History Main / ImprobableAntidote

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* Before the discovery of vitamins, fresh foods (especially citrus) were a cure for scurvy and other deficiencies often found in sailors. How bizarre this appeared to the people of the time can't be overstated. Today scurvy is a bit of a joke, but at the time it was a terrifying, horrible way to die, bleeding from every orifice, and nobody knew how to stop it. And then the solution turns out to be lemon juice (or oranges, or limes, but lemons have the highest vitamin-C-per-volume). It's a bit like finding out you can cure ebola by eating blueberry muffins. It was so insane that while James Lind discovered and published the cure in 1753, the British Royal Navy didn't actually start carrying citrus on their ships until just before 1800. In fact, the discovery of how to cure/prevent scurvy was discovered at least three times in Europe alone but lost simply because people didn't understand it. For centuries, it was thought to be caused by a lack of exercise and hygine rather than having to do with a person's diet: it wasn't conclusively accepted as being a dietary deficiency until the 20th Century.

** Atropine is also used for patients suffering from bradycardia (dangerously low heart rate), due to the fact that it causes the heart to race like mad. One potential negative side effect to administering it to someone suffering from nerve toxin poisoning is that you might just give them a heart attack instead. But then again, [[GodzillaThreshold nerve toxin.]]

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath "The Green Death]]": The cure for the eponymous death turns out to be the dried spores of the fungus Professor Jones is working on as a solution to world hunger.

Oh no! The hero was just given an injection of [[PerfectPoison Killsyoucine]], the most deadly poison known to man! They're doomed! Wallowing in despair, they gorge themselves on pop-tarts to drown out the pain...

Oh no! The hero was just given an injection of [[PerfectPoison Killsyoucine]], the most deadly poison known to man! They're doomed! Wallowing in despair, they gorges themselves on pop-tarts to drown out the pain...

Oh no! The hero was just given an injection of [[PerfectPoison Killsyoucine]], the most deadly poison known to man! He's doomed! Wallowing in despair, he gorges himself on pop-tarts to drown out the pain...

...but wait... why is he feeling better?

Oh no! The character was just given an injection of [[PerfectPoison Killsyoucine]], the most deadly poison known to man! He's doomed! Wallowing in despair, he gorges himself on pop-tarts to drown out the pain...

* Before the discovery of vitamins, fresh foods (especially citrus) were a cure for scurvy and other deficiencies often found in sailors. How bizarre this appeared to the people of the time can't be overstated. Today scurvy is a bit of a joke, but at the time it was a terrifying, horrible way to die, bleeding from every orifice, and nobody knew how to stop it. And then the solution turns out to be lemon juice (or oranges, or limes, but lemons have the highest vitamin-C-per-volume). It's a bit like finding out you can cure ebola by eating blueberry muffins. It was so insane that while James Lind discovered and published the cure in 1753, the British Royal Navy didn't actually start carrying citrus on their ships until just before 1800.

* The ZombieApocalypse in ''Comicbook/TheSmurfs'' is cured by the polled of a specific flower; Papa Smurf discovers it by pure chance when he decides to feed a captured zombie fly with that flower.

* ''Literature/HisFairAssassin'': In ''Grave Mercy'', [[spoiler:Gavriel Duval]] is poisoned by an unknown enemy, and Ismae -- ironically a MasterPoisoner herself —--is left scrambling to find the antidote. But because she doesn't know ''what kind'' of poison it is, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome she has no way of counteracting it]]. Then, [[HopeSpot once she discovers what poison was used]], the only cure she knows about will be impossible to find in time. As it turns out, [[spoiler:''Ismae herself'' is a cure for any poison. She is immune to poison, and skin-on-skin contact with her quite literally draws the poison out of whoever is affected and neutralizes it. Considering [[SexyDiscretionShot how she goes about saving him]], it gives a whole new meaning to IntimateHealing.]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* In the Steven Seagal movie ''The Patriot''[[note]]not the Mel Gibson film of the same name[[/note]], the cure for the bioweapon the villains released turned out to be the herbal tea that the hero and his daughter had with breakfast the morning before they were exposed to the virus.

* ''Literature/HisFairAssassin'': In ''Grave Mercy'', [[spoiler:Gavriel Duval]] is poisoned by an unknown enemy, and Ismae — ironically a MasterPoisoner herself — is left scrambling to find the antidote. But because she doesn't know ''what kind'' of poison it is, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome she has no way of counteracting it]]. Then, [[HopeSpot once she discovers what poison was used]], the only cure she knows about will be impossible to find in time. As it turns out, [[spoiler:''Ismae herself'' is a cure for any poison. She is immune to poison, and skin-on-skin contact with her quite literally draws the poison out of whoever is affected and neutralizes it. Considering [[SexyDiscretionShot how she goes about saving him]], it gives a whole new meaning to IntimateHealing.]]
* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'' contains an off-hand mention that Arthur Dent's lunch when he first gets back to Earth (which consists of the three least mouldy things in his fridge) actually cured him of a space disease he'd unknowingly picked up which, uncured, would have killed or rendered infertile everyone on the planet.

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', where the antidote to the deadly mushroom, the Meducoid Myceclium, turns out to be horseradish (can be substituted with wasabi).