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21 Bizarre Medical Practices Used In The Past That Will Make You Appreciate Modern Medicine
The Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians requires them to "do no harm." Nonetheless, as we can see from the rich history of medicine, this rule hasn't always been followed. Since the earliest days of medicine, curious people have tried numerous ways to ease each other's pain and various ailments. Sadly, over the course of time, plenty of mistakes, ignorant decisions, and brutal choices were made, which, on occasion, caused more harm than good. Yet even the cruelest events in medicine became a lesson to be learned and paved the way to the modern medicine we have today.
We here at Bored Panda gathered a list of some of the strangest and weirdest medical treatments that make us appreciate all the advancements medical science has gone through. From barbaric procedures such as lobotomy to eerie potions containing arsenic and heroin, we're relieved knowing that these things are not prescribed as valid treatments anymore. Scroll down for the list!
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#1
Smoking
Back in the late 19th and early 20th century, when the damaging effects of nicotine weren't yet discovered or widely accepted, smoking was used not only for recreational purposes, but also as a medical treatment. It was used for various ailments—including one of the most ridiculous—asthma.
Eliška Hůlková 5 years ago
I work in the museum of pharmacy and there is a pack of asthma cigarettes. But instead of tobacco, they are made of medicinal plants with are effective against asthma. Before technology of asthma inhalers, inhaling of cigarrete smoke was considered the best way of delivering active ingredients into lungs.
Chris DiFonso 5 years ago
Cigarettes were included in American soldiers' gov't-issued supplies through WWII, if not the Korean War as well
Hermione Granger 5 years ago
Yeah! Some of them would trade the cigarettes to others for more chocolate!
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#2
Heroin
Initially, heroin was invented during an attempt to produce a drug similar to morphine but less potent and less addictive. However, quite the opposite happened. Heroin turned out to be around two times more potent than morphine itself. It was then prescribed to treat coughs and other ailments, such as back pain and insomnia. From 1898 through 1910, these cough syrups were marketed as a non-addictive morphine substitute and quickly became the cause of one of the highest addiction rates among its users.
Andres Tejeda 5 years ago
This has a very striking parallel with the opiate painkillers used today and they addictions they cause now.
Astrid Nineor 5 years ago
Yep, and just like then, people are unwilling to admit addiction.
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Emperor Kitten 5 years ago
It does work though. I used to work at a pharmacy where we sold medical grade heroine. It was strictly for 1 person with stage 3 cancer and an opiate allergy. I guess she figured a heroine addiction was the least of her problems.
Bill 5 years ago
Heroin is commonly prescribed for end of life in most of Asia
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Gipsy Kings fan 5 years ago
I agree with Andres T. But trace amounts of heroin can be useful. I heard a story about an American guy who was traveling in London. He came down with a terrible cough, so he went to one of London's top physicians. The doc prescribed a cough syrup. After taking the first dose of the syrup, his cough stopped IMMEDIATELY. Amazed, he went back to the doctor the next day and asked what was in this miracle cough syrup. The doctor said there was a very small amount of heroin. “HEROIN??” the man replied. The doctor said, “I see you have the American fear of heroin,” and went on to explain that in very small amounts, there is nothing better for treating coughs. I don’t know if it’s still legal in Britain today.
Stephanie Johnson 5 years ago
Kind of like how "magic" mushrooms and lsd in trace amounts are supposedly helpful for depression.
Load More Replies... Anna roberts 5 years ago
laudanum, opium derivative. When we cleaned out the basement of my grandmas house, we found a lot of empty bottles, guess that's why grandpa was always in the basement
Caroline Driver 5 years ago
I have a 1913 Army and Navy catalogue that people would order supplies from when they were abroard, in the Raj f'rinstance, dontcha know. In there are cocaine, heroine and laudanum. You just order it along with your jugged hare and mourning stationery. Fascinating book.
Stephanie Johnson 5 years ago
It would be interesting to read documentations of the "trials" of this being used for these purposes. Also to hear how it was administered and the dosages and if they had follow ups with patients using at that time. I've seen marijuana evolve to the crazy levels it's at these days because I live in an area where it fed our economy for 30 years and it'd be interesting to see how all the drugs have evolved on a scientific basis. They all were "founded" and used for medical and physiological purposes in the beginning no?!
