I remember a remedy that my Grandmother used on me when I had a boil on my heel when I was younger and worked. She got several plantain leaves(we called them Frog Leaves),washed and crushed them, applied to the wound and put hot packs on it(hot enough to stand it but not to burn). The leaves drew out the pus. She did this several times a day. This healed rather quickly. I have done this on other slightly infected wounds with success.

Another remedy my SIL gave me a few weeks back was for a baby's diaper rash. She took a cup of white flour, put it in a dry frying pan on med. heat and stirred until dark brown. It smelled awful! She let it cool then put on baby's bottom. Within two days the rash was gone! She said her mother used it on her when she was a baby. Said it was an old Swedish recipe.

Does anyone else have one to share?

-- Jean in No. WI (jat@ncis.net), March 23, 2002

Answers

Coffee and vinegar poultice as hot as you can stand laid across sinuses. My step-grandpa used swear by it.

-- Cindy (S.E.IN) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

Six years ago, when we lived in Texas, my oldest son fell out of a tree. He came home with his wrist in major pain. I called a missionary/nurse who was visiting next door to ask what to do. She said, "Don't do anything; I'll be right over." She felt his wrist with experienced fingertips (she does a lot of medical work in an out of the way Mexican village) and said that one bone was fractured and she could tell that another bone had popped out and then in again. She made a poultice as hot as my son could stand of comfrey and hot water. This she wrapped up on his arm and then tied on a cardboard "cast". The next day after church she re-did the whole thing, saying that the fracture felt better. A week later she took the whole thing off and pronounced him healed. He had very little pain after the first poultice was applied, and I was amazed at how fast the fracture healed. He has not had trouble with that wrist since. The nurse said the Indians used to call comfrey "the bone knitter". I believe it.

-- Cathy N. (eastern Ontario) (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), March 23, 2002.

A few plantain leaves crushed up and rubbed on a poison ivy rash, is a quick fix to stop the itch and help it heal.

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

When I was a kid, I lived near a bayou, and since I am allergic to mosquito bites, this made my summers miserable. My granny leon, used to make a salve , using ground up castor beans and vasoline. Moma would apply this to the bites twice a day, and I would itch. It also got ride of the awful swelling associated with the allergy. Until she started making this salve for me, I would end up with fevers, and infections, and by the end of summer 5 or 6 new scars. Afterwords, Nar'ee a scar or fever. My Granny was a wonderful person. And I surely miss her.

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

When I was a kid and got my first pocketknife, my grandma taught me what to do if (when) I cut myself to stop the bleeding. Shepards purse. Just chew it enough to break the fibers and put it on the cut. It's high in vitamin K and will stop the bleeding instantly.

-- Laura (Ladybugwrangler@hotmail.com), March 24, 2002.

Thanks everyone! I work with the Elderly and have been wanting to write in a journal all the remedies that they tell me about. I'll be sure to include your remedies, too.

-- Jean in No. WI (jat@ncis.net), March 24, 2002.

My husband's Polish gramma digs up comfrey roots. She chops them and soaks them in rubbing alcohol. After this steeps for a day or so, she soaks her wash cloth in the mixture and lays it across her arthritic knees. She has a long polish name for it, I couldn't begin to spell it. She claims that it helps!

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhillfarm@yahoo.com), March 24, 2002.

Plantain leaves crushed and rubbed on hornet stings reduce the ouch, also, jewelweed stem juice will help both insect stings and poison ivy.

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), March 25, 2002.