I was talking to my dad today about product placement in movies which led to talking about soda, then to ginger ale, then to drinking ginger ale when sick. He told me that when he was 5 or 6 he had some sort of stomach problem and the doctor told my grandma to give him coca-cola.
Anyone know why coke would be prescribed? (this was in the 50's mind you)
Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :
Some doctors used to prescribe Coca-Cola syrup. When talking to a Coke rep back when the hotel I used to work for switched from Pepsi, he talked a bit about it. Apparently, Coke still makes the syrup for medicinal use.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
carbonated sodas are also good for flushing out clogged feeding tubes.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Did this take place in the South? I know that when I lived in Georgia, coke was the fix-all.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Nope, Waterloo, NY.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
It is still used today as a nausea remedy. Works great on hang-over associated nausea. When I worked at the Red Cross, we gave room temperature Coke when donors got dizzy (cold liquids would make it worse) and it helps!
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
In Michigan it's Vernors, a type of ginger ale.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I always thought the remedy was flat Coke.
My grandmother said that her mother used to burn toast and put it in a glass of water, and they would drink the water. Yum! Almost as good as the vinegar-honey-warm water concoction she would make me drink when I had a tickle cough. The worst part of that was that it worked. Ew.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I'm not ancient, but when I was a kid, my pediatrician would prescribe syrup of Coca Cola for tummy troubles. Mommy would mix it with some water. Then she figured this was the same as flat Coke, so she just gave us kids that, instead (since it is much easier to find a bottle of Coke than to get the syrup)
Either that or ginger ale.
Posted by Treason (Member # 7587) on :
I always thought they said to drink coke when you had stomach troubles because it made you burp and then you felt a little better.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: Almost as good as the vinegar-honey-warm water concoction she would make me drink when I had a tickle cough. The worst part of that was that it worked. Ew.
Try lemon juice and honey instead. Works just as well, IME, and not nearly as disgusting.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I agree.
My dad's mom diagnosed their mumps by handing them a cup of vinegar and saying, "Here, drink this." If they spit it out or made a face and said, "Ewww!", they had a cold with a bad sore throat. If they collapsed on the floor screaming in pain, she called the doctor and kept them away from the younger ones because they had mumps.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
quote:If they collapsed on the floor screaming in pain, she called the doctor and kept them away from the younger ones because they had mumps.
I'd rather I just be taken to the doctor to begin with!
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
Coke for upset stomachs!?
Your parents are all communists.
Everyone knows that Sprite is the proper rememdy for an upset stomach. Jeez.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Sprite mixed half & half with orange juice. And saltines.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
flat sprite for an upset stomach, coke for a head ache.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Nope. Coke for all disorders of the bowels. It settles your stomach so you can keep stuff down.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:I'd rather I just be taken to the doctor to begin with!
Yes, but that costs money, and she had six kids and not enough money.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Yea I figured as much. Still makes me shudder.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
I hate natural cures or indicators. They're so terribly painful and make me feel even sicker.
<------has a rural German farmer grandmother
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
Very good for nausea.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
I know many women who will drink coke or pepsi when they have cramps - much cheaper than Pamprin and like that, and they all have the same active ingredient - caffeine. When I used to be able to do caffeine (I've gotten horribly sensitive to it), it worked for me.
Oh, and KQ, when I was a kid, it was pickles and mumps - if you couldn't eat the pickle, you had mumps. I suppose it's the same theory as the vinegar, but I've never had mumps, so I don't know if that works.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
What is mumps, really? I don't think it's so common anymore, eh?
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
I just sat at my computer and grinned about a happy happy visit to the doctor's office about 10 years ago when they stuck a needle in my arm.
I don't know exactly what measles mumps or rubella entail but I won't be getting them.
Sounds nasty, KQ.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Ah, vaccinations. The ultimate bragging tool.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Mumps is, IIRC, an infection that attacks the salivary glands. The reason she gave vinegar is because it causes you to salivate suddenly; if you had mumps, you would then collapse in pain.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Jeez, that's awful.
Posted by Epictetus (Member # 6235) on :
Here's the description from Wikipedia.
quote: Coca-Cola was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time thanks to a belief that carbonated water was good for the health. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured myriad diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. The first sales were made at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886, and for the first eight months only nine drinks were sold each day. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal.
Personally, I've always used it as a kind of last resort to headaches, like when I'm at school without any pain medications in sight.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Didn't Coca-cola used to have cocaine in it?
-pH
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by pH: Didn't Coca-cola used to have cocaine in it?
Ahhh. I was watching that thing on the History Channel about cocaine the other day, but I missed what they said about Coca-cola.
-pH
Posted by RackhamsRazor (Member # 5254) on :
My boyfriend swears by coco-cola. I think he drinks far too much of it but he said when he was little that is what he was supposed to drink b/c of his stomach problems.
Posted by ctm (Member # 6525) on :
My mom thenurse was just telling us that they used to give coca-cola syrup for diarrhea! She said just a small amount, like a teaspoon or so.
I've always found Coke to be the best cure for my migraines.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
In Honduras and Guatemala, Coca-Cola forms an important part of the folk medicine, almost as important as fresh lemon. For miscellaneous stomach complaints, they recommend drinking half a bottle of Coke, then dropping an Alka-Seltzer in the bottle, and drinking the rest.
Yes, this is extremely nasty. However, you try telling a 60-year old native matriarch that you refuse to take her medical advice.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
My mom was prescribed cola when she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, to keep her energy level up while they tried to find the right amounts of synthetic thyroid hormone to give her.
Posted by hiro1000 (Member # 6905) on :
Coke, water What?
When i ever get sick i would drink a nice shot galss or 2 of rakia, which is a serb kind of vodka. Works everytime. Burns like hell too. Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by pH: Didn't Coca-cola used to have cocaine in it?
How else do you think our illustrious ancestors managed to get up at 4 AM and milk the cow, haul water from the creek, chop firewood, and walk five miles to school (uphill, both ways) in waist-deep snow?
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
Tante: Ahhhh. See, we're not lazy nowadays. We're just not all cokeheads anymore.
And I think if I took shots of vodka while sick, it would make me more sick. I mean, it would probably make a sore throat burn more, and I'd think an upset stomach would be more upset.
I like Chicken McNuggets and Powerade, especially for the upset stomach.
-pH
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
I almost never drink soda, but when I have a migraine I'll wash the painkillers down with a can of Pepsi to make it work faster.
Alcohol makes most things worse, except a cold. For that a screwdriver is just the thing.
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And saltines.
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