Remember VICKS VAPO RUB?

L

Lon

Well-known Member
Location
Central California
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I got a whiff of it the other day and started remembering when I was a kid with a bad cold and mom swathed my chest throat and nose with VICKS, got me into flannel pajamas, wrapped my neck, had me drink hot lemonade with honey.
 

So do I Mrs. Robinson, I always have it on hand. Sometimes, when I need a quick unblocking in a really bad blocked up nasal passage, I heat up a pot of water drop some vicks in, put a towel over my head and sit for a good 15 minutes. :)
 

Still keep it on hand as well. Some times the old remedies are still the best. But I always think back to a friend who was a nursing student back in the 80's. She was about 10 years younger than me, enough to be of a different generation on many things. She insisted Vicks did not work, and the concept of rubbing it on your chest for relief was bunk. She insisted one of her instructors said it was medically impossible for it to work..because rubbing on your chest does not get it into your lungs to clear them..it cannot get through your skin to the lungs. THIS was a nursing instructor who said this!! Forget that inhaling the vapors was what made it work. Oh well. I would suspect this person still never uses it.
 
Just this morning, I went to the medicine cabinet and took out the Vicks. Had been working in the yard and was bitten on the ankle by some sort of insect. The area was itching something awful. Rubbed some Vicks on it and forgot about it until just now when I read this thread. Good ol'Vicks stopped the itching and the redness went away.
 
Believe or not,one of the nursing home residents I took care of said he would swallow a spoonful of it if he felt a cold coming on...
Just the thought of it,have me chills but he was 90+ years old and in his right mind...
Not sure I'd want to try it though
 
In order to get a cow to "adopt" an orphaned or rejected calf, a farmer can smear the cow's nose with vaporub and put the calf in a stall with the "foster mother". By the time the vaporub wears off, the calf smells like the new mother and she usually will accept it.

My mother was a big believer in the wondrous powers of Vicks Vaporub and assorted mustard plasters. She also dosed us with this horrible patent medicine made right in our city called WOW (Wonder of the World). The two active ingredients were eucalyptus oil and cajuput oil. A drop of that stuff in a spoonful of sugar would break up croup and raise the dead. It had the worst taste of anything I've ever put in my mouth....the memory of that taste will be with me to my dying day.

Then there was the "sweet oil" (whatever that was) that was warmed up and dropped into an ear for earaches. It really helped.
 
Giantsfan1954 said:
Believe or not,one of the nursing home residents I took care of said he would swallow a spoonful of it if he felt a cold coming on...
Just the thought of it,have me chills but he was 90+ years old and in his right mind...
Not sure I'd want to try it though
Click to expand...

My husband once told me his dad did that too. Must be something from that generation. I could never do it.
 
Ah...the trusty old Vicks Vaparub...I still have a tub of the stuff reposing on my table. Only half empty. It`s long since past the expiry date...but, doesn`t matter. One can continue using the stuff for just about ever...In fact, the older it actually is...the more effective it tends to be...!!
 
Giantsfan1954 said:
Believe or not,one of the nursing home residents I took care of said he would swallow a spoonful of it if he felt a cold coming on...
Just the thought of it,have me chills but he was 90+ years old and in his right mind...
Not sure I'd want to try it though
Click to expand...

Marie5656 said:
My husband once told me his dad did that too. Must be something from that generation. I could never do it.
Click to expand...

1 ditto.gif..My father did that for years!!
 
There is a warning about Vicks. You should not use it on a child under 2 years of age.

Re foot fungus. I cured mine by applying vinegar a couple of times of day and leaving it on my socks.

Vinegar is a mild acid. Lemon juice is supposed to work as well. Keeripes as we get older we rot from the bottom up just like a tree.
 
Lon said:
th
I got a whiff of it the other day and started remembering when I was a kid with a bad cold and mom swathed my chest throat and nose with VICKS, got me into flannel pajamas, wrapped my neck, had me drink hot lemonade with honey.
Click to expand...
Remember? Vicks Vapo-Rub was a household staple in our house when I was a kid, as was Absorbine Junior!
 
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