Grandma's Wisdom

My grandmother was a fount of extremely USEFUL information.  She could fix things, grow things, cook things, and sew things, and somehow manage to make it all look effortless and fun.  There is one skill that my grandmother had that, above all others, I wish I knew:  My grandmother could diagnose an illness almost as well as any doctor around. 

I remember being sick with a sore throat once.  She looked at my throat, it was red.  She felt my throat, swollen glands.  She asked me if it hurt to swallow.  I told her it did.  Then, she did the craziest thing I had ever heard of:  She handed me a slice of lemon & told me to bite into it.  I looked at her like she was crazy, and she laughed at me.  “Go ahead.  Bite into it.”  I bit.  The lemon tasted awful, but it also hurt!  I must have made a face, because she asked me, “You okay?”  I nodded.  “Sour?”  I nodded.  Then, to my amazement, she asked, “Did it hurt?”  How did she know?  “Yes, it did,” I replied.   “Where?” she asked.  I told her.  “Alright, then, Princess, let’s get you situated.”  She handed me a glass of cold water, and walked me into the living room where she piled the couch with quilts, blankets, and pillows; making me a bed fit, indeed, for a “princess”.          

I was half-asleep on the couch a short time later when I heard my grandmother on the phone with my mom, “Joyce?  I think you might ought to take this baby to the doctor.  I think she’s got strep.”   My mother scheduled an appointment, and we went to the doctor later that day.  She was right:  strep throat.  The doctor gave me an antibiotic, and I stayed with Grandma for a few more days to heal while my mom went to work.  

How did she know??  That thought stayed with me while I was with Grandma for those days.  One day I asked her about it, “Grandma?”

“Yes Princess?”

“How did you know I had strep?”

“Well, the lemon & the red dots told me.”  When I looked confused she continued, “You can have a sore throat for a lot of reasons, but if you have an infection, it hurts to eat anything sour.  If you have mumps it will hurt so bad your ears just about ring, but your ears didn’t hurt- just your throat.  When I looked in your mouth & saw the spots on your tongue, that’s when I thought you might have strep.  Your tongue gets red speckles on it when you have strep.”

A fount of useful information!!  My grandmother grew up in a time when you didn’t take your kids to the doctor unless they were very ill.  She knew how to take care of her babies; how to make them comfortable; how to make teas & herbal remedies to help ease their pain & let everyone get through until the little one was well. 

In my mother’s generation, things were different.  General wisdom when I was a child was that, if your child was sick, you tried over the counter medication to help them get through.  If that didn’t work, you took them to the doctor, and he/she would give them prescription meds to help them feel better.

Now, it has changed again.  As a mother to young children, I find myself at a total loss when my babies are sick with cold-like symptoms.  Even my tried and true standard (Vick’s Vapo Rub) isn’t recommended anymore. You have to get the pediatric formula.  Over the counter medications are out of our reach; taken away by the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Oh!  How I wish I knew some of my grandmother’s remedies!!  I wish I had her knowledge!  There are times when I feel like that one generation of philosophical shift has had the equivalent impact of the burning of the library at Alexandria:  the knowledge is gone- lost. 

Or is it?

I think we all probably know a little bit; have some little pearls of wisdom in our pockets.  I am going to open this forum up for conversation & sharing.   Now, you know this already, but I’m going to say it anyway:  THIS BLOG IS NOT A MEDICAL BLOG, IT IS NOT MEANT TO DIAGNOSE OR TREAT ILLNESS, AND THE WRITER OF THIS BLOG WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY ILL EFFECTS SHOULD YOU OPT TO TRY ANY OF THE “REMEDIES” LISTED IN THE COMMENTS.

What is YOUR favorite home “remedy”?  Share your memories in the comments section!