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Nan's Health Warning...1947...

Dennis Williams

Dennis Williams

Gone but not forgotten
My nan (who lived to be 102) reckoned that if you swallowed chewing gum, it wrapped itself round your heart and you could die. So we never did. Now, after 50 years in the front line of the Health Service, I can say that this is probably untrue. Can anyone confirm? Any more of these out there...?
 
I was told that as well Dennis, I did inadvertantly swallow my gum on the odd occasion but I am not worried.
 
We were also told about the eggshells. I do not know if it really was the cause but I played with eggshells and got a few warts, but they all went away with time.
 
Just in case Stitcher, the cause of warts is a virus. Human Papilloma Virus. There are over one hundred subtypes. Some cause' flat' gritty warts, some cause the harmless sessile polypy little things we usually have on face hands and body. Some of the rare ones cause, or have been linked to female cancer of the cervix, or papilloma in the bladder in males, but none are caused by exposure to albumin (egg white), or egg yolk. Just in case you were really puzzled. They are mostly all self-regulating with time, depending on the type, and everyone is in contact with the common wart viruses from their very early childhood. Part of life's rich tapestry.. Sorry to burst forth like Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, but as I started this conversation, didn't want to worry folk unduly...
 
l was always told if you drank vinegar it would dry your blood up......never thought about this while eating fish and chips though....Brenda
 
Hello Dennis, I know that now but it is amazing what we were told as kids.
 
Some truth in swallowing chewing gum being dangerous. Years ago cheap varieties at least, were based on Parrafin Wax, which will stay in your innards, wont be digested, and is impervious to whatever acids are in your stomach.

Cherry stones in school dinners is the one that always scared me, apparently you turned into a monkey if you swallowed enough !
 
I love to drink the vinegar from a bottle of pickled beetroot - used to tell the kids it was blood, and I was a secret vampire, so they had to behave when there was a full moon...

Dennis Williams said:
Sorry to burst forth like Nurse Gladys Emmanuel...
Click to expand...

I doubt that your build enables you to burst forth like that good lady, Dennis...
 
Picking Dandelions made you wet the bed ...or so we were told. My classes of pre-school children pick them all the time for flowers for us teachers and after rest time we have no wet beds.... LOL
 
..... well, after having ignored all these cautionary tales, although I need +1.5 specs for reading, my long-distance sight is nigh on perfect! David
 
..... so never, NEVER look at an eclipse of the sun without a piece of sooted glass or an old x-ray film! D.
 
I've heard most of these and like Dennis, though with not so many years in the NHS, can say that I think they are not likely.
Again like Dennis, on a bit of a soapbox for one of my areas of work,as far as the Human Papilloma Virus goes, if you have family or friends with daughters aged 12 who are eligible for the HPV vaccine, encourage them to have it, as it is one way of reducing the rates of cervical cancer - I'm sure any of the ladies on the site will appreciate how bothersome having a smear test and waiting for results can be, but this vaccine may help reduce this.
That's my lecture for today over!!!
Sue
 
sistersue61 said:
I've heard most of these and like Dennis, though with not so many years in the NHS, can say that I think they are not likely.
Again like Dennis, on a bit of a soapbox for one of my areas of work,as far as the Human Papilloma Virus goes, if you have family or friends with daughters aged 12 who are eligible for the HPV vaccine, encourage them to have it, as it is one way of reducing the rates of cervical cancer - I'm sure any of the ladies on the site will appreciate how bothersome having a smear test and waiting for results can be, but this vaccine may help reduce this.
That's my lecture for today over!!!
Sue
Click to expand...

We now have to (and do in Coventry) get results out within 14 days of having the test. May the Force be with you girls...
 
Mom said, "Don,t stand over a drain you will get the fever". She never said which fever!. Len.
 
Den, it's nigh on impossible to grip a piece of sooted glass or an x-ray film with boxing gloves on! (wink)
 
lencops said:
Mom said, "Don,t stand over a drain you will get the fever". She never said which fever!. Len.
Click to expand...

Len, she was right mate. Do you recall ( 50s ) when the River Cole went bright green from some factory (Singer?) dumping stuff in it? Now my nan said THAT would give you fever, and it was, as you know, right by the Fever Hospital as well...
 
how many brummies from the era 1957/62 did what "Lonnie Donnigan" said and put their chewing gum on the bedpost or in working class brum the chair by the bed overnight???
 
How about :
no cheese at bedtime
don't eat bananas and eggs together
Probably sound advice as they're harder to digest. Viv.
 
'If you swallow bubble gum you die'. Because I always lived in fear of my father who was an abusive bully I never dared put a put wrong. I couldn't have been more than about four or five and perhaps even younger when I swallowed bubble gum one day. I didn't dare tell anyone for fear of what would happen to me so I waited quietly for several days to die. When it didn't happen I just thought I'd been lucky. To this day, I can't abide bubble or chewing gum. Jill
 
A common one was 'don't put flowers or plants in the sick room as they take your oxygen' incredibly still believed by many today when in fact it's the complete opposite as plants give off oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide
 
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