#3
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine was first synthesized by a Japanese chemist in 1893. Early on, before the adverse effects of the drug were taken into consideration, meth was used to treat a variety of ailments, such as narcolepsy and asthma, and was also used as a weight-loss drug.
Emperor Kitten 5 years ago
Meth is a fantastic weight loss drug. The side effects aren't great, but still.
Aurore Blaise 5 years ago
My mom was given Meth as a teenager because after a growth spurt she was kinda weak and tired... She only tried it once and was so out of control (not sleeping) that her mother said "nope that's done"
Chewie Baron 5 years ago
Adolf Hitler was prescribed it mixed in with other drugs as part of his daily injections. What's really bizarre was it was made for him by the US. Even when WWII was raging on.
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Sterrinatu 5 years ago
They weren't wrong... it does curb your appetite and elevates your mood.
#4
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
J.H. Kellogg, the man behind the beloved Kellogg’s cereal brand, was a full-fledged medical doctor & health activist. Another little-known fact—Dr. Kellogg’s famous corn flakes were also originally created to prevent sexual urges, or more specifically, to inhibit the urge to masturbate. Masturbation was considered a huge sin back in the 19th century and Kellogg believed that a healthy diet was the answer to this problem. Unfortunately, Kellogg’s flaky idea for an anti-masturbatory breakfast did not provide the desired results.
MagicalUnicorn 5 years ago
i wouldn't call it little known fact, in fact it's the most know fact about Kellogg's :)
Dave P 5 years ago
Actually the masturbation thing was a claim invented much later. While he was against masturbation and he did invent cornflakes, he never equated the two. That was later people trying to connect dots that were unrelated. We have his actual writings, he thought men eating beef and minimal processed grains would make men stronger and healthier. It was part of a Christian movement called "Muscular Christianity" the same movement that gave us the Boy Scouts and many Missionary Societies.
PeachPossum 5 years ago
Those who make the claim may have Kellogg confused with Reverend Sylvester Graham. Kellogg was a medical doctor who advocated a healthy diet, exercise, and leisure. Kellogg's factory employees worked 6 hours a day until the 1970s, when the standard 8 hour workday was introduced. Nineteenth century Presbyterian minister Graham advocated a meatless diet that included an unrefined flour that he claimed repressed sexual urges. He encouraged his followers to mill the flour themselves at home for baking bread and other staples. Today, we know the flour only from the Graham cracker.
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Jennie-Lind Normand 5 years ago
I've told random strangers that in the grocery store. I love the weird looks I get!
mntryjoseph 5 years ago
He is the one that advocated to circumcise both boys and girls to make them associate pain to stop masturbating! He was a quack!
Chewie Baron 5 years ago
There was a bizarre advertising campaign in the UK in the very early 1900s to see what you got if you winked at your grocer. It was a box of Kellogg's Cornflakes.
hcaballero57 5 years ago
Not true jerking off after eating corn flakes is a American Tradition
#5
Vin Mariani
Vin Mariani tonic was introduced in 1863 and was advertised both as wine, and as a general cure-all product promising to treat whatever ailment you may have. The tonic quickly became a sensation and was widely endorsed, used among many famous people of the time, including the Pope and Thomas Edison. The tonic even inspired the invention of Coca Cola. The reason behind Vin Mariani's success? Cocaine. The drink contained around 6 mg of cocaine per fluid ounce of wine.
3 8 5 19 19 1 5 years ago
At least there's some logic to this. I've heard multiple times that red wine can have some health benafits if drank responsably.
Randomcthulu 5 years ago
Cocaine has been proven to be medically useful when given in regulated amounts in moderation. However, most people won't stick to moderation and the cycle begins. Ironically, heroin was prescribed early on as a way to get patients off of cocaine...oops.
Dale Davis 5 years ago
That's why i never ask for "coke" but say coca-cola instead. Imagine so easily addicting people! And their money for the product was a given because everyone was hooked!
#6
Iron Lungs
Before an effective vaccine was developed in the 1950s, the polio epidemic devastated many lives. When the outbreak reached its peak in 1952, there were 57,628 infected people in the USA. It was one of the most feared diseases of the 20th century. Back in the day, one of the most effective methods was invented to save lives, but it was one of the most terrifying, too. Imagine being unable to breathe and being put into a large, metal, coffin-like cabinet where you had to stay for weeks or even your whole life. This cabinet was nicknamed "the iron lung" and saved thousands of people who were not able to breathe on their own after their chest muscles were paralyzed due to polio.
