Folklore cures you've heard...

[Vixandra]

Sometimes, what I hear from patients and friends makes me want to shake my head and wonder where on earth these folklore cures stared at.

Such as hot showers to lower sperm counts.
Washing one's vagina out with coke/saltwater/etc after sex to prevent pregnancy.

Heard this from a nurse (I swear to Goddess I did): jumping up and down after sex to "knock out the cum" to prevent pregnancy.

What else have you heard along these lines?

Not meaning to hurt feelings, bash on anyone, repeat threads or anything of that nature. I just find it amusing what people will say the wonderful scholar "Everyone" says is true.

 

[caela]

<snip>

Heard this from a nurse (I swear to Goddess I did): jumping up and down after sex to "knock out the cum" to prevent pregnancy.

Good lord can we have her nursing license pulled please? I'd be scared to let anyone that thought this near me for anything more then a simple temperature check.

 

[bridgeburner]

Vixandra,

Hot showers no, but I had heard that soaking the scrotum in hot water -- not boiling obviously -- every couple of days would kill sperm. I think it was listed as an alternate/homeopathic/natural birth control. It sounded reasonable but also not very exact and probably not as effective as more conventional contraceptive measures.

I had heard about coca-cola douches and jumping up and down after sex as misguided methods of birth control. Also the age-old favorites that you can't get pregnant the first time or if the woman doesn't climax she won't get pregnant. Don't know how I escaped believing any of that twaddle but I'm just glad I did.


I've only got a "cure" for hiccups --- drinking out of the opposite side of a cup. You know, you bend over and drink kind of upside down. It works for me but maybe only because I think it will.

-B

 

[graceanne]

Well there's also the myth that you can't get pregnant if you're nursing full time. I've lost track of the number of my friends who have babies because of this.

I like this thread, because my family is very superstitious, but I can't think of anything off hand. It's like I'm pulling a complete blank. But I'm sure that I'll come up with some.

 

[silver_inari]

Sometimes, what I hear from patients and friends makes me want to shake my head and wonder where on earth these folklore cures stared at.

Such as hot showers to lower sperm counts.
Washing one's vagina out with coke/saltwater/etc after sex to prevent pregnancy.

Heard this from a nurse (I swear to Goddess I did): jumping up and down after sex to "knock out the cum" to prevent pregnancy.

What else have you heard along these lines?

Not meaning to hurt feelings, bash on anyone, repeat threads or anything of that nature. I just find it amusing what people will say the wonderful scholar "Everyone" says is true.

Well, I know a few bits of herbalism, but none related to preventing kids. Mint being good for the stomach is one (as in calming upset stomachs), and cherry bark or slippery elm bark as being an ingredient on folk remedies that cure sore throats and coughs.

 

[graceanne]

Re: Re: Folklore cures you've heard...

Well, I know a few bits of herbalism, but none related to preventing kids. Mint being good for the stomach is one (as in calming upset stomachs), and cherry bark or slippery elm bark as being an ingredient on folk remedies that cure sore throats and coughs.

I know tons of that stuff, but those actually work. I think she's looking for the silly ones. The one's where you just wanna roll your eyes.

 

[cellis]

How about turpentine gets rid of chiggers and ticks... I am surprised that I am still alive...

I have many more but just cannot think of them now...

 

[graceanne]

How about turpentine gets rid of chiggers and ticks... I am surprised that I am still alive...

I have many more but just cannot think of them now...

Well that had to hurt. Did it get rid of the chiggers and ticks? Was it worth it if it did . . .

 

[cellis]

Well that had to hurt. Did it get rid of the chiggers and ticks? Was it worth it if it did . . .

I don't really remember, but I did have to stand in the galvanized tub when I was little and be doused before my parents would let me go home with them.... and no ticks or chiggers today!

 

[ammre]

what's a chigger?

 

[Brazen Irish]

There is of course the classic idea that the blood of a virgin's hymen can cure all sorts of sexual diseases.

