Ouch..mom I scraped my knee.

[ppanda]

It just dawned on me.... Is Bactine still available? I havent heard or seen ads for it in forever. This was my moms cure for everything. Everytime I got hurt skateboarding...playing football...slidinng into home during baseball. Bactine was her cure for everything.
There was one time I wiped out on my bike and probably should have gotten stitches and she just sprayed Bactine on it.

What other oldschool OTC remedies can you remember that you dont hear much of now?

[jetdog]

When I was in first grade I stepped on a toothpick and it jammed its way up into my big toe and broke off. I was at my freinds house and only their dad was home, he stuck my foot in a tub of hot water and handed me a tumbler full of Jack. That's old school.

[sr71blackbird]

I think I have seen Bactine still available, maybe in Walmart.
My mom did this thing once for a pain I had in my back. She said it was an old Italian remedy. She took a silver dollar and twisted a scrap of cloth around it and tied it in string, and then poured some alcohol on it. She had me lay down and she put the coin on my back where it hurt and she lit it on fire. She then inverted a cup over the burning cloth and it smothered out the flame and this created a vacuum that pulled my skin into the cup. She had me lie there for like 20 mins. and then she pulled off the cup and it kind of popped and the pain went away.

[FezPaul]

She said it was an old Italian remedy. She took a silver dollar and twisted a scrap of cloth around it and tied it in string, and then poured some alcohol on it. She had me lay down and she put the coin on my back where it hurt and she lit it on fire. She then inverted a cup over the burning cloth and it smothered out the flame and this created a vacuum that pulled my skin into the cup.
That's what they did to l'il Fredo in the GodfatherII

[hunnerbun]

blackbird...there is a treatment done in traditional eastern medicine called cupping...its very similar to what you described. They take a small round glass ball insert a flame into it to burn off all the oxygen, then place it on your back. It can suction on so hard that it will leave marks that look like a cross between bruises and hickeys.

[The Blowhard]

Bactine was considered a huge innovation at the time it hit the market. Before Bactine, most injuries were treated with iodine or mecurochrome(sp?)

[PapaBear]

Bactine was considered a huge innovation at the time it hit the market. Before Bactine, most injuries were treated with iodine or mecurochrome(sp?)
Believe it or not... my dad still has a little brown bottle of it! Damn, I hated that shit.

[high fly]

Bactine was for pussies.
In my house, scrapes were the worst because of the size of the injury that would be coated with <grimace> Merthiolate.
My father would apply it with a glass rod and you had to blow on it because it only hurt while it was wet.
My old man would claim to be out of breath and stop blowing just to toughen me up or something.
His giggling at my pain didn't help much, either.

Nuthin' ever got infected with the Merthiolate

Nowadays I go even more old school than that. Occasionally on the job I will be using a heat gun to burn paint offa something and will accidently touch the end of the heat gun and get a third-degree burn. What I do is immediately put me a coupla pieces of duct tape or masking tape together and make a pad the size of the wound out of a kleenex or toilet paper and stick it on there. Then I apply this home-made bandaid halfway, so there is a sort of pocket over the wound. In this pocket I pour a lil' pile of sugar in there and press the bandaid down the rest of the way.
Works like a charm.

Ever wonder why hams can be hung out at room temperature and not go bad? They are cured either with salt or sugar. Bacteria can not survive contact with salt or sugar - it sucks the water out of the bacteria cell.
The above technique works better than any antibacterial ointment I have ever tried.
If a burn is a day or so old, you gotta clean out the pus-spooge so the sugar gets on the wound itself.

[MrPink]

I used Bactine recently for a new piercing I got when I went home for winter break

My dad told me that when I was teething, I would get a sugar cube wrapped in cheesecloth and soaked in Jim Beam.

[patsopinion]

Bactine is like fighting cockroaches with napalm

waaay worse then the actual incident
what the fuck is wrong with hydrogen peroxide(which feels cool and soothing on cuts, or even alcohol feels better)

fuck Bactine

my dads remedy was telling me to shut up
man i was a whiny little bitch

advil- i uesto take advil for everything
now im a tylenol kid and i try to take is sparingly

[BrownTown]

When I got pierced 10 or so years ago, I was told to clean my rings with Bactine. I rememebr thinking "Wow, Bactine still exists". It sure does. The bottle is white and green now as opposed to the old big red-dotted one, but it's the same shite my mom used to use.
The other First Aid remedies that were in rotation at my house were Iodine & Mercurachrome. Both awful looking rust colored liquids, but Iodine was the one that burned like a bitch when it was applied. Kids today have it so easy with thier Pain Relieving Neosporin.

When I was your age........

[milliehatchett]

old school ear ache remedy - great for kids.

Cut an onion in half. Place flat side down in a skillet with 1/4" of water. Heat. Wrap onion in cheesecloth. Hold it as close to the ear as possible (will be very hot), as onion cools, slowly move it closer to ear until it rests right on the ear. When onion gets cold, if there's an infection, all the gunk (medical term) will have been pulled onto the cheescloth - if just pain - the heat takes care of it. It really works! I used to be a swimmer and got swimmer's ear constantly. This takes care of it without antibiotics!

[ChoppedLiver]

Mecurichrome and Merthiolate.
Talk about kickin it Old School ... I had forgotten those names.

Step in the Wayback Machine, Peabody!

