Symptoms and Remedies Among Polish Americans
Gastrointestinal Problems
Symptom Remedy
Colic Tea—peppermint or chamomile Sugar, water, vinegar, and soda; makes soda water Bess-plant tea Homemade sauerkraut
Constipation Epsom salts—teaspoon in water—cleans out stomach Cascara Castor oil Senna-leaf tea
Cramps Chamomile tea Diarrhea Paregoric
Cinnamon tea Dried blueberries Coffee beans—to be chewed
Gas Soda water Indigestion Aloes vulgaris—juniper and elderberries
Peppermint and spearmint teas Blackberries
HEALTH and ILLNESS in the White Populations ■ 337
Respiratory Problems
Symptom Remedy
Cold Castor oil—mentholatum Flaxseed or mustard poultice on chest Dried raspberries and tea with wine Mustard plaster Oatmeal poultices—hot bricks to feet Cupping Camphor salve Oxidine Goose fat—rub on chest
Cough Honey and hot water; bedrest Hot lemonade with whiskey; honey Few drops of turpentine and sugar “Gugel Mugel”—warm milk with butter, whiskey, and honey Honey and warm milk Milk with butter and garlic Mustard plaster Linden tea Onion poultice
Croup Few drops of kerosene and sugar Sore throat Honey
Warm water, salt—gargle Goose grease around throat covered with dry rag Paint throat with kerosene Goose fat in milk
Physical Injury
Symptom Remedy
Burns Aloe vera Cuts Vinegar, water, flour paste
Clean with urine Carbolic salve
Puncture wounds (nail)
Turpentine and liniment Salt pork—put on wound and soak the wound in hot water Hunt’s lightning oil
Frostbite Snow—put on frozen area Scratches, sores Liniment
Moss Spider webs
Sprains Liniments—Sloan’s Volcanic
Miscellaneous Problems
Symptom Remedy
Earache Hot-water-bottle to ear Camphor on cotton—place in ear
Fever Chamomile tea
(continued)
338 ■ Chapter 13
matter. It contains 10.5% alcohol and various herbs such as peppermint, cape aloes, oil of juniper, and buchu leaves incorporated into a syrup. The alcohol is used for the purpose of preserving the ingredients (Figure 13–7).
Health Care Problems
The Polish community has not tended to have any major problems with health care deliverers. Language may be a barrier if members of the older generation
Miscellaneous Problems
Symptom Remedy
Flu Novak Oil—rub on head Knorr’s Green Drops
Headache Vinegar—on a cloth, apply to head Steam kettle—cover head and inhale
High blood pressure
Cooked garlic Garlic oil
Lice Kerosene—cover hair with kerosene Toothache Hot salt compress Neuralgia Bedrest Pyorrhea Yarrow tea Rheumatism Lemon juice—rub on sore places Trouble urinating Juice of pumpkin seeds made into a tea
Swamp Root medicine
Source: Spector, R. E. (1983). A description of the impact of Medicare on health-illness beliefs and practices of White ethnic senior citizens in Central Texas. Ph.D. diss. University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International. Reprinted with permission.
Table 13–4 ILLNESS Symptoms and Remedies among Polish Americans (continued)
Figure 13–7 Swamp Root.
HEALTH and ILLNESS in the White Populations ■ 339
do not speak English, and the taking of health histories is complicated when the providers cannot communicate directly with the informant. Again, prob- lems may develop when there is difficulty finding someone who is conversant in Polish whom the informant can trust to reveal personal matters and who can translate medical terms accurately.
In Poland, there is a shortage of medical supplies, so the people tend to use faith healers and believe in miracle workers. On the main street of Warsaw, all sorts of folk medicine and miracle-worker paraphernalia are on sale: divin- ing rods, cotton sacks filled with herbs to be worn over an ailing heart or liver, coils of copper wire to be placed under food to rid it of poisons, and pendulums (Letter from Poland, 1983).
■ Health Status of the White Population There are countless health status indicators wherein the White cohort of the population differs from the total population, each of the racial groups, and His- panics. In each of the preceding 4 chapters, there has been a table comparing the relevant group and all races. In this chapter, it is appropriate to compare the White non-Hispanic population to the total population (Table 13–5) and also to all races (Table 13–6). In spite of the fact that only 13 health indicators