Traditional remedies from different cultures...

[seeker]

We were at my sil's last night when my dd suddenly went white and felt sick and sweaty anc clammy - you know the sort of thing. My solution would have been to sit her down in front of the telly with a glass of water to sip and a bowl, just in case, and wait for it to pass.

My sil, who's Spanish made her a glass of fresh lemon juice (two lemons worth) and sugar. She said that this is the standard home remedy in Spain for this sort of "poorliness" because the lemon juice cleanses the liver.

It set me thinking - because for me, the idea of giving anything acid to anyone with a tummy upset is completely counter-intuitive - if anything, I would give something bland and "soothing". Is there a huge variation in home remedies from different cultures? Any examples?

Well, i thought it was interesting

i know nothing o f spain, but yes, i would give something bland or warm too. however with diarhoea i always give fennel tea. made from fennel, not a teabag.

Here in Germany if your child has a bad cough the doctor tells you not to give milk to drink, however from the Indian side of the family if you have a cough you have to drink warm milk with honey.

Also know the fennel tea made with fennel seeds for tummy upsets.

I grew up with the "no milk if you've got a cough or a cold"thing too - my mother's Sicilian.

My mil who is Indian uses turmeric to relieve indigestion by heating it in milk and drinking. She also advised mixing it with some oil and massaging ds's tummy when he had colic as a baby.

I've since seen that there's been lots of reasearch into the medicinal powers of turmeric and its use in ayurvedic medicine so there was probably a sound basis in her home rememdy.

My mum always used to make home made lemonade for us if we felt sick-I still use the same thing now.We also used to have a drop of whiskey in hot water if we got very cold & wet.That one definately works.

We're all English,btw.

Another German one - when we had a German exchange student back in my school days - she had a tummy upset and she wanted Brandy - we felt really sneaky but ended up 'stealing' brandy from parents drink cupboard!

Another indian remedy:

In some Indian cultures a nursing mother is advised to drink dill water (dill seeds boiled it in water, until water changes to a browny colour), especially if baby is colicky. (i.e passed to baby via breast milk and provides some sort of relief). Although it taste vile, it did make a positive difference for my DD2. It must have some sort of bearing as Gripe water is made from dill water....

on the continent, linseeds are used for digestive problems
also, dill and fennel are from the same family - and both are used for digestive problems