Andres Tejeda 5 years ago
Yep, and anti-vaxxers want to bring this disease back along with a slew of other ones doctors and scientist really worked hard to eradicate.
Bunzilla 5 years ago
If you don't vaccinate, THIS is what happens. Tragic, preventable, and permanently life-changing. Who would want this fate for anyone they care for? The more people that don't vaccinate, the more diseases like this one gain a toe-hold in society. Where they can then mutate and render current vaccines ineffective.
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CrunChewy McSandybutt 5 years ago
I certainly can't say this for anyone else, but if my life was only going to consist of laying in a big metal tube, then pull the plug and let me go.
Aunt Messy 5 years ago
My father had a school friend who had to be in an iron lung. He was 8 years old when he got sick, he was in that thing until he died at the age of about 40.
Little Wonder 5 years ago
I found out not long ago there are still a few iron lungs in use in the USA, although it's getting much harder to keep them running. There's a few short stories about them on Youtube if you're interested.
Luna Lovegood 5 years ago
Before the vaccine for polio was common, the iron lung actually saved a lot of lives. It's an awful way to have to live most of your life, but it really helped people and probably shouldn't be on this list.
athornedrose 5 years ago
I DID NOT REALIZE THAT WAS A MIRROR ON TOP FOR A SECOND AND WAS TERRIFIED
Backtotheislands 5 years ago
Thank you! I was going nuts trying to figure out what I was looking at. I wonder how they got him to smile.
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Bella Langston 5 years ago
My grandma had polio and had to be in one of these. She's in her mid 80s now.
Christina Uhlir 5 years ago
Just another Day In The Glade, you don't want polio back on this earth, but the polio vaccine is the only way to stop it. The childhood vaccinations are necessary, because the immune system of infants did not developed yet, and they are vulnerable to all those diseases. However, when an older children and adults supply their bodies with a correct nutrition - vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, all phytochemicals (chemicals - nutrients produced by plants) all those are found only in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, no vaccination of any kind is needed. I do not need flu vaccine, shingles vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine; just like Big Pharma has a pill for any possible and impossible malady, they will have the shots for anything as well. "Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food." -Hippocrates, Greek physician, father of medicine (460 - 377 BC/BCE)
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#7
Tapeworm Diet
During Victorian times, people came up with a radical solution to reduce weight—tapeworms. The idea behind it was simple: a person consumes a tapeworm egg so that when the parasite hatches and grows inside of the person's intestines, it starts to ingest whatever the person eats. This supposedly allows the person to lose weight without decreasing the amount of food they eat. While today it is known that tapeworms can be dangerous and in some cases even lethal, this questionable practice is still alive today.
Melissa Nunya 5 years ago
But what did they do when they wanted to stop losing weight? How did they get it out? This is so gross lol
FatBaby 5 years ago
I saw an episode of "Untold Stories of the ER" where this girl's mom made her do this same diet. Instead of losing weight (even though she was already pretty skinny) the tapeworms constipated her so much that she looked 5 months pregnant...
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Little Wonder 5 years ago
Fun fact, it's not that the tapeworm eats your food, it's that a tapeworm makes you feel sick so you eat less. Okay that was probably not so much a *fun* fact.
Gipsy Kings fan 5 years ago
Interesting article from snopes.com -- Whether such a method of weight loss was actually ever a common or widespread practice remains a subject of debate. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/as-the-worm-squirms/
Charles Watkins 5 years ago
How could this work? The food the tapeworm eats is still inside you. You don't actually lose that weight.
Ade Line 5 years ago
You don't process the food, the worm does. Weight gain is not about what you eat but about what your body then process.
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Batwench 5 years ago
You can still buy them on the web for this purpose. Then you buy the stuff that kills them. I think I would rather eat kale!
Rob Matthews 5 years ago
Shocking! Sometimes you have to wonder if some of the people sharing our planet are living in a parallel reality, stuck in a time-zone centuries ago.
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#8
Lobotomy
In the early 20th century, when methods of treating mental illnesses were scarce, an invasive procedure called lobotomy was invented. Despite the lack of evidence that this procedure, during which the nerve pathways in the lobes of the brain are severed, has any positive effects in treating illnesses, lobotomy became widely used. Active campaigning for the effectiveness of lobotomy and the spread of misinformation in the media led many to believe that lobotomy was a miracle cure. Only years later was the procedure recognized as one of the most shameful and tragic events in medical history.
