REMEDIOS DE MIXICO

ANNETTE Sandoval calls it a ``flashbulb memory''; after nearly 30 years it
remains a clear snapshot in her mind:

She is about 4 years old, waking up in the middle of the night to hear her
older sister, Yola, gasping for breath. While her frightened father and
siblings watch, Sandoval's mother works frantically in the kitchen,
concocting a mysterious medicine Sandoval now thinks probably contained
onions and eucalyptus leaves mixed with a little Vicks Vapo-Rub.

Sandoval, her sister and her mother do not clearly remember what went into
the poultice. What they do remember is once the ``stuff'' was wrapped in a
clean diaper and placed on Yola's chest, her breathing eased.

For years, Sandoval didn't give much thought to the incident. Her father,
who had crossed the border from his home state of Jalisco to work in
Southern California's orange groves, got a green card and a good union job.
His five children got a health plan. Growing up in Santa Ana, they saw
doctors when they got sick, and their mother readily gave up her home
remedies in favor of modern medicine, U.S.-style.

It's not an unusual story, says Sandoval, who has spent the last two years
collecting the memories of other Mexican-Americans once treated with
poultices, salves and tinctures administered by their abuelitas, t(acu)as
and madres -- grandmothers, aunts and mothers entrusted with day-to-day
health care. Sandoval found gathering the remedies in her new book,
``Homegrown Healing: Traditional Home Remedies from Mexico'' (Berkley,
$6.99) to be like ``catching raindrops in your hand'' -- she had to pursue
them hurriedly, here and there, before they evaporated.

``I would ask people for their memories of remedies, and they would say,
`Oh, we don't practice this in my household,' '' says Sandoval, 33, who
supplements her income as a writer by tending bar in her San Francisco
neighborhood. But then, Sandoval would ask her subjects, what about aloe
vera for burns? A potato poultice to pull out a fever? Mint tea for an
upset stomach?

``And they'd say, `Oh yeah! We used to do that,'' Sandoval says with a laugh.

Just how widespread the use of traditional home remedies remains among
Mexican-Americans is difficult to gauge, not the least because
``Mexican-Americans'' are far from a homogeneous group. Broadly speaking,
says Dr. Frank Meza, physician in charge of the Kaiser Permanente clinic in
East Los Angeles and co-author of a handbook on the Latino community for
Kaiser health care providers, people from rural areas, with less money,
less education and less access to other forms of health care are more
likely to use traditional remedies.

That doesn't mean others never take lemon tea to ease a cold, or soothe
their tired eyes with a wash made with rose petals. And most traditional
kitchen remedies, Meza says, are probably not harmful.

``The problem with all home remedies, no matter what culture we're talking
about,'' he says, ``is if you use it and you get better, that's OK. But
let's say you're getting worse and you persist in the treatment. You're
going to run into danger.''

Kaiser Permanente last year issued a press release after physicians saw two
Latino children with high levels of lead in their blood, believed to be the
result of home remedies used to settle upset stomachs. Both children did
well after seeing their doctors, and Kaiser doctors stressed that on the
whole the incidence of lead poisoning is low and many home remedies are
safe. But they advised parents to check with their pediatricians before
administering remedies to children.

The usual advice for alternative treatments remains: Be especially mindful
with children, the elderly and people with suppressed immune systems. If
symptoms persist, see a doctor. Two of the most serious potential problems
associated with treating yourself are missing a diagnosis of a serious
condition, or refusing conventional treatment that may be effective.

``Some of these I do, some of these I don't do,'' says Sandoval, referring
to the treatments she's gathered for everything from dandruff to a
condition called susto, which Sandoval describes as ``the loss of the
spirit or soul due to a sudden shock.'' She cautions readers who are taking
medication to check with their doctors to make sure a remedy doesn't
conflict with their prescription drugs, and points out that while the book
may contain remedies for serious diseases such as diabetes, she does not
suggest that patients quit conventional treatment.

