Look in the medicine cabinet of a modern family and you’ll find Neosporin and other balms and creams to treat wounds. No pain, just soothing comfort to treat a “boo-boo” on a child.
But remembering back when Boomers were growing up, there were three medicines used to torture children – Iodine, Mercurochrome and Methylate. It’s hard to rate these three liquids from Satan in terms of pain, but as I recall, Iodine was the worst, followed closely by the other two.
Boomer parents figured that if the medicine they applied did not hurt worse than the accident itself, it was of no use.
Since we played outdoors almost all the time, especially in summer, Boomer kids suffered many nicks, scrapes, cuts and bruises. While our injuries caused certain degrees of pain, it would be nothing like the cure to follow.
I vividly remember a summer afternoon as a seven-year old with a new bike. A group of us were patrolling Grandview Avenue in Beckley, WV on our bikes when the leader of the pack said, “See who can reach up and touch that limb as we pass under.”
Sounded like a plan, except I, being the youngest and shortest, had to really extend to swat the branch with my hand as I rode beneath. I had to reach so far that I lost my balance and skidded about 25 feet on the concrete pavement taking off various layers of skin from my toes (I was barefoot) to my shoulder.
It was raw skin as far as the eye could see and I knew what would follow.
My Mom held me down while Dad retrieved the bottle of – oh no – Iodine!
It seemed like I screamed for a week, but it was probably only a half-hour. Red streaks of Iodine covered half my body. I think Dad used the whole bottle. It burned like a pep rally bonfire on a Friday night.
Another instrument in the family medicine chest used to create discomfort for young Boomers was a water bottle and an enema tube. Boomer Moms figured that if you didn’t do Number 2 exactly on schedule, it was their job to speed up the process. It was a most unpleasant way to start the day, I can assure you that.
Finally, as an ultimate method of torture, there were liquid medicines that would gag a stray dog. I’m speaking here of cod liver oil and paregoric. I’m convinced some evil pharmacist spent all his waking hours devising liquids that tasted like the solid results of an enema treatment. Children that were actually sick refused to let on lest they get a dose of cod liver oil, and paregoric was nearly as vile.
Yet, despite Iodine, enemas, and cod liver oil, we somehow survived. When it comes to pain and pain management, Boomers walked the walk.