# Retro Remedies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 20, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277 "2023-07-20T01:08:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/41 "2023-07-20T20:51:41Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I did recently get around to tossing some leftover Vapo Rub that expired in the 1980s… Vick’s doesn’t _expire_! Nor does a jar ever seem to run out completely. I actually had a glass jar of Vapo Rub that I took with me when I moved out of my mom’s house in 1980 and finally gave up on in 1990, when I opened it up to apply some to my toddler and discovered it was somehow liquid. I tossed the replacement (plastic) jar sometime in the 2010’s because it had accumulated more cat hair than I was willing to work around and replaced it with the smallest size I could find. I imagine that I’ll need one more to see me through the rest of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/42 "2023-07-20T21:07:01Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I wonder if it’s more retro than Tiger Balm, which dates to the late 19th century. TV news from the UK - I’m pretty sure Tiger Balm is currently sponsoring Tour de France coverage on Eurosport. j ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/43 "2023-07-20T21:13:38Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > No, I’m afraid my medicine cabinet is rather humdrum. Sure, I’ve got a vile of poop poultice to relieve my chronic impetigo and a jar of mouse paste antitussive to reduce occasional coughs, and of course, my trepaning drills to release the evil spirits from my skull causing my cluster headaches…but, doesn’t everybody? I could never trepan my own skull, I’m just so bad at doing it in the mirror. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/44 "2023-07-20T22:01:57Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Anybody here take Geritol? OK, that’s given me Lawrence Welk flashbacks. (It was a sponsor.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/45 "2023-07-20T22:58:10Z")
At the very least, you wouldn’t care if you were sick! (However, if used as directed, those really aren’t very big doses.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/46 "2023-07-20T23:02:34Z")
As of my retirement from pharmacy in 2012, paregoric had not been available for several years, probably because there was so little demand, no manufacturer wanted to make it. I did dispense it a few times, and it smelled (and probably tasted) terrible, which was to reduce its likelihood of misuse. We had a technician who was near retirement age, and she said that when her kids were little, in the 1960s, she could buy a small amount from behind the counter without a prescription, and she rubbed it on their gums when they were teething. (The camphor also has a numbing effect, as does the alcohol.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/47 "2023-07-20T23:07:19Z")
One of my Facebook friends, a HS classmate, has 3 grown children, and she had to call poison control once for each of them. She had caught one child eating Vicks VapoRub, another had eaten some other nonfood product, and the third one had spilled table salt on the floor, and was licking it up. Guess which one she said was the only one to worry about? Yep, the table salt. They told her about the symptoms of hypernatremia, and to take her to the ER if she had any of them, but she didn’t. Forcing salt water on children was recommended by some people to induce vomiting back in the day if they possibly swallowed something poisonous, but that isn’t recommended any more, and one of the reasons is because children had died from hypernatremia and/or hyperchloremia because they didn’t throw it up. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/48 "2023-07-20T23:44:06Z")
The wife has a t least 4 variations on Tiger balm, both liquid and salve. They are varying strengths. For simple upset tummy I like Saltines or sourdough pretzels. The pretzels work in minutes for me. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/49 "2023-07-21T00:18:25Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I did dispense it a few times, and it smelled (and probably tasted) terrible, which was to reduce its likelihood of misuse. I seem to remember it having a kind of licorice smell and taste. Someone above mentioned Coca Cola syrup. I had a terrible case of food poisoning sometime in the early 1970s. For two days, all I could keep down was Coca Cola syrup. It was available at the local small pharmacy (as were pints of booze for Sunday sales, back when the blue laws were still in effect here in Massachusetts.) ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/50 "2023-07-21T00:25:03Z")
I loved Coca Cola syrup. I used to be given salt tablets when the heat got to me. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/51 "2023-07-21T02:30:47Z")
My father has been hospitalized several times for critically low sodium levels, as was his mother, and I trend low, so I need to eat extra sodium which I know is unusual for people my age. Anyway, when Grandma was still with us, she was living in a nursing home but had to go to the hospital to have her sodium levels corrected, and he told me, “Next time I visit, I’m going to bring a bottle of salt tablets with me, and give them to her nurse and tell her to make sure my mother takes them.” I replied, “I understand where you’re coming from, but she can’t have something like that without a doctor’s order.” ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/52 "2023-07-21T06:43:02Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > Just be sure the witch hazel bottle is easily and clearly distinguishable from the isopropyl alcohol bottle. Just saying. Good advice! ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2023, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/53 "2023-07-22T08:06:36Z")
I’m surprised it lasted that long? Back in 60’s, we hippies would buy it and soak our cigarettes in it to get high, due to the opium element ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2023, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/54 "2023-07-22T08:09:53Z")
AFAIRC from childhood, I thought it was given to babies for colic? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/55 "2023-07-23T05:46:32Z")
The Vaseline from 1995 seems fine, a tiny bit separated maybe. I just used some. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/56 "2023-07-23T13:48:57Z")
It’s petroleum jelly. It was underground for millennia; what’s a few more decades? ---
**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:** [July 24, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/57 "2023-07-24T13:33:28Z")
4-way cold tablets. I swear that stuff was crack. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/58 "2023-07-24T15:18:16Z")
I still use Vicks. When I’m stuffed up, I dab some under my nostrils before bed. When I was a kid, my mom or grandma would rub Vicks on my back and chest and then wrap a towel or piece of flannel around my body and fasten it with a giant safety pin. My Italian grandma lived a very short distance from us. The yards were connected by a little path. When we kids were in the throws of a stomach ache or some other illness we would head to grandma’s. She’d warm up blackberry brandy or her homemade anisette in a little sauce pan on the stove then give it to us in a shot glass to sip on. We had a lot of stomach aches 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/59 "2023-07-24T19:43:40Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I could never trepan my own skull, I’m just so bad at doing it in the mirror. Maybe (I think) it was here on the Dope where it was first revealed, but in the early days of the World Wide Web there was a book out called Borehole! that described a couple of trepanning enthusiasts. I think they were British, or rather the UK took a dim view of their DIY skull drilling antics and denied them entry. They gave a bit by bit (heh) account of the difficulties encountered when drilling a hole in one’s head after taking a tab of L.S.D. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277/60 "2023-07-25T06:23:20Z")
I’d have to say my [pseudo] “favorite” retro remedy is one I used to compound for terminal cancer patients to relieve severe pain, way back when I was a pharmacist—[Brompton’s Cocktail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brompton_cocktail). Trust me, Brompton is a cocktail with a bit more _kick_ than what you’re likely to find at your local pub (it laughs at lightweights like Paregoric). It’s a blessing to patients with recalcitrant pain and a coveted treasure for crazy partiers. Or, it can be a death sentence for abusers. Brompton has a history (hence “retro”): the first record of the combined use of morphine and cocaine appeared in the British Medical Journal in 1896. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retro-remedies/987277.md?page=4)