Lexie Foxx 5 years ago
The nurses are actually HOLDING this guy down, there are evidently no useful anaesthetics at play
Load More Replies... Full Name 5 years ago
They literally jammed a spike through your eye socket and into your brain (prefrontal cortex) and mashed it around. It made people sometimes more docile, but at the expense of a personality and enjoyment. The nobel prize was awarded for it in 1949.
Slune 5 years ago
Yeah that's totally sick! Nobel prize to torture and cripple people.
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Ginger Shows 5 years ago
The Kennedys had a promiscuous daughter (one of JFK's sisters) who was an embarrassment to the family. Joe,Sr arranged for her to have a lobotomy to decrease her sex drive.
Layla Corman 5 years ago
Contrary to what others say, she was not promiscuous at all. She was prone to mood swings and was slower at learning than others her age. The promiscuous label was widely used out of context back in those days for any women who acted outside of societal norms. As a result, a beautiful woman was reduced to nothing and forced to live the rest of her life (many of the years without any support of her family who basically hid her away) in a home. She was never an embarrassment to the family either. Everyone loved her and as a result, her sister Eunice created the Special Olympics. During Rosemary's school years, the family did everything in thier power to help her feel normal. Her father Joe decided on this procedure, in secret with no approval from his wife, at the direction of the doctor. I really just want to dispel some of the non-facts and help others see why labels are hurtful.
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Marisa Doelling 5 years ago
Yes psychology has a very dark side. There used to be traveling lobotomists. What's even more disturbing than the actual submission of the female client who appears to be somewhat still awake is that the two "surgeons" are wearing short sleeves (okay red neck versions often scrubs) and no gloves. I'm positive that this "disturbed housewife" didn't live much longer after the PROCEDURE
Layla Corman 5 years ago
It's incredible that not that long ago, tearing people's brain tissue was a "cure". Thank God we know better. Every time I think of lobotomies, poor Rosemary Kennedy comes to mind.
Chris DiFonso 5 years ago
Lobotomy was discovered accidentally. In the mid-1800's in the U.S.A., a railroad worker named Phineas Gage had a freak accident that resulted in a lobotomy
#9
Malariotherapy
At the beginning of the 20th century, patients suffering from syphilis were treated with malariotherapy. Ailing individuals were deliberately infected with malaria to induce fever. Apparently, the high fever was enough to kill temperature-sensitive syphilis bacteria. It is estimated that around 15% of those treated with malariotherapy died from malaria. However, others showed great improvement.
Sparrow Flying Free 5 years ago
Interesting that some people actually benefited from this and some didn't. I can see where people were going with that idea.
Hendra Lim 5 years ago
it happens when the medicine for syphilis hasn't found yet while medicine for malaria already available, and they found out that some people that contracted syphilis got cured when they get a high fever. so in desperate situation, they'll induce malaria to people that has syphilis with malaria to induce the high fever. sure, not all of them saved. but at, least most of them saved
Load More Replies... Eliška Hůlková 5 years ago
Malariotherapy was so succesful its inventor was actually awarded Nobel prize in medicine. Maybe because syphillis causes horrible deformation and neurodegeneration and was untreatable before malariotherapy.
Nela Rothenbach 5 years ago (edited)
It wasn't untreatable before but the way it was treated would leave people without hair and teeth, if they survived the arsenic and heat they were put in.
Load More Replies... Layla Corman 5 years ago (edited)
This is super random, but there is a red blood cell deficiency called G6pD that actually manifested itself in people in high malaria areas as a defence against the disease. It is also called "Favism" as fava beans will kill those affected. It is hereditary. My daughter has it. The reason her father found out he had it is because before he deployed to Iraq, he was immunized with Primaqueen (anti-malaria vaccine) and almost died!
Yasmin Lulu 5 years ago
Yes, very common in middle east! And it protects against malaria.
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Audrey Zuber 5 years ago
I love reading about how one type of illness can cure another. Measles has actually cured children with leukemia and so many other incidents.
Luna Lovegood 5 years ago
I suppose if you were desperate enough it would be a good idea, seeing as it worked for most people, but it's crazy that people thought it was a good idea.
