Old Wives' Tales

[Saphire]

I was talking to my mother who told me she has been suffering from night leg cramps. I gave her some advice and told her to of course speak to her doctor. So today she tells me she had spoken to her sister, who gave her the *advice* of putting a bar of soap between the bed sheets at the bottom of the bed. When I finallly stop giggling, she told me "but it worked, I haven't had leg cramps in three nights!", which produced more laughing on my part. I was so surprised that she actually tried something like that, because she is pretty sharp and isn't superstitious at all. LOL. Tell me some of your favorite Old Wives' Tales!

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

The one I love is...if you're baby has his/her nights and days confused, hold them up by the ankle and turn them in a slow circle. My grandmother swears by it and always gives that adviced. My sister tried it with her dd and it worked.

 

[TheGoofster]

My daughter was born here in Mexico City. One day when she was about 16 months old, she was feeling really sick, so my wife took her with her when she went to see her doctor. While she was there, she told some of the nurses that my daughter was sick. Immediately one of the nurses went and got an egg. My wife asked her what she wanted the egg for. The nurse said to help her get better. So my wife asked her what she meant, did she mean to break the egg, and wash her with it or something? The nurses started cracking up at that suggestion, and said of course not. So my wife asked again what the egg was for, wheras the nurse explained that they rub the egg all over the body of the sick child to remove any bad spirits that are causing her to be sick. At this point my wife was trying to not crack up, so she asked the nurse what do you do with the egg afterwards, and the nurse said, we usually eat it, why waste a good egg. (as you can imagine, my wife graciously declined the egg treatment for our daughter)
And this is in a modern hospital!!!

 

[Alesia]

I was talking to my mother who told me she has been suffering from night leg cramps. I gave her some advice and told her to of course speak to her doctor. So today she tells me she had spoken to her sister, who gave her the *advice* of putting a bar of soap between the bed sheets at the bottom of the bed. When I finallly stop giggling, she told me "but it worked, I haven't had leg cramps in three nights!", which produced more laughing on my part. I was so surprised that she actually tried something like that, because she is pretty sharp and isn't superstitious at all. LOL. Tell me some of your favorite Old Wives' Tales!

This is NOT an old wives tale. There is some evidence that it works, but no one is sure exactly why.

 

[mmcguire]

Wow -- I heard a doctor on a local talk radio station mention the soap thing! He said some of these home remedies actually do work, but they don't know why. He also said that eating a teaspoon of yellow mustard helps get rid of leg cramps. On the mustard he speculated it was something about the vinegar in it. If you Google "leg cramps mustard", you'll find lots of coaches swear by it for their athletes suffering leg cramps.

 

[sweet angel]

I was talking to my mother who told me she has been suffering from night leg cramps. I gave her some advice and told her to of course speak to her doctor. So today she tells me she had spoken to her sister, who gave her the *advice* of putting a bar of soap between the bed sheets at the bottom of the bed. When I finallly stop giggling, she told me "but it worked, I haven't had leg cramps in three nights!", which produced more laughing on my part. I was so surprised that she actually tried something like that, because she is pretty sharp and isn't superstitious at all. LOL. Tell me some of your favorite Old Wives' Tales!

My former boss tried this as a last resort for back pain after a client told him about it. He didn't think it would work, but he said he really did get some relief from it.

 

[Saphire]

OK, so I looked it up, there is some pretty funny stuff out there on the treatment of leg cramps. Sorry, but the bar of soap falls into the old wives' tale category (for me). Here is an example...

“Place a spoon by your bedside. (doesn't have to be silver,
stainless is fine) When you awaken with a leg cramp, put the spoon on
the cramp and it will uncramp instantly. No kidding! Wear socks to bed
(heavy or light, both are effective) and you'll never have another leg
cramp. Rebecca from New Zealand writes; "Keep a wine cork handy and
grip it when a leg cramp occurs. Alternatively, keep one floating
around in the bed. Nobody knows how this works, or why it has to be a
wine cork, but this has been effective for three generations now."
Good one Rebecca! Thanks for sharing! Wallace from Clovis, NM has his
own leg cramp cure; "Place the finger directly below the nose and
press firmly against the upper lip. I used to have severe leg cramps
at night, this procedure has worked every time! Sometimes it may take
several seconds for this to be effective, but stay with it." Connie
from Jeffersonville, IN sent in this one; "For leg cramps put an old
pair of shoes under your bed up side down and you will have no more
leg cramps."

 

[phorsenuf]

When I was due with my last child I had a lot of irregular contractions. This went on for a few days. Since I was overdue they were saying I may have to be induced which I did not want because I was having a home birth. I was told at chiurch to try cod liver oil. I did and within a half hour I was in labor.

PSA on this method. Make sure you do not eat burritos when you try this!

 

[I'mNoPrince]

This is NOT an old wives tale. There is some evidence that it works, but no one is sure exactly why.

I was told it's because you move you feet ever so slightly to avoid them hitting the soap. It didn't work for me and my RLS but my Select Comfort bed sure did.

The One we used and it worked was putting a colicy baby on the dryer with a load of towel going on. I guess the heat and vibration help.

 

[Disney Doll]

The bar of soap thing probably ever-so-slightly changes your position in bed so that theposition of those muscle changes.

When I made a face, my mother used to say "If you do that too much your face will freeze that way".

If I was mad at my mother, she'd say "If you yell at me, when you die your hand will stick up out of your grave and everyone will know you were mean to your mother".

I can remember starting puberty and being told by a neighborhood girl that women weren't supposed to shower during their monthly cycle.