now.

I'm a big proponent of steaming a cold, salt water gargles for a sore throat, kaolin poultice for a splinter, saline spray for a blocked nose, or saline drops for mild conjunctivitis etc.

I draw the line at leaving a cut onion under the bed, as recommended by a friend.

I wouldn't recommend the contraception suggestion of leaping out of bed and jumping up and down after sex.

Certainly not in an attic room with low ceilings. 🤕

Yes, take antibiotics that were not prescribed for you, that won’t contribute to antimicrobial resistance at all

Oh I missed that gem.

Wind up surely? No one would take their animals antibiotics....

Only if you can be confident there is no risk to the 'cure' you're trying and if you move quickly to get proper attention if it doesn't have the desired result. I have used a bread poultice with good effect for instance and ginger for sickness, yoghurt for sunburn; but I wouldn't be ingesting noxious substances or pouring them into my orifices. When old style remedies work their effect is also often very mild compared to pharmaceutical products so it depends how stoic you are.
Personally I prefer the natural approach for preventation rather than cure, the protective power of food for example.

My mother grew up in the country and knew of some outlandish remedies for chilblains, including bathing them in your own urine and hitting them with holly. I preferred Snowfire ointment from the chemist……

Mint makes acid reflux and heartburn worse! If you have reflux/ heartburn you should avoid it:

www.healthcentral.com/slideshow/common-acid-reflux-triggers
and a hundred other reputable websites.

This is why you should always think twice about the 'good old ways' and do some online research before you act. Don't believe people telling you old wives' tales on message boards.

I did borrow a dose of the dog's co-amoxiclav one Sunday last year when a surgical wound became infected and A&E were turning everyone away if ambulant. When I managed to get referred to the correct clinic, I told the medic what I'd done. Once they'd stopped laughing, they gave me the exact same drug only with a smooth coating.

I have a few old school things that I use when needed. Some are bonkers, some work, some probably are more of a placebo effect.

I'm also a big fan of actual drugs ,painkillers,antibiotics etc. and I will use them when needed, including as a first resort.

I use analgesics straight off, hopefully intelligently, to control pain and fever, but for ordinary coughs and colds or minor wound infections etc, I'd start with salt water and mild peroxide.

And I didn't take the dog's meds without knowing that co--amoxiclav was a strong broad spectrum antibiotic used in human and veterinary practice. The dog weighs 25kg, I am more than double that, so I took two tablets.

Paediatric nurse here. We still use hydrogen peroxide gargles for post tonsillectomy bleeds. It sometimes works. But have to make sure the kids know how to gargle first.

@RudolphTheGreat no, we sometimes use them as well. But not often, as kids hate the taste.

It foams up alarmingly too, DD poor DD said it was the worst part of being stuck in hospital, being woken up to gargle during the night