Martha Meyer 5 years ago
It's no different than today's chemotherapy, if you think about it.
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Sitting Inside A Rotting Whale Carcass
Back in the 19th century, a cutting-edge new "treatment" for rheumatism was introduced on Australia's southern coast: sitting inside a rotting whale carcass. It was believed that if a person stayed inside of the dead whale for 30 hours, they would be relieved of joint aches for up to 12 months. Clearly, there's no scientific evidence to support the healing power of sitting inside of a dead whale, but it seems like people were desperate enough to actually try it.
Aunt Messy 5 years ago
After doing that, NO ONE was going to admit to having rheumatoid arthritis. I have no doubt at all that people claimed they were "cured", just to escape the doctor.
Andres Tejeda 5 years ago
OMG, imagine the how bad you would smell after a 30 hour soak inside the rotting carcass of a whale?
MagicalUnicorn 5 years ago
ow the hell they didn't suffocate from stench within an our or so? fuuu
Jim Ellington 5 years ago
I like to sit in whale carcasses just for fun. But not too much fun, mind you - I always bring an ample supply of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.
Ang.stl 5 years ago
I'm going to guess there's not many people that have commented that have unending, aching, unresponsive to meds, chronic pain. The last time I had a day without pain was when I was heavily sedated to the point of not waking up for a week. And from what I've been told, I still tried to get into a more comfortable position even though I was completely knocked out. Before that was somewhere around 2003. I'm not sure I'd climb inside a rotting carcass, but I've tried some weird things.
Spikey Bunny 5 years ago
Yes. I have chronic pain and would try just about anything!
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Radium Water
While we may think of energy drinks as a new trend, they have existed for almost a century. And if you think they were a lot healthier back in the day than they are now, you're mistaken. The energy drinks sold in the 1920s did not contain huge amounts of caffeine and taurine, as they do now, but instead, they contained real energy—radium. One of the most infamous examples is RadiThor, which was simply radium dissolved in water. Unsurprisingly, the drink was created by a Harvard dropout, William J. A. Bailey, who was not a medical doctor. RadiThor was advertised as "A Cure for the Living Dead" and "Perpetual Sunshine."
Pretty Pangolin 5 years ago
Don't read further if you're easily grossed-out... One fellow was drinking Radium water several times a day, and swore by its effectiveness...until his jaw fell off!
Andres Tejeda 5 years ago
I guess his jaw hit the floor once he found out about the side effects.
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GirlandProudofit 5 years ago
Yeah, there's a really good book about it called "Radium Girls, the Dark Story of America's Shining Women :)
Slune 5 years ago
Thanks for the interesting info. I just read a few articles about this topic....just terrible awful!
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Jim Ellington 5 years ago
"A Cure for the Living Dead"? Well, I know what I'm loading my Super Soaker with next zombie outbreak.
Kate Schools 5 years ago
Great tonic! I'll just glow in the dark until more body parts fall away ...
#12
Corpse Medicine
For hundreds of years, up until the 1890s, it was common to use the human body as an ingredient in various medicines. Which human parts were used to treat diseases? Well, pretty much all of them. For instance, the human liver was prescribed to those suffering from epilepsy. But the most common were blood, fat, bone, and flesh. During the 16th and 17th centuries, many physicians actively prescribed corpse medicine to their patients. One of the most popular remedies back in the day was made of smuggled Egyptian mummies. The mummified remains were usually powdered and used as a treatment for epilepsy, bruising, and hemorrhaging.
Lara Verne 5 years ago
Apparently in 19th century mummies became very popular "cure", so black market sold fake ones- they obtained a corpse, got rid of internal organs and then buried corpse in desert for few months. And voilà - mummy!
Avital Pilpel 5 years ago
Turned out there was a market in embalmed bodies passed off as mummies...
#13
Bloodletting
Bloodletting is known as one of the oldest medical practices, dating back 3000 years to ancient Egypt. The procedure was common in medieval Europe to treat diseases such as smallpox, epilepsy, and plague. However, it didn't end there. Bloodletting was commonly practiced throughout the 19th century, too, and is sometimes even used today. Towards the end of the 19th century, the treatment was discredited when doctors finally admitted that depleting the body's blood supply can be risky and doesn't have many valuable health benefits. Bloodletting puts a patient at risk of having a cardiac arrest, losing too much blood, and can cause dangerously low blood pressure, in addition to the possibility of infections and anemia.