``If I get a sharp pain, I'll go to the doctor,'' she says by way of
example. ``But if I've got a headache or tired eyes, I'd rather reach into
my cupboard for something.''

Accordingly, Sandoval sees her book not only as a guide to treatment, but
as a kind of social history. She gathered her ``raindrops'' where she could
find them: asking friends, contacting Mexican-American and Latino student
and community groups, and, increasingly, relying on the Internet to reach a
wide variety of potential sources through postings on news groups and
through her Web site, http://web2.kpix.com/xtra/remedios/.

The site, up for nearly a year, has attracted dozens of recipes for remedies.

``As a teenager, I suffered from a chronic fever that lasted some four or
five days,'' reads a typical submission. ``My parents took me to several
(allelopathic) doctors in that period with no success. Upon return from the
last doctor visit, my Nana had been preparing some stewed tomatoes and
proceeded to wrap my feet in cheese cloth filled with this hot (potion).
That same afternoon I was playing football. I have no idea what she added
to the tomatoes, if anything, but it worked.''

``My mother used to cure me from fever with a mixture of the following,''
reads another. ``She would buy one of those caps from Vicks Vapo-Rub and
she would crush two aspirins to powder along with a shredded cigarette all
mixed up in the little container of Vapo-Rub. Then she would rub all our
bodies with this ointment and cover us completely until we would sweat.''

``A good way to clear a stuffy nose is to cut small slices of oranges and
stick them in your nose,'' says a third. ``It feels gross, but it
works!!!''

Sandoval, who regained her interest in home remedies when she found a
reference to Mexican healers while researching her first book, ``The
Directory of Saints: A Concise Guide to Patron Saints,'' (Signet, $5.99),
has her own memories.

``I was always a fly on the wall,'' she says, remembering childhood visits
to her parents' hometown, Acatica in Jalisco. ``Whenever my t(acu)as
started talking I would nudge my way in.

``I thought they were gossiping,'' she continues, beginning to laugh. ``But
they were talking about plants -- which one was good for what purpose. They
were talking about plants like they were human beings.''

HOMEMADE HEALING

Here are a few of the remedies Sandoval gathered.

Potato poultices: This is the remedy Sandoval heard about most frequently.
But, she adds, each region seems to have its own twist on how to prepare
and use a potato poultice. Some say the potatoes must be chopped, others
insist they must be grated. For sunburn, some say, dip the potato in
vinegar; for fever, water must be used. Whichever way the poultice is
prepared, Sandoval recommends dabbing olive oil on the skin before applying
the poultice to the affected area, and covering it with gauze or a towel.

Parsley: The plant is said to have several therapeutic uses, and can be
used as a tea or poultice. But Sandoval prefers to use it straight up. When
one of her nieces or nephews has a nosebleed, she tries to get the child to
put a sprig in his or her nose. The bleeding stops, she says.

Rose petals: Tired eyes? Boil a teaspoon of rose petals in 1 cup of water.
Let it cool, strain it, and use it on a cloth as a compress over the eyes.

Garlic: Used for everything from acne to insect repellent. Sandoval likes
to make a garlic tincture, that is, an herbal extraction with an
alcohol-and-water base. Usually, a few drops of a tincture are added to a
glass of juice or water.

Onions: Used for all sorts of conditions, but Sandoval likes to use them
for coughs. Thinly slice the onion and drizzle honey over it. Place it in a
tightly sealed container and refrigerate for three hours, until the onion
begins to ``sweat.'' Take a couple tablespoons of this sweat to ease your
cough.

- -- Kathleen Donnelly

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED Annette Sandoval will read from her book at 6:30
tonight at the New Renaissance Centre, 7400 Monterey Road, Gilroy. At 7
p.m. Thursday, she will be at Gateways Books & Gifts, 1018 Pacific Ave.,
Santa Cruz.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)