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

izzy eckerslike said:
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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Our massive UHCW Hospital still bans them on those grounds....or is it because they can't be done with water changing and simple maintenance? Oh well, I'm retiring next month anyway, so if any Managers ARE listening in...tough, put em back on the Wards!
 
According to checking on Google I think you will find most hospitals now ban flowers on the grounds that they may harbour bugs and infections, that the water may be spilled on electrical equipment etc and that it gives nurses more work, the Nanny state strikes again !
 
izzy eckerslike said:
According to checking on Google I think you will find most hospitals now ban flowers on the grounds that they may harbour bugs and infections, that the water may be spilled on electrical equipment etc and that it gives nurses more work, the Nanny state strikes again !
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And nobody in these decisions takes the patients into account - lots of people love to see flowers and I really think it's as you say, Nanny stae!
I'm sure Dennis will agree what is needed is a return to the old-fashioned standards with proper ward cleaners and cleaning and visitors restricted no matter what their race or creed is. Also train the nurses on the ward, it's the only way to get experience, book learning and being able to write and reference just don't make a good nurse!!
Oops, another soapbox of mine lol
Sue
 
When I was little I was told 'don't eat sweets when you are on the toilet' obviously intended to mean keep your hands away from your mouth but I didn't realise that so if I went into the toilet with a sweet in my mouth I used to take it out; sit on the toilet and when I had pulled the chain I'd put the sweet back in my mouth. eek!
 
To this day, when I eat a banana I hear my mother saying

CHEW IT!!!!!!!
 
HI THERE DENNIS
Another health warning yet of todays medication publicly stated in the early fifties do not take asprins they are bad for you
and now in this century we are told to take asprins to help our hearts from heart attacks and it thinns the blood down and helps agaist hearts attacks
so thats abit of a miss you habbits aint it
my brother as been doing this for the last 12 months taking a daily dossage of asprins only to end up we severe and costanly heavy nose bleeding they had to take him to hospital last week so what are we to beleive they said in the fifties teling thenation to stop useing asprins and now they say take it daily the mindsboggles
i personaly will not take asprins at any time do you remember when you could buy aspros on a strip of paper for a six penny peice
have a headace free day every body best wishes astonian
 
Hi Alan. I know what you mean. I don't take ANY drug unless it is strictly necessary (like my Diabetic ones). EVERY drug is a foreign substance and has to be dealt with by your kidneys or liver. My preferred recreational drugs are beer and wine. Tobacco has been foresworn. That's enough, I do not take aspirin or statins for so called 'preventative' measures, as IN MY CASE the risk is minimal and the damage can be quite nasty (like your Bro). Good luck with your eye procedures by the way? If it is cataracts it will be easy peasy. You will be fine and it doesn't hurt much either!! Trust me. I'm a Brummie.
 
My in-laws used to tell my wife that Ice Lollies were made from canal water so she didnt want one ! The ice cream van chimes were greeted with `oh listen. Its the cuckoo` !
 
My daughter tells me that the reason flowers are not allowed is because of the water carrying something or other. My mother in law has just spent a month in Dudley Road (Oops, City Hospital, sorry!) where the wards were very clean, the patients were in tidy beds and all patients were obviously regularly toileted - said daughter is a Band 7 nurse who did her training at Walsgrave. City Hospital has ceased to have contract cleaners and now have their own employed by the hospital, which possibly explains the fact that it is much cleaner than it was three years ago. Mother in law is now in West Heath, and although cleanliness is not too bad, it seems very untidy, but that may be the layout of the building.

Sue - my daughter would agree with you entirely. When she decided at age 20 to go into nursing, she had the opportunity of RGN at Walsgrave or the famous Project 2000 at Burton. She took the former because she wanted hands on nursing. She would agree with you about restrictions on visitors and she said that no-one dare put a coat on the bed on her ward - something she was very hot on. She is now working in the community, but misses the nursing on the ward.
 
Remeber we were told not to cross our eyes as we would stick like that.......was l the only one who used to do that....but my eyes never got stuck.....Brenda
 
Never swallow any fruit pips or stones else you'll have a tree grow out of the top of your head!!
 
If you have hiccups hold a fork in your lips and take deep breaths or get some one to thump you on the back, i don`t think they worked the hiccups stopped in time. Len.
 
One Doctor once said to me, " no one goes to Hospital to get well - they go to get treated. You go home to get well" - Miriam.
 
Another common one of hers, and which should be tattooed on the backside of every civil liberties lawyer, and all those folk that haunt this Island with the specific intent of being "affronted and outraged (and correspondingly rewarded)" by innocuous teasing....Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you"...
 
I remember the sticks and stones , Dennis, though nowadays one might make an addition to read: Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you, indeed , if you are a "celebrity" they will give you free publicity...
 
My Nan used to insist that drinking a little water out of the 'wrong'side of a cup was the only reliable cure for hiccups! It worked for me quite often but I think I was so focussed on not pouring the water up my nose or down my neck that I forgot the hiccups.
 
Hello Eutrino. I always take 'a spoonful of vinegar' for hiccups - it works for me.

Still having emails returned to me. Miriam.
 
Pomgolian said:
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
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One of the old names for ‘dandelion’ was ‘wet-a-bed’ - and with some cause, as they were once frequently used in medicine as a diuretic. They also have an amazingly therapeutic effect upon dodgy gallbladders.
 
Alberta said:
Rubbing a gold wedding ring on a stye on your eye can cure it, well so my gran said.
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Well you can/could buy golden eye ointment. Dont know if it had any gold in it, but it seemd to work. I did hear the wedding ring trick too.
 
Pissenlit (wet the bed) or dents de lion (lions teeth) are French names for dandelion. You can see from where the English name originated.
Young leaves (never from roadsides where they will be contaminated) are nice in salad or with fried bacon. :)
 
Radiorails said:
Pissenlit (wet the bed) or dents de lion (lions teeth) are French names for dandelion. You can see from where the English name originated.
Young leaves (never from roadsides where they will be contaminated) are nice in salad or with fried bacon. :)
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There is even a mild culinary version that you can plant from bought seed, which doesn’t have quite such a bitter taste.
 
Dennis Williams said:
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...?
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Yes, we all panicked a bit when we swallowed chewing gum in the 50's. I like the other contributor telling us that gum included a paraffin ingredient which could cause problems. I'd have never had any had I known - or would I ? I remember a lot of the sayings on these pages, now that I've been reminded. It's a wonder we ever went out to play with all the problems we could have succumbed to !

" A face a long as Livery St" I am sure has been quoted on these pages. I never really knew its meaning until I found myself having to walk the long straight line of Livery St in later life. I am sure earlier in history the view from the top (in town) would have given the impression of a very long road leading to the country side. Rather like the wonderful painting of the revolts on Newhall Hill.

My Mum never swore but preferred to use the term "Oh, come up some Sunday" if she was annoyed with a situation that had arisen and had led to an argument. Mum was from Harborne so that may be the reason!! More than likely its a reference to the other person in the argument to attend church for Sunday service with Mum to ask for forgiveness - though Mum was a lapsed Catholic mass attendee, she hung on to Catholic beliefs.
 
My nan would say “don’t sit on the step, the cold will shoot up your back, straight to your kidneys”.
 
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