Jim Ellington 5 years ago
My red blood cell count is way too high and my doctor said I should regularly donate blood, Well, most s**t nurses can't find a vein in my fat a*s so I remain quite ill. Nonetheless, bloodletting still has its purposes in modern medicine, and certain surgical techniques actually use leeches.
NanZ 5 years ago
I was going to say that I have a neighbor that said he has too many red blood cells and when he starts feeling sluggish he knows it is time to get his blood drawn. I had never heard of that before, but apparently he isn't alone.
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Robert Hedges 5 years ago
George Washington’s doctors drained him of 5 pints of blood during an acute illness at the end of his life. He probably went into hypovolemic shock and died.
ispeak catanese 5 years ago
This is still in use today, but not in this manner, of course. It's used in patients with excess hemoglobin, among other conditions.
Caroline Seguin 5 years ago (edited)
In the middle ages, the blood letting worked a couple of time and doctors of today think it was probably because the patient was suffering from angina (heart attack cause by a blood clot) and the blood letting made the clot move and relieve the patient from the heart attack.
#14
Mercury
Today, we are well aware of the serious health effects exposure to mercury may have. Inhalation of mercury vapor can damage one's internal organs, such as lungs and kidneys, and can even be fatal. If ingested, the inorganic salts of mercury can induce kidney toxicity. Yet, throughout history, this chemical was used to prolong life and maintain good health. For several hundred years, mercury was the key ingredient in a variety of products used to treat such diseases as melancholy, syphilis, and influenza.
Ed Souza 5 years ago
My parents used to let me play with mercury from broken thermometers... Long story short, I now have incredible super-human abilities and fight crime.
Slune 5 years ago
Same here. It was super funny how one drop divided in many tiny, nervous mini droplets....!
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Miraculous Ladybug Fan Ladyblog lover 5 years ago
My mum used to play with liquid mercury. No wonder I am me!
Orion Xavier 5 years ago
Now it's used in dental fillings/amalgam and responsible for most fungal candida infections, which creates "arthritis," "leaky gut syndrome," "chronic fatigue syndrome," etc. Those are all just symptoms of fungal candida, rather than idiopathic diseases. Coincidentally the dental assistant that was cleaning my teeth had a really bad fungal candida infection. When she leaned in very close to my mouth her breath was awful and unmistakably fungal candida. Exposure to mercury gas in dental offices is pretty common.
Swan Warren 3 years ago
My dad was a dentist in the 1960s and as a child I'd go to the office, drop some mercury into my palm and play with it, then we'd just drop it down the sink drain. I learned that aluminum foil can pick up drops of mercury on the floor.
#15
Arsenic
Arsenic is one of the oldest medicines that dates back to ancient times. However, even though the toxic properties of arsenic were known, the chemical was used to treat various diseases up until the 20th century. Arsenic compounds were ingredients in many tinctures, balsams, and tablets, which were used to treat diseases such as trypanosomiasis, or “sleeping sickness,” and syphilis.
Lou Lopez 5 years ago
TWO POISONS, ONE DEAL! BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! NEW CHOCOLATE COATED STRYCHNINE TABS NOW CONTAIN 20% MORE ARSENIC THAN COMPETING BRANDS OF POISON QUACKERY! ACT NOW AND WE'LL THROW IN A SECOND BOTTLE AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU! Special Discount offered for repeat customers.
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Jim Ellington 5 years ago
Arsenic is actually a micronutrient and if you consume exactly none of it you will die.
Jim Ellington 5 years ago (edited)
And, by the way, the alcohol you're so fond of consuming is simply poison.
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#16
Trepanation
Trepanation, the practice of drilling, cutting or scraping holes in a person's skull, has been around since prehistoric times. It is believed to be one of the oldest surgical procedures—however, scientists are unsure why our ancestors performed it. In western medicine, up until the 19th century, trepanation was widely used to treat head traumas.
Becca Gizmo the Squirrel 5 years ago
I heard it was was to let out the evil spirits of the possessed. Seriously.
