Give thanks for our modern remedies

Don't miss Adam Green and Megan Banks on The Hits Hawke's Bay from 6am to 9am, Monday to Friday

Everyone’s sick. Short-staffed and stressed, many businesses have signs up now: “Please be patient, like the rest of the country we are down many hands!” Even our own household has been through it with what can be only described as a brutal cold. (That’s not the man flu talking, I promise it was bad!)

It was with interest I read of the rongoa¯ (traditional Ma¯ ori medicine) garden being developed on Te Mata Peak. Tyne Nelson and the team are planning forward to an easily accessible garden where people can learn about traditional Ma¯ ori medicinal plants, and I’ll be taking a look.

There have definitely been more questionable medicinal treatments in years gone by, however, let’s take a quick look back.

The ancient Romans loved a friendly white smile as much as we do now, but instead of a quality toothpaste or some bleaching gel the preferred method was a fermented urine wash. A popular commodity for multiple uses in days gone by, leaving it to ferment a little would allow the urea to convert to ammonia and then it was gargle time.

We can be very thankful modern medicine has brought haemorrhoid cream to market, as one of the previous options was a quick visit to the local doctor to have a hot iron removed from the coals, and then the procedure . . .

Treating one disease with another sounds like a bad idea, probably because it is, but one Austrian man didn’t let that stop him when he realised malaria fever could be used to rid a patient of syphilis. However, one of the unfortunate side effects of malaria was that the patients sometimes died. Not ideal.

Look out if you had asthma in the 1740s and didn’t like carrots — one treatment thrown at that time was a fortnight on a diet of only boiled carrots. Perhaps not great for asthma, but a surefire way to lose a little weight.

If dry, chapped hands were what ailed you, one possible solution was to take a tub of sour cream, wrap it in a cloth, bury it for a day then dig it up and apply generously.

With the cost of dairy products these days it would probably be cheaper to grab yourself a nice moisturiser.

Many of us may be a little ill, but thank goodness for modern solutions.