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Home cures for ganglia: if you lack a Bible, Mrs Beeton will do Home cures for ganglia: if you lack a Bible, Mrs Beeton will do Home cures for ganglia: if you lack a Bible, Mrs Beeton will do
(35 minutes later)
It might indeed be folklore that ganglia can be reduced by a sharp whack from the family Bible (Letters, 19 September). However, in the late 1950s, I recall my mother attacking her wrist ganglion with Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, which was considered more suitable in a Methodist household. It clearly did the trick: Mum is still alive, at 96, and the ganglion is long gone.Susan TreagusManchesterIt might indeed be folklore that ganglia can be reduced by a sharp whack from the family Bible (Letters, 19 September). However, in the late 1950s, I recall my mother attacking her wrist ganglion with Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, which was considered more suitable in a Methodist household. It clearly did the trick: Mum is still alive, at 96, and the ganglion is long gone.Susan TreagusManchester
• Back in 1970, after several months of wringing out nappies by hand, I developed a lump on the inside of my wrist. The doctor said it was a ganglion and that as I looked a stoical type she would try an old cottage remedy. She didn’t have a Bible to hand but would hit my wrist hard with a copy of Gray’s Anatomy. I put my wrist on the edge of the desk and she whacked it very hard. I saw stars momentarily, but when I looked down the ganglion was gone. The doctor looked much calmer too; it was obviously good for her stress level. The ganglion never returned. But I did get a washing machine for baby number two.Maureen WoodBradford on Avon, Wiltshire• Back in 1970, after several months of wringing out nappies by hand, I developed a lump on the inside of my wrist. The doctor said it was a ganglion and that as I looked a stoical type she would try an old cottage remedy. She didn’t have a Bible to hand but would hit my wrist hard with a copy of Gray’s Anatomy. I put my wrist on the edge of the desk and she whacked it very hard. I saw stars momentarily, but when I looked down the ganglion was gone. The doctor looked much calmer too; it was obviously good for her stress level. The ganglion never returned. But I did get a washing machine for baby number two.Maureen WoodBradford on Avon, Wiltshire
• The first letter above was amended on 22 September 2016 to correct the spelling of Mrs Beeton.• The first letter above was amended on 22 September 2016 to correct the spelling of Mrs Beeton.