Gipsy Kings fan 5 years ago
Article from bbc.com: “Anthropological accounts of 20th-Century trepanations in Africa and Polynesia suggest that, in these cases at least, trepanation was performed to treat pain – for instance, the pain caused by skull trauma or neurological disease. Trepanation may also have had a similar purpose in prehistory. Many trepanned skulls show signs of cranial injuries or neurological diseases, often in the same region of the skull where the trepanation hole was made.” http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160826-why-our-ancestors-drilled-holes-in-each-others-skulls
Load More Replies... K.Kobayashi 5 years ago
They still do the same thing when a brain injury causes swelling of the brain. Only they call it craniectomy now.
Dave P 5 years ago
We have writings from ancient Greece, Rome, till the renaissance on why, it was to release head pressure and it did work to a degree
Ang.stl 5 years ago
The problem is that whatever is causing the pressure still needs somewhere to go after it's released from the skull. If they keep the incision open so it can come out there, moderate success probably. If the incision is stitched up, whatever type fluid is causing the pressure will have to Bubble under the skin or try to find somewhere else. These days for long term issues (which I have) there are shunts (do NOT have), that drain the cerebral spinal fluid into the heart or abdomen, where it is hopefully absorbed by the body. I'm much less familiar with short term pressure.
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The Cute Cat 5 years ago
Trepanation actually still being use to day. Usually done by a surgeon when a patient has an intra cranial haemorargea. So it is to relieve blood that cummulated inside the skull that cause squizzed brain.
Katie Mahoney 5 years ago
Craniostomies are still done emergently for intracranial hemorrhages
Vivian Ingram 5 years ago
I know a girl who had part of her skull removed to reduce pressure on her brain after head trauma, but the doctors put it back
#17
Crocodile Dung
Ancient Egyptians were really creative with the methods they used to prevent unwanted pregnancies. One of their notoriously inventive methods was inserting crocodile dung into the vagina. While it's unclear whether this method actually worked, it's obvious how unhygienic and dangerous it was.
I Just Changed My Name 5 years ago
And how did they treat the bacterial infections that inevitably came with inserting poo into the vagina? Never ever go back to front people! N.E.V.E.R.
Freya the Wanderer 5 years ago
Crocodile poo up THERE? Gross, gross, gross! No wonder the Egyptians were eventually conquered.
Backtotheislands 5 years ago
Who even came up with this idea? How did their brain go there? I think he (and I'm sure it was a 'he') needed a lobotomy.
#18
Plombage
Prior to the introduction of effective tuberculosis medicine, plombage was used to treat the disease from the 1930s to the 1950s. Physicians believed that a collapsed lung would heal faster, so they used the plombage method to forcibly collapse the lung. During the procedure, a doctor would create a cavity underneath the upper ribs and fill the space with materials such as Lucite (acrylic) balls, ping pong balls, oils, rubber sheets, paraffin wax, or gauze. Unsurprisingly, this treatment carried the risk of complications. Many of the patients suffered from hemorrhage, infection, and fistulization (abnormal opening between two hollow organs) of the bronchus, aorta, esophagus, and skin.
Astrid Nineor 5 years ago
Wtf... Sometimes I think these doctors knew it wouldnt work, they were just the Mengele of their time.
Liam Torres 5 years ago
They didn’t. That’s the whole reason why these even exist, because of very primitive science, lack of available supplies/proper meds, substandard “training”, and overly religious/spiritual nutcases being doctors
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KT Trondsen 5 years ago
im thinking there must have been some dangerous mentally ill and evil people using hteir position to mutilate
Aileen Grist 5 years ago
I was given streptomycine in the 1950s for TB, I was lucky, some of the children (I was 3) were given gold injections which often made them blind
Peter Kelly 5 years ago
My father suffered tuberculosis of the bone when he was a boy, in the 30's. One 'treatment' was to tilt his bed severely, head down. Apparently very painful and he stayed like that for 6 months... As an aside, dinner was a simple stew every day for two years, with a piece of bread on Friday. It was lovely in hospital back then...
Robert Hedges 5 years ago
It is not too good to live with chronic low oxygen levels. You would be short of breath all the time and could not walk more than 200 feet or go up stairs.
#19
Dead Mouse Paste
Before effective pain medication was invented, people throughout history have tried many ways to ease their pain. One of the grossest and most ineffective treatments was used by Egyptians. To relieve toothaches, they would mash dead mice and blend them with some other ingredients into a paste, which was then applied to the aching tooth. Unsurprisingly, the paste didn't aid much with the pain, but instead often caused an infection.
bv7hearts 5 years ago
"What did you do to my wife?" - that mouse, probably
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Olivia Masterson 5 years ago
Marijuana works MUCH, MUCH better! Needs to be legal all over this country!
