For scraped knees and elbows we dreaded the thought of Mercurochrome™, the orange paint it on liquid that stung like crazy. Fortunately, Mom didn't use that much. I remembered it enough though, that for my girls I got the plastic bottle of Bactine that you sprayed on the "owie" so it would hurt less.
I remember the horribly bitter tasting yellow medicine that came in a tall bottle with a giraffe on it for sore throats. I was shocked when I saw it on a Drug store shelf here in North Carolina. This is the bottle I remember. The other is how it looks now. I must have been about 7 or 8 when I had it but it packs a memory. That's for sure. I do remember that it worked.
The things that made it all better were Boston Baked Beans, Neccos (that I still love), Slo Poke suckers (that tough caramel would last all day), Red Hots, cinnamon toothpicks, and so very un PC now, candy cigarettes. Notice there is no chocolate in there. I'm not a chocolate person so those didn't tempt me. OK,maybe Junior Mints did occasionally. Now, I'll follow you anywhere for a jelly bean, especially a black one.
Once in a while I can still find these gums from the 1950s and 1960s.
There was Tab Cola, the only sugar free soda ( they used Saccharin for a sweetener ) and Metracal and Ayds candy for dieters. They were horrible. I remember this 110 pound 14 year old trying to loose pounds to be the same size as my 95 pound friends.
What remedies do you remember and what made you feel better?
8 comments:
My parents medicine cabinet held one item, Aspirin. Plain, ol', simple Aspirin. It was the cure-all for everything, unless you had indigestion. On that occasion we mixed a spoonful of soda into a glass of water (homemade Alka-Seltzer, of sorts) and drank it down. It caused one to BURP - problem solved. My medicine cabinet is cramed to overflowing with all sorts of pills and potions and we are no healthier than my parents. I suppose there is a message is this somewhere.
Hi! I found your blog via Sweet Tea. Your question made me stop and think.
We had mercurochrome & bactine, but not tonsiline. We had baby aspirin for headaches and something purchased from the pharmacist that was called "rhubarb & soda" for stomach aches.
For most other medical conditions my mother was big on 7-Up! She had great faith in the restorative powers of lemon-lime bubbles-- combined with motherly love.
What a fun post! Let's see...when I was little, I had to take sulfa drugs for my tonsils, and Fletchers Castoria, because a regular laxative was a "cure all" LOL
I'm allergic to mercurochrome, so I used iodine instead. Also took something called Vanquish for headaches and menstral cramps.
Used to hate Pepto Bismol, but for the past 12 years it has become my best friend. Soothes like nothing else :)
Vicks...Always vicks, my parents chained smoked and I always had a nasty cough. The doctor said I had weak lungs...WTF!!! Let's see Chericol (not sure of the spelling)cough syrup, I mainly remember lots of weird cough medicine and all they had to do was blow their smoke someplace else. Go figure. I'm totally fine now.
Wow, you all have such good memories. I don't know how I forgot good ole aspirin and Vicks. Couldn't get through a winter without those.
We sometime drank Vernors for a sick stomach but that was a regional thing. It's Ginger ale available most places now.
Ally- welcome... Rhubarb and soda are new to me. I'm wodnering if that was a regional thing too.
Oh, those gum brands! I remember all of them. My mom always had Clove gum and Chicklets. I drank TAB (Totally Artificial Beverage) until I was an adult and they stopped distributing it where I live. Now I only drink water or tea. When I wasn't feeling well my dad always handed me Aspergum. I think they still make it, but I don't know how you could ever figure out the "dosage"? When I would get tonsilitis or sore throats my dad would take a long q-tip and "paint" the back of my throat with something called Methyolate? And though not a medicine, my suntan lotion was always baby oil with iodine mixed in. ( I think its SPF number would be zero.)
My Dad would boil some water and then add honey, lemon and brandy..his version of Nyquil. ..it sure did make you sleep good! We had Alka Seltzer too..I loved watching the tablet fizz:)
We were so pink we could have been closet communists!
My brothers and I went through lots of Pepto Bismal and Calamine lotion. and the green bottle... Phisoderm (I think it was called)?
Alka Seltzer was always Plan B... if the warmish ginger ale didn't work.
What cured us (from Posion Ivy rash) was good old homemade oat meal... smeared on liberally and let to dry... truly messy.. but it worked wonders.
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