My mother goes on and on about vinegar.  It has helped me a lot with antbites.  I just rub over the bite and within a few minutes it stops hurting.  It also usually does not leave a mark if I do it right away.   She drinks vinegar and water everyday and is 74 now without any health problems. She swears it cures everything. Cindy Z

Ant Bites- and other stings/bites: raw potato, finely grated, applied to a sting or bite, will reduce or remove swelling, and pulls the sting from the wound. Also works on spider bites, including black widow and Brown recluse- the potato will literally "suck" the poison into itself.  vixaenblue

I have terrible reactions to red ant bites... Ammonia does help a lot, but what really does the trick is "tea tree oil!"  Works wonderful!  Lori

During an outdoor gathering, a friend of ours was stung by a wasp. It was very painful for him. His wife took plain toothpaste and rubbed it on the sting and amazingly enough it took the pain away immediately. So while my husband was building our deck he was stung by a yellow jacket and complained that it hurt. Thinking back to my friend using toothpaste on her husband's bee sting, I rubbed some on my husband's bee sting and it too took the pain away immediately! I understand that any brand of toothpaste will work. So now I keep a tube nearby while outdoors.  Terri Huston

Having just read through the remedies for wasp stings I was amazed no one had mentioned Adolf’s Meat Tenderizer.  I have a severe allergic reaction to wasp stings – mostly the Paper Wasp which is commonly mistaken for the Yellow Jacket.  My lungs swell and I can’t breath – needless to say this is life threatening. The last time I had this situation occur a very young Doctor (after giving me an anti-venom shot) told me to always carry a small package of Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer with me everywhere I went.  He stated to me that the chemicals in the tenderizer that dissolve proteins in meat would neutralize the proteins in the venom.  So I put some in my car, my boat, saddle bag on my motorcycle and a small plastic baggie (rings come in them) in my wallet.  In the last 10 years I have been stung at least 8 times and never had to go for another shot to relieve the allergic symptoms.  The key is within the first two minutes apply moisture (saliva, water, tea, coffee or anything moist - I even tried Dr Pepper once) to wet the arrea and apply enough of the powder to create a paste over the bite.  I have not had any allergic symptoms and very little irritation every time.

Almost 50% of patients with suspected hymenoptera allergy turn out to be sensitized to both honeybee and yellow jacket venom. In two recent studies, protein-bound carbohydrate was shown to be a major, but not the only, cause for the simultaneous reactivity of patients with honeybee and yellow jacket venoms.  Larry L. Goeller
 

A kind reader sent additional information for this one.  He/she writes:
I still use this stuff.

New name:
Ichthammol Ointment 20%
Mfg. Goldline Labs
Miami FL
Removes splinters, good on bug bites, Tick bites

I put on Tincture of Iodine and than Ichthammol Ointment on a Band-Aid for a few days. Haven't had lyme disease sense I started doing this. Had it two times before, But, Maybe I just have immunity or been lucky.  Talpaulfl

I have used raisins to draw a boil when I didn't have anything else..Just tape a few raisins over the spot and in the morning the boil should be gone...I assume dried prunes would work also ..You should break the skin on the raisins or the prunes to get maximum drawing power....Diane

Make a paste of shavings from  a bar of soap, sugar and water.  Place the paste on the boil and cover with a  band-aid (best to do at bed time). It will come to a head by  morning. LavenderDream55

My Brazilian wife swears by an old South American indian remedy for minor burns. Urine. If  burned, just put some urine (preferably your own) on the burn and it will prevent blistering and take away most of the sting.  Tom J.

The best thing I have found id Bag Balm for burns; it works well on cuts and dry, cracked skin too. It takes the pain away quickly and heals without a scar or a small scar if the burn was deep. Bag Balm is what farmers use on cow teats to keep them soft, supple and clean. Maggie Plasker

This cure was completely by accident. My mom and I were frying some fish for dinner, and the bread crumbs were building up on the bottom of the pan. So I went to scoop out the crumbs from the oil with a spoon. Somehow the oil rolled backwards down my thumb. I was burned on my entire thumb. I sat down tto make a salad, dipping my thumb in and out of ice water, but when I started to peel the cucumber, I noticed the burning has stopped. So I peeled long slices of the cucumber, wrapped it around my thumb and covered it with gauze. 2 hours later, when everyone came for dinner, I took off the wrap. There were no blisters, no pain. Only a very faint pink mark...and no scar.  Denise T.

