What's your best 'home remedy'?

Recycling bin, I hope, frida!

feverfew leaves as a cure for migraine. This herb/plant has changed my life.

Champagne cocktail as an antidepressant

Galen

Thanks Galen, it's always good to have medical advice from you

My mum always made a soap and sugar bandage for cuts and grazes that were beginning to go sceptic. Mix the two ingredients into a paste, spread paste on bandage/large plaster, cover over night - wake up cured in the morning.

My MiL's cure for a cold was to boil an onion in milk and then drink the milk - I think that just the thought would cure my colds!

Elderberry cordial for colds.

Turmeric is very good for skin complaints and infections.

Toothpaste on spots.

Gentian violet for wounds that don't want to heal.
You can still get it here, I think it's banned in the UK.

What memories gentian violet brings back, I had forgotten all about it. I worked for a time with children in a very deprived area and scabies was still around and the sight of those poor children covered in purple was so sad and very distressing for them as everyone avoided them.

Do feverfew leaves help the migraines stop coming in the first place amarmai?

Jane turmeric tea seems to soothe my (minor) arthritic finger joints in a day or two.

I also read an interview with Michael Caine a while ago where he credits turmeric for his good health (as he has an Asian wife, the interview said, it often featured in cooking).

yes soontobe-if you chew and swallow 1 or 2 leaves as soon as the symptoms begin.

Grannyknot, do you make the tea with turmeric powder?

Yes I do I am, roughly a flat teaspoon full. I add it to a chai tea, it is quite palatable. And I'm still old-fashioned enough not to expect medicine to taste good as well as do good

I know Galen that your tongue was in your cheek 're the champagne cocktail, but a step back before medicalising misery is not a bad idea and I know you'd probably prescribe a cruise to go with the cocktail .

I remember years ago when I was studying, going to the Student Counsellor for stress and he advised me to "spend more time in the Refectory and less time in the library". It worked.

I will be getting some feverfew.

Yes to feverfew, it works but it's vile. I think it's best in a little sandwich.

When I was younger I used to get very sick migraine headaches,because of the sickness I couldn't keep any tablets down.My OH persuaded me to let a Victory V Lozenge dissolve on my tongue, whatever the ingredients of the lozenges were- it worked and seemed to settle my tum then I could try to deal with the headaches. I used this remedy for a number of years until the migraines stopped.But I still keep them in my first aid box.

Another thread about urine being good for the face. I don't know about that one but I have used it for athlete's foot, which it cured. I do wish I had known about this in my teens as I suffered for a long time with it and had many sleepless nights with itchy feet.

Urine was also supposed to be a perfect treatment for chilblains but, although I suffered from them all winter when I was younger, I never quite plucked up the courage to try. I suppose in these days of fitted carpets and central heating, chilblains are a thing of the past so a jug of pee is no longer necessary.

Actually, it's also just occurred to me that thrashing chilblains with nettles was also supposed to treat them. I certainly never tried that and am very dubious about it. Perhaps it was like running a lighted match up and down a badly injured bare-knuckle fighter's back – it took his mind off the other pain.

Local honey, lemon juice and grated ginger for sore throats. Lemon balm and rosemary infusion for 'nerves', again from the garden.