Old health cures in Ireland

Shiftworker · 10-01-2017 6:39pm #1

Hi,

Had a conversation with somebody about old health cures.

I remember reading somewhere in a lovely book on Dublin about two topics but can't think of the source I read.

The two cures are:

1) Dublin hospital had an area on the open roof where patients lay in beds during winter with heavy layers of blankets, I think the idea was that the extreme cold air temperature cured some ailment... was it TB? Or something else?

2) People in old Dublin / Ireland used to bring their children to stand beside roadworks in order to expose them to road tar fumes..! Not sure if this was a skin problem cure? Presume this is not a respitory cure...

Any ideas...

Dizzyblonde · 10-01-2017 8:22pm

There's an article here about the open air ward for TB patients at Dr. Steevens hospital: http://dr-steevens-hospital-a-history.edwardworthlibrary.ie/patients/open-wards-and-tuberculosis/

My mother who is in her 80's remembers her own mother lifting her up over the tar truck to inhale the fumes when she had a chest infection. She's okay, but I'd say there were some whose lungs were damaged. My mother also remembers an uncle wearing brown paper soaked in vinegar under his shirt when he had a chest infection.

NIMAN · 10-01-2017 8:23pm

Going to see a 7th son of a 7th son......often advertised in the small ads in the back of the Sunday World.

Dizzyblonde · 10-01-2017 8:27pm

I worked with a woman who was married to a man with the same surname as her maiden name, and because of this some people believed she had the cure for whooping cough. They would bring children suffering with it to her house to take a bite from a piece of bread after she had first bitten from it. This was in the 90s!

Graces7 · 11-01-2017 9:56am

Shiftworker wrote: »

Hi,

Had a conversation with somebody about old health cures.

I remember reading somewhere in a lovely book on Dublin about two topics but can't think of the source I read.

The two cures are:

1) Dublin hospital had an area on the open roof where patients lay in beds during winter with heavy layers of blankets, I think the idea was that the extreme cold air temperature cured some ailment... was it TB? Or something else?

2) People in old Dublin / Ireland used to bring their children to stand beside roadworks in order to expose them to road tar fumes..! Not sure if this was a skin problem cure? Presume this is not a respitory cure...

Any ideas...

Both well known in my UK childhood,

The exposure to the fumes from tar was to cure and alleviate eg croup, diphtheria and other common breathing disorders.

So yes respiratory,

This was pre NHS and pre antibiotics, remember and infant mortality was appalling,

TB yes; was film called "Twice around the daffodils" .... and delicate children at special schools were also kept in the air,

Shiftworker · 11-01-2017 1:43pm

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

There's an article here about the open air ward for TB patients at Dr. Steevens hospital: http://dr-steevens-hospital-a-history.edwardworthlibrary.ie/patients/open-wards-and-tuberculosis/

My mother who is in her 80's remembers her own mother lifting her up over the tar truck to inhale the fumes when she had a chest infection. She's okay, but I'd say there were some whose lungs were damaged. My mother also remembers an uncle wearing brown paper soaked in vinegar under his shirt when he had a chest infection.

That is a very interesting article I couldn't for the life of me find it and I love hearing from generations like your mother, the old facts and stories are great, thank you. You would wonder what the parents thought the fumes would actually do for their children or what the theory was.

....... · 11-01-2017 1:46pm

This post has been deleted.

Shiftworker · 11-01-2017 2:25pm

....... wrote: »

The tar fumes were supposed to clear your chest. Right up until the 90s my mother would stop and inhale the fumes from a new road being laid if she happened upon one.

The sea air was another great one, chest infection, brought out to bray for great lungfuls of bracing sea air.

I found these articles online

I'm guessing and speculating that the short time exposure to the tar fumes could offer some relief from diphtheria in so far as the coal tar may act as a steriliser for the bacteria in the throat, possibly the combination of warm fumes and the cold winter air reduced swelling of the vocal chords.

Home Remedies for Diphtheria

https://www.organicfacts.net/?isamp=1

Some of the home remedies for diphtheria include garlic juice, the intake of table salt, and smoking tobacco in different forms. There are many more simple and ready-to-use home made remedies as well. There are a lot of countries that still battle with this disease, which scientifically is an acute bacterial illness that has an impact on the tonsils, throat, nose, and skin. It is a transmittable disease and can easily affect other people near the sufferer.

Smoke Tobacco: Grab a tobacco pipe with a live coal in its bowl. Now, place a little tar on it and smoke it in your mouth, drawing it out from the nostrils. This process is safe and tested and can be done easily to reduce the signs of diphtheria.

Dizzyblonde · 11-01-2017 2:34pm

They definitely thought the fumes would 'clear the chest'.

A silk scarf worn around the neck of a mumps sufferer was thought to cure them.

An old cure that really works is mixing Epsom salts with Vaseline to draw infection out. I think it was used for boils, but I used it on my children a lot when something like a small cut on a finger became infected. Nowadays you can buy it already mixed and smoother, it's called Magnesium Sulphate paste.

When I was little I suffered with hives and my mother would make a paste with baking soda and water to put on them. It's still used for itching today, with a handful in a bath of warm water giving great relief for chickenpox itch.

Shiftworker · 11-01-2017 4:34pm

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

They definitely thought the fumes would 'clear the chest'.

A silk scarf worn around the neck of a mumps sufferer was thought to cure them.

An old cure that really works is mixing Epsom salts with Vaseline to draw infection out. I think it was used for boils, but I used it on my children a lot when something like a small cut on a finger became infected. Nowadays you can buy it already mixed and smoother, it's called Magnesium Sulphate paste.

When I was little I suffered with hives and my mother would make a paste with baking soda and water to put on them. It's still used for itching today, with a handful in a bath of warm water giving great relief for chickenpox itch.

On the last point, yes I am slightly allergic to insect bites particularly mosquito bites. One night on holidays rolling around in bed in itching agony from misquito bites, I tried putting very hot water on the bites, as hot as I could take, this gave relief for about 20minutes, frantically searched g the internet I found a good solution:- put tiny pieces of toothpaste on each bite, great relief for around 3/4 hours. I guess it was the soda content that helped...

Jull · 11-01-2017 11:29pm

There are many healthy tricks from old times and some of them I don't think they can work. For example, when I had blepharitis, my mom said the tricks to cure it is that just need to rub a little bit of saliva on the eyelids before going to bed at night. I didn't believe it of course, (but I still tried it haha). And the blepharitis really gone after 4 days. I didn't know it was thanks to mym mom's trick or my luck?? But in the end, I still don't believe in it

echo beach · 12-01-2017 1:31am

Don't know about using your own saliva, especially in the eyes, but when we were small if we got a cut or graze the dog was brought in to lick it. Dogs and cats lick their own wounds so their saliva was thought to have anti-bacterial properties.