# Eating Vick's VapoRub? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041 "2016-08-26T19:25:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/41 "2018-03-10T18:18:11Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > My Daddy used paint our throats with what he called ‘Silver Nitrate’. I am not sure what it was. It was purple and very nasty. > I tried very hard not to be sick so I wouldn’t have to go thru that particular hell. [Link](https://www.avocamedical.com/usage/medical-uses/). > [@](#): > > With well-established antiseptic and antimicrobial properties, silver nitrate from an applicator or pencil is applied topically usually in aqueous solution and used as a haemostatic, for pain relief in certain conditions and for the removal of small quantities of unwanted tissue. > … > This method of cell destruction is thought to apply to all living tissue including viruses and known pathogens. On unbroken skin it is painless. The action can be stopped by adding saline solution. However, completed action cannot be reversed. For this reason, silver nitrate must not come into contact with tissue that does not regenerate such as eyes. Sounds like he was trying to use it for an antiseptic. Or kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/42 "2018-03-10T18:25:12Z")
That’s what I thought. We were made to gargle salt water for a time afterwards. Eventually we all had our tonsils out. My Daddy was a Marine, so one by one we went to the Naval hosp. and had them removed. There were 7 of us so it took about a year. He was dedicated, for sure. That a year in my life I could’ve lived without. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/43 "2018-03-10T22:35:44Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I’ve seen a few police dramas in which investigators, examining a body in an advanced state of decomposition, had smeared something under their noses that was understood to overwhelm their olfactory senses and allow them to get on with their work without gagging on the odor of rotting flesh. Maybe that something was supposed to be Vick’s? Yes, VV is quite effective for this purpose, as well as making it easier to change REALLY bad diapers, clean up a very bad restroom, pump out a “shitter,” get a dead animal out from under the house, and so forth and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/44 "2018-03-11T03:06:26Z")
When I was a kid in the '60s it was normal practice to to be given a spoonful of Vicks to eat after having it rubbed onto your chest and a little bit under your nose. It tasted great. My grandmother always called it “croup salve”. Of course, if my mother thought I was really sick, I got pine tar on my chest, but still ate the vicks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/45 "2018-03-11T03:51:16Z")
It’s a wonder we all got out of childhood alive. It’s a big no-no to give babies and kids baby aspirin. I can still taste those orange flavored ones that melted on your tongue, I had many doses. I gave my kids benadryl liberally for their allergies, they say that not a good idea now, either. I think may have had to have a prescription for it. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/46 "2018-03-11T13:43:11Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I’ve seen a few police dramas in which investigators, examining a body in an advanced state of decomposition, had smeared something under their noses that was understood to overwhelm their olfactory senses and allow them to get on with their work without gagging on the odor of rotting flesh. Maybe that something was supposed to be Vick’s? Interesting. In _Silence of the Lambs_ they put a white powder under their noses before working on a cadaver. It must have been to kill the stench but I have no idea what it was. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041/47 "2018-03-11T18:14:43Z")
Yep. My Dad told me that when he was growing up in the 1930’s they would eat the stuff when they were sick. So the practice goes back a ways. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-vicks-vaporub/764041.md?page=2)