It sounds very interesting (the health camp, I mean)! I have to admit that the cheapness and effectiveness of it appeals to the student in me! Going to back Bulgarianlily, I didn't know that lemon and honey was bad for your throat. I always get the Boots equivalent of Lemsip when I have a sore throat too.

I've never - ever - heard that one before! My Gran's patent honey Lemon and Glycerine cough syrup used as a cordial with hot water is the first thing I make for when my throat starts going... (often followed by a hot whiskey! ) and I can't honestly say it's ever appeared to do a stick of harm - and it does ease the pain.

gargling with salt water is a good one, but you have to have the skil for gargling without letting any slip down your throat!

What is the medical truth behind EBD's obsessions on milk? Specifically related to Joey and her lungs... as a child, I developed Bronchitis and had weak lungs for a good fifteen years after that. From that first bronchitis, for a number of years, my Gran transferred me off dairy products as much as possible (we had goats, so I got goat milk instead) - and even later on when I was back on dairy, if I got so much as a cold, she had me off all dairy until I was well over it. She said, and it's been my experience since, that dairy in general will worsen catarrh problems, which are bad enough as it is with any cough related problem.

So why feed the child who's prone to coughing fits, coughs and more serious lung complaints, something that will only make them worse?

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"...but remember for your guidance in hours of peril, that the soul of man is unconquerable; no pain, no ignominy from without, can ever crush or smirch it, however much spirit and flesh may suffer." Far Away Moses

We always glug down lemon/honey/glycerine/whisky & hot water when we have colds - it makes you feel a lot better which is surely half the battle? but my granny's other remedy was treacle posset, which (I think) was hot milk poured onto a spoonful of golden syrup and stirred.

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http://nicolaslade.wordpress.com/

The honey is fine, it's the lemon that is damaging. Voice coaches urge hot water and honey on actors who need to perform despite the lack of a voice. And the salt water gargling too.....And if all else fails just before you go on stage you swallow a raw egg to coat the vocal folds.....

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Cestina's dolls houses - Open at last!

Yuck! That sounds like a recipe for chucking up on stage to me.

To me too, I think I'd damage my cords more when I threw up than the good I'd have done by coating them.

Ah but remember the power of the drug adrenaline that performing induces - nothing else matters but the fact that you HAVE to go on stage. What happens afterwards (total collapse!) is another matter......

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Cestina's dolls houses - Open at last!

Does adrenaline have any effect on the gag reflex?

Hmm, possibly not but in this case the reflex is only a habit because you know how disgusting the thing is you are attempting to swallow so it can therefore be overcome.....try imagining you are swallowing the most delectable of chocolate concoctions.....

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Cestina's dolls houses - Open at last!

I should have tried that - not the egg, but the salt-water gargling - the day I had to preach with no voice at all! Luckily someone else was able to take the rest of the service for me, but I was whispering into the microphone in the best traditions of a crooner....

I hope I never have to... but I'm in a play in three weeks' time, so who knows what might happen...

I've heard that milk can aggravate catarrh - and we were told to take the kids [and ourselves for that matter] totally off dairy during a stomach upset.

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Find tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.

Cutting teeth not hurting, PMT 'imaginary'?? Who comes up with this rubbish! I can remember cutting teeth hurting and I would love to see a man cope with a period and then tell me PMT etc is imaginary!

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I am an optimist. The glass isn't half full or half empty: it has liquid in it, so the question is, what kind of liquid, and what can be done with it?

I'm cutting wisdom teeth at the moment and it is VERY sore!

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euphrosyna.net

At least you are! Mine has been half out for about a year now, with intermittent periods of toothache for up to weeks a time then nothing for a while - goodness knows how long it will take...

In fairness to men (she says, in a very quiet voice) I've never really done the whole PMT thing, at least that I'm conscious of - so while that doesn't make it 'imaginary' in the slightest, it might be why some men, who have contact with women like that, think it! (That and "women's problems" getting you anywhere )

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"His distinguished air, his handsome dark face, his composed attitude - for he stood perfectly still with one hand at his side - gave singular effect to the circumstance of his being without a hat." - 'Tales of Angria'

Well, and the fact also that pain is a very subjective thing, and people's pain tolerances and physical characteristics vary wildly. The childbirth experience, for example, differs greatly from woman to woman, and even from birth to birth - I was lucky enough to have pretty easy birthing experiences, but that doesn't negate someone else's horrific experiences. However, many people do seem to be of the mindset that if THEY didn't experience horrible pain and complications, there's no reason why anyone ELSE should, and the fact that they did was either their fault, or their imagination, or both.

I have a friend who's had a lot of horrible health problems, as well as many accidents, and she's categorized the degree of pain she experiences to a very precise range - eg. Doctor: "On a scale from 1 to 10, how bad is the pain?" Her: "Well, this pain is less than the pain from a dislocated vertebra, but more than the pain from a soft tissue injury in the jaw caused by a car crash." When you think of it, pain on a scale from 1 to 10 IS kind of silly unless you have a range of things to compare it to!

Doing midwifery training, one of our tutors told us about a friend of hers who had had appendicitis and appendicectomy. AHe had very little pain post-op, and from this learned that it was a relatively painless procedure and that in the future she would be more robust with patients of hers having such surgery. It's a very odd conclusion to come to, in my opinion. Although ... having had long years of ill-health and lots of surgery myself I tend to find my sympathies and empathies going in the opposite direction. But at least that way none of my patients would be in too much pain ...

I believe beaten raw egg is a vital ingredient in chocolate mousse...

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If sparkly vampires are impaled on a wooden stake do they bleed glitter?

But isn't the whole point of the 1 to 10 scale that it gives the doctor an idea of how bad the pain is for you personally? I can't see that your friend's method can really work - as you say, pain is subjective to a very large degree and people's tolerances vary hugely. So her pain levels from a dislocated vertebra may well not be the same as mine. But if she classifies it as "8" and I as "10" then the doctor can get an idea of how bearable it is for each of us.

My dentist is always expressing amazement that I refuse injections for nearly all procedures - unless he tells me that he would prefer me to have one as it's a really tricky procedure for him. Last time he praised me I asked him if people really insisted on injections for what I had just had done. Goodness yes, he said, and for much more minor things. I see nothing virtuous in the fact that I truly felt barely any pain and would therefore regard an injection as wasteful but it made me think seriously about tolerance levels......

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Cestina's dolls houses - Open at last!

After a hysterectomy with a mid-line incision, I completely revised my ideas of what did & didn't hurt, which made it very difficult to say how painful the tendon injury was. I settled for 2bad toochache & stops me gripping things properly" which seemed to satisfy them.

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"Lack of planning on your part does not necessarily mean an emergency on mine"

"Association does not infer causality"