Coming from my own family, I remember my grandmother telling a pregnant woman who'd stood on a chair that doing so would wrap the umbilical cord around the baby's neck. Not so much as a cure but an interesting superstitsion.

 

[graceanne]

what's a chigger?

A chigger is a little nasty bug that buries it's eggs under the surface of the skin. (I think) I haven't had any of the little pains in the asses since I was a child, and I recall that's what my mom said at the time. Either way, you get a rash, and it itches like a son of a bitch.

 

[bridgeburner]

Chiggers are a particular kind of mite larvae. Only the larvae attack humans and they don't burrow or suck blood. Like ticks they imbed their mouth parts into the body but Chiggers are a lot smaller -- nearly microscopic. Unlike ticks they don't suck blood --- it's a lot grosser than that. Their saliva has some kind of enzyme that rots and liquefies skin cells so they can drink it. bleh!

And they itch like the very devil!


-B

 

[CutieMouse]

*****

 

[Hajar]

why do I know every single one of the first set of forklore Vixandra posted

Guinness if boiled and you drink it hot will end a pregnancy same is said for paw-paw/papaya, eaten green.

 

[ammre]

Uh- can we tell who here lives or has lived in the South and who hasn't? Chiggers don't seem to be as common up North. LOL

I am most definatelly a young northerner.

I've had my fair share of ticks and a lymes outbreak to boot... but chiggers... i'm glad i've never had to deal with them i think...

 

[Bloody Heart]

How about turpentine gets rid of chiggers and ticks... I am surprised that I am still alive...

I have many more but just cannot think of them now...

or how about gasoline gets rid of lice...

 

[rosco rathbone]

I can cure all warts with a welding rod, a gas stove burner and a pint of whiskey.

 

[Vixandra]

I can cure all warts with a welding rod, a gas stove burner and a pint of whiskey.

Not quite what I had in mind, LOL.
Liquid Nitrogen's pretty good for warts though.


I'd forgotten the turpentine one for ticks.
We got either a cigg to the little bugger or it painted with nail polish to suffocate it.

I've had to tell people that they can get pregnant thier first times.

And the nurse in question from my earlier post- I swear, despite the fact she's a dark-haired Phillipino, she has blonde roots.

 

[graceanne]

or how about gasoline gets rid of lice...

Um, actually it's kerosene, and that works. Lice have developed an immunity to RID, so my dr told us to try kerosene, and it works. It also kills the nits.

 

[graceanne]

Not quite what I had in mind, LOL.
Liquid Nitrogen's pretty good for warts though.

Duct tape works too. Also recommended by our dr, but when Beth had like three planters warts they said they could burn them off, which would hurt, or we could put duct tape on them. We did, and a week later she was wartless. You gotta change the tape every day though, and scrape off the dead skin.

 

[caela]

or how about gasoline gets rid of lice...

My grandmother swears by using mayo to suffocate the little creatures. It seems to work though cause my cousins never had more then one bought with the things.

 

[graceanne]

My grandmother swears by using mayo to suffocate the little creatures. It seems to work though cause my cousins never had more then one bought with the things.

tried it. *sigh* didn't work. Believe me we'd done EVERYTHING by the time that I used the kerosene. And yes, we've totally gone through the house too. All the dolls, all the stuffed animal, everything gets treated. The kerosene is the only thing that worked.

 

[bridgeburner]

I can cure all warts with a welding rod, a gas stove burner and a pint of whiskey.

Hmmm....this sounds very similar to my patented hammer & nail clippers remedy.

-B

 

[bridgeburner]

Duct tape works too.

Ah, the endless joys and uses of duct tape. I'd heard that this works but I haven't had occasion to try it. I had a wart on my thumb when I was about 13, accidently bludgeoned it with a hammer and had to cut it off with nail clippers to relieve the pressure of the blood welling up underneat and since then I've never had another wart anywhere ever. I think word got out and they're all just scared to death of me.


-B