Q Do you have a home remedy for illness that you swear by?
Having read the Post's article 'Parents not careful with sick children' yesterday and being confronted with the Talkback question, I am left perplexed. Perhaps I misread the article. Perhaps I misread the question. Perhaps whoever wrote the question didn't read the article, for the point of the article is to call into question the wisdom and effectiveness of home remedies that the question then asks us to share.
I would have expected one of the following: When should parents seek a second (or third, fourth, and fifth) opinion from a new doctor? How can we better educate parents (and domestic helpers) on when to seek formal medical care? Should parents be held criminally liable if they fail to seek timely medical care for their child or injure their child through misuse of previously prescribed drugs?
Any of these questions (and likely many others) would have been preferable to the solicitation of every potentially dubious home remedy. This becomes quite dangerous, in fact, when you consider that herbal remedies may work through similar chemical compounds as those found in drugs resulting in the potential for an overdose if you use both.
Which home remedy do I swear by? I have a well-worn copy of the American Medical Association's Family Medical Guide which helps to remedy my medical ignorance when confronted with sickness and symptoms in my children that I don't understand. When it says 'seek medical advice', we do. When it says 'Urgent!', we go to the hospital.
Beyond that, I will studiously ignore other responses to the Post's question that might have me basting my daughter with Jack Daniels, exposing her to as many illnesses as possible so she can become a pro-basketball player, feeding her this or that weed, or liberally applying leeches to suck out the bad humours. I'd encourage others to do the same.