You know you are getting old when:

[Zombie_61]

Maybe you had to eat a nice daily spoon of cod liver oil instead as a kid...

I've never had that either. Here in this part of The States the go-to stomach remedy when I was a kid was Pepto Bismol in all of it's pink minty goodness.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I used to get dosed with a product called "Father John's Medicine," which was a mixture of cod liver oil and gentian root extract. It tasted like Moxie that someone had boiled a fish in, and it was about as effective, but it was a mainstay in our medicine cabinet for a very long time.

(Yeah, but I didn't see my mother taking any.)

 

[Harp]

I used to get dosed with a product called "Father John's Medicine,"

Pax vobisum padre. I remember that stuff.

 

[Trenchfriend]

In Germany, the older remember the second evolution of cod liver oil with citrus aroma, too.

 

[tonyb]

I guess I was fortunate that my folks never went in for any of those OTC “cures.”

I do recall my dear old ma making disapproving commentary about mothers who loaded up their kids with laxatives. It would get so the kids’ bowels wouldn’t work without that stuff, she opined.

I don’t know if she was right about that in particular, but her general eschewal of potions for every little ailment was pretty much on the money. We got a more or less normal level of medical attention — got the vaccines, got the annual checkups, saw the doctor when ailments lasted long enough, or were severe enough, to warrant the visit. But for the most part she let the routine childhood illnesses run their course.

 

[MisterCairo]

When you instruct JAG legal officers not yet born the year you signed up...

 

[Harp]

When you instruct JAG legal officers not yet born the year you signed up...

I stopped at my sister's and The History Channel was on about Vietnam and a retired general
being interviewed was an officer whom I once led a barracks inspection for and I recall he asked
what I did off-duty such as college extension or NCO Academy work. I told him I chased girls.
He laughed and my CO, starched fatigues and spit shined jump boots looked like he had a poker
rammed up his West Point ass.

In recollection I inwardly paused. When was the last time I chased girls instead of being chained to a desk?

 

[ChiTownScion]

I used to get dosed with a product called "Father John's Medicine," which was a mixture of cod liver oil and gentian root extract. It tasted like Moxie that someone had boiled a fish in, and it was about as effective, but it was a mainstay in our medicine cabinet for a very long time.

View attachment 284696
(Yeah, but I didn't see my mother taking any.)

Another old time product which originally haled from the great Bay State, and still produced by a company called Numark Brands.

Note the disclaimer: and yet I am certain some still swear by it. Whatever else, is sure made grist for a fun pub song.

 

[belfastboy]

I guess I was fortunate that my folks never went in for any of those OTC “cures.”

I do recall my dear old ma making disapproving commentary about mothers who loaded up their kids with laxatives. It would get so the kids’ bowels wouldn’t work without that stuff, she opined.

I don’t know if she was right about that in particular, but her general eschewal of potions for every little ailment was pretty much on the money. We got a more or less normal level of medical attention — got the vaccines, got the annual checkups, saw the doctor when ailments lasted long enough, or were severe enough, to warrant the visit. But for the most part she let the routine childhood illnesses run their course.

My Mom's go to remedy for a chest cold was a "Colmans Mustard plaster".....I swear to God it should have been listed as child abuse. I would never admit to being sick for fear of getting the plaster. But at the first sign of congestion, cough or runny nose out came the mustard. Later on Vick's VapoRub hit the market and that supplanted the mustard.......I didn't consider it an upgrade. My wife used to use and I would sleep in the guest room.......I called it a PTSD flashback.

 

[Tiki Tom]

I used to joke that Vick’s VapoRub was my wife’s “signature scent.” A few sharp raps on my head convinced me to remove that gag from my routine.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I still swear by Vapo-Rub -- only thing that can get me thru a night when I have a cold. I had elderly relatives who would *eat* it -- a half a teaspoonful before bed or some such dosage as that. I do draw the line at that.

The Lydia Pinkham people adapted that pub song -- "Re-member the naaaaaame of Lyd-ia Pink-ham!" -- into an effective singing radio jingle in the 1940s. And Lydia would have gotten the last laugh, because the herbs in her potion are on the shelf in the "women's health" section of your neighborhood natural-foods store.

 

[GHT]

Those supposed constipation cures that schools made you swallow down reminded me of an incident about a wimp and a bully. Our school had a particularly nasty bully. A big brute of a boy who used his size to intimidate. One lad, who was always the whipping boy came up with a gem. He took a bar of Ex-Lax chocolate (it's a laxative, although you've probably guessed that,) but the lad had swapped the outer wrapper with one of Cadburys. The bully should have realised that the chocolate was given up all too easily, had he not been so greedy he would have seen "Ex-Lax" pressed into every square, but no, he just scoffed the lot. The result........................too much information.

 

[Turnip]

When feeling a cold creeping up I always take one or two shots of this tonikum and go to bed.

Next morning I have either sweat it out or I’m really floored and stay in bed.

 

[MisterCairo]

My go to cold and flu remedy is a hot toddy (lemon juice, honey and lots of scotch with boiling water), added into which is a full packet of Neo Citron or other medicated hot cold/ flu powder.

I call it a Widowmaker...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Fletcher's Castoria was another punk remedy we got fed as kids -- it was supposed to be a laxative, based on that old two-reel comedy standby castor oil, but it was freely issued for any kind of stomachy problem. "Children Cry For It!" was the slogan, but I begged to differ.

You still see Dr. Chas. H. Fletcher's jagged oscillograph of a signature in flaking old paint on the sides of buildings all over the urban Northeast, and there are still many millions of former children abroad in the world who clench their jaws when they see it.

 

[Bushman]

When you buy your first cheater reading glasses.

 

[Trenchfriend]

When you buy your first cheater reading glasses.

What ist that, please? Bi-focal?

 

[Bushman]

What ist that, please? Bi-focal?

The kind of non-prescription reading glasses you can buy off the shelf at a local drug store.

 

[belfastboy]

I used to joke that Vick’s VapoRub was my wife’s “signature scent.” A few sharp raps on my head convinced me to remove that gag from my routine.

It is still a sore point in our household......it is thing we dare not mention. We could have a civilized discussion of adultery much easier than we could talk about Vicks Vapo.

 

[Zombie_61]

My go to cold and flu remedy is a hot toddy (lemon juice, honey and lots of scotch with boiling water), added into which is a full packet of Neo Citron or other medicated hot cold/ flu powder.

I call it a Widowmaker...

I've never heard of Neo Citron, but I'm otherwise familiar with the hot toddy as a cure (of sorts) for the common cold/flu. You can pretty much substitute any alcohol for Scotch if you wish (my preference is Tequila), but the key is to drink it as hot as you can possibly stand it right before you go to bed, then pull the covers up around your neck and sweat out whatever is ailing you. It doesn't necessarily get rid of the cold/flu, but I've always felt at least a little better the next morning because the lemon juice helps your body retain the water to stave off dehydration, the honey helps to break up the congestion in your lungs, and the alcohol...well, you know.