Recently in Spanish class, our teacher told us a story about a time when she was pregnant, and her mother-in-law urgently asked her to spit on her sister-in-law's bee sting. She told the class that no one had any idea what was going on at the time, and that the sister-in-law, equally clueless, had told her to just humor the mother-in-law. She later asked a doctor why she had done that, and, to her surprise, he told her that the body produces some sort of anti-inflammatory enzyme in the saliva when the woman is pregnant.
Some wives tale remedies make sense, and can be proven by science, so matter how ridiculous or gross they may seem, such as the one above. Though many wouldn't be willing to test them out - who would willingly urinate on their own jellyfish sting? I think I would pass on that one, thanks. Others are just misconceptions, such as putting butter on a burn - just because something looks and feels like an ointment, doesn't necessarily mean that it works like one. In this case, butter just keeps the heat in, and is only inviting bacteria into the wound.
A home remedy that I remember being used on me involved boiled eggs. When I had an ear infection, my mom forced me to lay down on my back, and put a hard-boiled egg by the infected ear. Even though it was wrapped in a towel, it would be nearly scalding, and hurt, though I don't remember if it worked. It was also used for an eye sty, and that would be even hotter held up against my eye.
One "ailment" that I have always wanted to know how to "cure" is the hiccups. Different people have told me of various methods in the past, such as holding your breath, holding your breath and plugging your nose, drinking water while holding your breath, getting scared, etc. They are either effective some of the time and ineffective at other times, or hiccups just come and go away for other reasons, and those "cures" have nothing to do with it. But all I know is that they are annoying, loud, and sometimes even painful.
1 comment:
I find some of the things people tell you to do when you have something, very humerous. For example, last night I had the hiccups and this girl had me hold a spoon to my nose, while drinking water upside down. That sounds absolutly rediculous, but it actually worked. I wonder where people come up with these things. Also, I wonder if what i did actually was the reason my hiccups went away, or if it was just the fact that they were "done".
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