Stomach Pains

The application of heat has long been thought to have a therapeutic effect on abdominal pain or cramps. Hot fomentations were once recommended. This involved pouring boiling water over a piece of flannel or other cloth, wringing cloth out to get rid of as much water as possible and applying it to the area to be treated, in this case the abdomen. The hot cloths has to be replaced as soon as they began to get cool, and it was recommended that a piece of flannel or a pad of cotton wool was placed over the treated area to prevent a chill. Hot bran was sometimes used as a somewhat messier alternative.

Heat is still thought to be therapeutic in cases of abdominal pain, or at least known to be a source of comfort to the sufferer. Nowadays, however, it is usually applied in more efficient manner, the patient clutching a hot-water bottle to the abdominal area or soaking in a hot bath.

Peppermint was thought to be instrumental in curing abdominal pain and spasm. Parsley, thyme, sage, cloves, chamomile and meadowsweet were thought of as cures in that they reduced spasm.

Various suggested remedies involving some kind of potion have been suggested over the centuries for this painful common disorder. In one of theses remedies a pint of milk was heated and given to the patient after four tablespoons of brandy have been added to it.

Another involved boiling a handful of betony in white wine, straining this and giving it to the patient to drink. A hot drink containing cinnamon is another traditional remedy, and a mixture using parsley seeds was sometimes administered.

A traditional charm to keep abdominal pain and colic at bay was a hare's foot with the joint still in it. One of the people who believed that carrying such a charm would keep him pain-free and flatulence-free was the seventeenth-century diarist Samuel Pepys.

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