[Brushpup]

Methyolate or better known as MONKEY BLOOD. The worst part was the sting and the shit you'd catch at school the next day.

[sr71blackbird]

Bactine was for pussies.
In my house, scrapes were the worst because of the size of the injury that would be coated with <grimace> Merthiolate.
My father would apply it with a glass rod and you had to blow on it because it only hurt while it was wet.
My old man would claim to be out of breath and stop blowing just to toughen me up or something.
His giggling at my pain didn't help much, either.

Nuthin' ever got infected with the Merthiolate

Nowadays I go even more old school than that. Occasionally on the job I will be using a heat gun to burn paint offa something and will accidently touch the end of the heat gun and get a third-degree burn. What I do is immediately put me a coupla pieces of duct tape or masking tape together and make a pad the size of the wound out of a kleenex or toilet paper and stick it on there. Then I apply this home-made bandaid halfway, so there is a sort of pocket over the wound. In this pocket I pour a lil' pile of sugar in there and press the bandaid down the rest of the way.
Works like a charm.

Ever wonder why hams can be hung out at room temperature and not go bad? They are cured either with salt or sugar. Bacteria can not survive contact with salt or sugar - it sucks the water out of the bacteria cell.
The above technique works better than any antibacterial ointment I have ever tried.
If a burn is a day or so old, you gotta clean out the pus-spooge so the sugar gets on the wound itself.

Wow, highfly, you are right! I just googled "sugar for wounds" and found quite a lot of evidence for what you say as true! Thanks, this could help me a lot. I remember seeing this documentary about these south american indians who have never had contact with modern civilization, and at one point, a baby girl is accidentally scalded by boiling water. She would have had massive tissue damage, but the shaman went into the woods and returned with this plant that had this sap in it, which he poured over the wound. The sap solidified and coated the wound. Over time, they checked the baby and in a month she had recovered and had very minimal scarring. I believe that sap had a high sugar content, not unlike maple syrup.

[Thebazile78]

It just dawned on me.... Is Bactine still available? I havent heard or seen ads for it in forever. This was my moms cure for everything. Everytime I got hurt skateboarding...playing football...slidinng into home during baseball. Bactine was her cure for everything.
There was one time I wiped out on my bike and probably should have gotten stitches and she just sprayed Bactine on it.

What other oldschool OTC remedies can you remember that you dont hear much of now?

I associate Bactine with my dad's mom (Nana) who always used it instead of peroxide to clean out our cuts.

And, yes, you can still get it. . .I've seen it at the regular grocery store right next to the fancy-pants Band Aid foaming wash.

Now, what I really can't find OTC is BETADINE. . .it's like iodine, but better. It's still used as a pre-surgery preparation, but we got a big bottle of it after my brother Ger fell down the basement steps and needed stitches. . . had that shit for YEARS.

[WhistlePig]

I used to get covered in poison ivy every summer and mom would apply that useless pink calamine lotion. There are much better remedies on the market today like IvyRid.

I'd also get bee stings and mom would apply a coating of moistened baking soda! I don't remember that doing any good either. Sure didn't relieve the pain! Are there better bee sting remedies these days?

http://img.timeinc.net/realsimple/i/p/April05/0405_MULTITASK_bking_soda.jpg

[Fat_Sunny]

Are there better bee sting remedies these days?

The Best Bee-Sting Remedy Is The Same As It Has Been The Last 50 Years: Straight Ammonia, Dabbed On With A Cotton Ball! Works Like A Charm!

[WhistlePig]

Thanks F_S! I have to gather up these remedies and have them ready for when my daughter gets a little older. I think I'll print this thread out for all the great ideas.

[Jujubees2]

My dad said that Windex will cure anything!

http://images.associatedcontent.com/150_0000001746_0000004311.gif

[Fat_Sunny]

My dad said that Windex will cure anything!

http://images.associatedcontent.com/150_0000001746_0000004311.gif

That's Because Windex Has Ammonia In It (Well, They Call It Ammonia-D). But STRAIGHT Ammonia Works Best!

[AcolyteAndy]

My Parents were sooooo Old School..The main treatment for cuts and scrapes was water and a band-aid(and not the fancy cartoon ones) and told to stop being a baby. My friend's got Iodine. i remember one kid(9 or 10) falling off his bike onto his driveway, shirtless..arms and back scraped. he didnt cry from that, the Iodine had him sounding like he was being murdered.

Only excpetion was if I cut myself with something rusted, then it off get a tet shot.

Like WhistlePig, I grew up in the woods of Northern NJ and Poison Ivy and bee stings and insect bites off all kinds were a daily experience(almost)..I never put anything on bites or stings...only got that pink crap for Ivy at school. . All it did was stain my socks and pants and shirt. Thank God I never got Ivy on my crotch..knew kids that did.

Millie- could of used that info for my ear aches. I had a prob with those until 12(hospitalized at 5)
All other aches and pains got tylenol(adult) ..never was given kid's asprin.

[Bellyfullasnot]

I remember my parents would use drawing salve to help remove splinters. It was a thick black tar like substance that smelled awful.

[Death Metal Moe]

Methyolate or better known as MONKEY BLOOD. The worst part was the sting and the shit you'd catch at school the next day.

Keep this up and I'll have Rev. Al over your place so fast your nappy head will spin!