For burns I use carbolic salve or plastic wrap. I do cool the burn and rinse it with cold water first, then I apply either/or. Valerie R.

One other thing we noticed is with burns.  I know someone who had a 3rd degree burn and the skin has never properly attached to the leg after being burned.  After taking garlic for a month the skin is starting to attach to the underlying tissue.  This whole thing is the strangest thing I have ever seen.  I wish I knew about this sooner.  I wonder what else garlic is good for?  Debbie S.

In our family, there is a remedy for burns that has been handed down for generations and it works wonders. You take snow from the first snow that lays in March & melt it. PMake sure that it is clean snow......dont go where the huskies go. *smile* Keep it in a jug in your refrigerator until you need it. My husband was in an industrial explosion & they were afraid they were going to have to amputate his ear. We started applying snow water & the swelling went down. He doesn't even have a scar. The doctors were amazed. This was handed down by my mountain kinfolk. Dont know if it came from the Indians or not.

One remedy that I DO know came from the Indians ....... we were at a powwow several years ago. I was making fry bread when a huge wind came up and threw everything around, including my pan of boiling oil. Right in my lap, in fact. The ladies in charge of healing basted me with honey and covered it with crushed plaintain leaves to make a poultice, then they bound it to hold it in place. It took the pain away & better yet, it did not scar.  Harriet R.

Growing up my grandmother would use potatoes on a burn. Just cut it open and place the white part on the burn. When the potato gets brown cut that part off and do it again. The potato draws out the heat from the burn. I can't remember how often but it does work.  Dawn from IL

I swear by simple Vitamin C. Start taking 2000 mg a day at the very first tinge of a cold, along with Echinacea and Zinc. I rarely have a cold that becomes full-blown or lasts longer than a couple of days. And taking regular Ibuprofen  or  Acetominaphen  for a sore  throat  works  a  lot  better than  the  stuff  you  spray  down  your throat. Tiffany

At the first symptoms of a cold - the itchy sensation in the back of the nose, (or sinusitis, stuffy nose, etc.) try washing out your sinuses with a little salt and baking soda mixed in warm water.  Use a nasal pot to pour the warm water into one nostril and let it drain out the other.  Then flush the other side.  Often works for me!  Whalens

If your baby has colic just get into a hot bath with the baby.  Both of you will relax and the colic will quickly disappear.  You and the baby will be able to sleep!! Cynthia

Whenever my son was a baby and had tummy aches, bad case of colic or was just restless my mother-in-law suggested Manzanilla tea.   It is a remedy that is used in Mexican families.  When my son was a baby just a 4 oz. bottle would work like a charm and allow him to get rid of the gas and relax him enough to sleep.

 

My son is 23 yrs old now & I have just found out that Manzanilla tea is Chamomile tea! I still refer to it as Manzanilla tea and now my son uses it for his babies when they have cases of Colic. Lou R.

Pimples can be brought to a head with hot, wet, washclothes.  Don Ryan

For constipation: eat dandelion; flowers, greens, or roots dandelion, little yellow weeds that everyone seems to hate is a natural antiviral and a mild laxative.  Chas

i was constipated once, and my husband gave me warm apple juice.  A few mins later, i was in the bathroom. It really works. He got it from his grandpa.  Lori

Fletcher's Castoria;  A dark, herbal remedy that didn't taste very bad at all (as I remember) -- good for coughs or "whatever ails you".  Dennis Palmer

My mother used to mix honey in lemon juice and give as cough syrup.  I did this for my own children -- they liked it, it seemed to soothe the throat, and they could have it as often as they wanted, unlike the drug store cough syrups.  In retrospect, the vitamin C probably did some good.  Dolly Yates

My grandmother used margarine mixed with sugar as an edible cough medicine.  No particular mix; but enough sugar to make the margarine palatable.  Billie

Here is one that works.  A slice of raw sweet potato. Suck on it for a cough and the cough will go away or lessen in a few minutes.  Mike Young

Try plain honey.  Casey

THis is a remedy for a bad cough/sore throat that my mom and dad swore by and now that I'm a parent I have used it a time or to myself.  You take any kind of whiskey (my dad used Wild Turkey), mix it with honey and lemon juice then warm it.  There was never an exact measurement but of course with kids you should be a little shy on the whiskey.  It not only puts you to sleep but cures the cough & sore throat.  You can even add peppermints and let them "marinate"