This post is part of our Home Remedy Handbook, a tour of the landscape of home remedies from the iffy to the doctor-approved. Read more here.
Some of what we think of as time-tested home remedies are actually bad ideas. Doctors no longer recommend that parents keep syrup of ipecac in the medicine cabinet, and it’s been a long time since anybody except your grandma recommended butter for a burn. Read on for home remedies that can actually make you sick—or worse.
Syrup of ipecac
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This used to be a first-aid kit staple. Families were told to keep a bottle of ipecac around to induce vomiting in case of accidental poisoning. But the National Capital Poison Center says that ipecac is not a good remedy for poison, and they no longer recommend using it.
Some substances will do additional harm on the way up, like if a child swallowed something caustic. But even when used appropriately, ipecac didn’t seem to help: People were just as likely to get sick with or without ipecac-induced vomiting. And what’s more, sometimes ipecac would keep people vomiting for a while after the poison was gone. This could make it impossible to take medication to deal with symptoms of the poisoning, for example.
Ipecac is no longer available for sale, either prescription or over-the-counter.
Egg whites or butter for burns
As a kid, I remember watching a Tom and Jerry cartoon where Jerry (the mouse) burns his butt as a result of some wacky hijinx. He sits down on a stick of butter at the dinner table, and as the butter melts his face shows blissful relief. My parents couldn’t let this pro-butter message stand unchallenged: “Never put butter on a burn,” I recall one, or probably both, of them telling me. (Now you know where I got my debunking reflex.)
It’s time to expand that advice a bit: You shouldn’t put butter on burns, nor should you use egg whites. In fact, just keep food off your burns, OK? Egg whites can contain Salmonella. Butter can trap heat in your skin at exactly the time you should be running it under cold water to cool it off. Both are full of, well, crud. Do you want crud in your burn? You do not.
Breast milk as a cure-all
If you are the one producing the breast milk, and you’re applying it to your own baby’s rash or something while the milk is fresh, you get a pass. For everybody else, my god, what are you doing?
Breast milk is sometimes suggested as a cure-all for rashes, cuts, burns, warts, pink eye, and more. But let’s not forget that breast milk is a bodily fluid from another human being. It can carry many of the same diseases as blood or other bodily fluids. And if you get a bottle of it from a friend, and then aren’t careful about properly storing it in the refrigerator, you could increase the chances of bacterial growth. That’s not going to help your pink eye at all.
Arnica tea
If you want to use a little arnica salve on a bruise, fine by me. (It may or may not do anything, but it probably won’t hurt.)
But when taken in large doses, for example as a tea, it can be dangerous. Arnica can prevent blood clotting, and it’s dangerous to take if you are also taking blood thinners or if you are planning to have surgery. The Poison Control Center says:
Arnica should not be taken with other medications or herbal products that can thin the blood like aspirin, clopidogrel, warfarin, enoxaparin, apixaban, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, ginger, garlic, or ginseng, to name a few. If you are taking Arnica and you have an upcoming surgery, let your surgeon know and stop taking the Arnica at least 2 weeks before the procedure. If you aren’t sure if it is safe to take Arnica with your daily medications, ask your pharmacist to check for interactions.
Arnica gel may also be harmful if applied to broken skin, and can cause skin irritation. Arnica is also considered unsafe to take during pregnancy.
Vinegar compresses
Vinegar may seem like a harmless remedy, especially since we use it all the time for cleaning toilets and making salad dressings. But on the skin, it can cause irritation and even burns.
The Poison Control Center reports that a baby was treated with vinegar compresses for a fever, leaving him with first-degree burns on his neck, shoulders, and back. They also relate a case of a woman who used a vinegar poultice on a twisted ankle, and ended up with burns severe enough to require skin grafts.
Oysters to induce a miscarriage
Terminating a pregnancy is getting harder and harder in our current legal climate, leading to desperate hopes like using toxic home remedies to induce an abortion.
A milder approach, one might guess, is to follow the opposite of advice for a healthy pregnancy. You’re supposed to avoid eating row oysters when you’re pregnant, for example, because of the risk of miscarriage. But the Poison Control Center reports that toxoplasmosis, the disease you’re avoiding when you avoid eating oysters, can lead to liver damage and brain damage in addition to miscarriage.
Teething gel
Babies get cranky as their teeth are growing in, and it’s hard to watch them deal with the pain. Frozen washcloths and popsicles are a good way to help relieve their pain, but topical medications containing benzocaine are not.
The FDA has issued warnings saying that children under the age of 2 should not use products with benzocaine, like Anbesol and Orajel. They can cause a rare condition called methemoglobinemia, in which a person’s blood can no longer carry enough oxygen. Adults can also get this condition, especially if they are elderly or have heart problems or breathing problems. Oh, and by the way: The FDA says the gels don’t seem to help babies feel any better, anyway.
St. John’s Wort and other herbal remedies
If you’re taking an herbal remedy because you think it might do something, you have to recognize that you are taking a medicine. And medicines can interact with each other, and can sometimes have effects on your body that you weren’t expecting.
St. John’s Wort is one of these. It can interact with birth control, making it less effective. It can do the same for antidepressants, which is ironic because people often take the herb to help with depression. Other medications known to have interactions with this herb include statins, heart medications like digoxin, and a variety of other medicinal and recreational drugs.
I’m calling out St. John’s Wort here because it’s common and has so many known interactions, but any herb you’re taking for its medicinal properties should be treated as a medicine. Make sure to ask your doctor and/or pharmacist about potential side effects and interactions.
Hydrogen peroxide for cuts
If you were taught to pour hydrogen peroxide on a wound (and watch for the exciting fizz reaction), I’m sorry to report that you were taught wrong. While it’s true that hydrogen peroxide can kill germs, it turns out that it also kills some of our body’s own immune cells. These cells are responsible for healing, so using peroxide may actually interfere with the healing of the wound. Experts say it’s best to flush the wound with plain water and cover it with a clean bandage.
Baking soda for stomach troubles
Baking soda is alkaline (the opposite of acidic) and is sometimes used as a remedy for heartburn or stomach troubles. But baking soda can make gastrointestinal issues worse, and in extreme cases, can lead to stomach rupture.
Chemically, baking soda is known as sodium bicarbonate. The body responds to the high concentration of sodium by pulling in extra water into the digestive system. This can cause vomiting and diarrhea. If a large amount of sodium gets absorbed into the bloodstream, it can cause seizures, dehyrdation, and kidney problems.
And then there is the bicarbonate. If you’ve ever dumped baking soda and vinegar down your sink drain, you may see why it’s not a good idea to mix baking soda and stomach acid inside your body. In severe cases, the gas can expand so much that it causes stomach rupture.
If you have been given specific instructions from a doctor about how to use bicarbonate, follow those instructions; they should keep you safe. But if you just want a cheap, easy stomach-settler at home, get yourself a bottle of Tums insetad.