#20
Hemiglossectomy
Today we are familiar with hemiglossectomy as a procedure that involves the removal of part of the tongue, which is most often performed in such cases as oral cancer. However, some people who lived during the 18th and 19th centuries were subjected to this barbaric treatment as an attempt to correct their stutter. Doctors believed that the tongue was to blame for their speech problems, so they came up with a highly ineffective and sometimes even deadly method of correcting it with surgery.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
This was done to bot my ex husband and his sister, in the late 60s and early 70s.
Liam Torres 5 years ago
Oh my god!! That’s terrible! Was your husband even able to speak after?
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Catlady6000 5 years ago
They didn't even know till after he and I got married and I asked his mom why his tongue was so short. They were only around 1 1/2-2 yrs old when it was done. The whole thing made no sense, they would have just begun talking, how bad could a stutter be with just a handful of words? Kissing was not near as fun as it could've been.
Load More Replies... Edwin Lesperance 5 years ago
One saw a woman who had her tongue sliced down the middle about 1/3 of the way to make a forked tongue for herself. Each side could move independently as well.
#21
Tobacco Smoke Enemas
Tobacco smoke enemas were practiced in the 18th century to treat various ailments. Back in the day, this procedure was administrated to patients suffering from headaches, respiratory failure, cold, or abdominal cramps, just to name a few. This method was even used to resuscitate individuals who were dying from typhoid fever or cholera. It was believed that nicotine could stimulate a patient's adrenal glands, produce adrenaline, and revive them. Unsurprisingly, this method hardly ever worked.
Andres Tejeda 5 years ago
Talk about blowing smoke up your a*s. I guess they took it literally back then.
Emma B 5 years ago
This is probably where the saying comes from... or at least, from when they figured out it didn't work.
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Christopher Lee 5 years ago
Not really any different from the alternative medicine crowd who think that coffee enemas will cure cancer - except they're still doing that now, and don't have the excuse of having to rely upon medicine from 200 years ago.
Robert Hedges 5 years ago
First use of expression: “Blow it up his a*s” said by doctor to nurse.
Diana Powers 5 years ago (edited)
To the writer of this article: this procedure was not "administrated" to patients. It was administered. Please.
Diana Powers 5 years ago
To the writer of this article: a procedure is not "administrated to patients". It is administered. Please.
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What do you think ?
Kenny Kulbiski 5 years ago
Yeah these are ridiculous in hindsight but what will be saying about us in a hundred years.
K.Kobayashi 5 years ago (edited)
They'll probably say we did our best and made remarkable progress, and even the "barbaric" medicines were at least tested extensively and shown to have some positive effect. Although some people continued to deny science and used "medicine" that weren't demonstrated to be safe OR effective.
Load More Replies...
LittleMissLotus 5 years ago
People who say that vaccines and modern medicine aren't necessary should be given these treatments 🙄
Renee Borghesi 4 years ago
Some things that we are doing in modern medicine will be on a list like this someday. We are no where near knowing it all. We can’t even kill corona viruses.
Load More Replies... Eliška Hůlková 5 years ago
It is easy to judge now. After circa 2500 years of medical research, our medicine is way more effective and safe than it ever was. But that doesn't make us better than people that were here before us. They tried their best and every little piece of information they obtained contributed to the development of science. The knowledge of human body we have now is here mostly thanks to them. Most of the people that profit from healthcare today did nothing to obtain it. It's very much blind luck (or fate or whatever) that we were born today. Let's be a bit humble and have some respect for those who lived before us. Sorry for moralizing, thank you for reading it all.
sino8r 5 years ago
No, that was well put! Some people on this site need to respect history. Imagine what people of future will think of our generation and our extreme selfishness/arrogance?
Load More Replies...
Freya the Wanderer 5 years ago
These remind me of a line from "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home": "Don't leave him in the hands of 20th century medicine!" To a doctor from the 23rd century, medical practices of the 1980s probably would look like the Spanish Inquisition.
Emperor Kitten 5 years ago
For anyone interested in this kinda stuff I recommend the Sawbones podcast.
Dave P 5 years ago
A lot of these were based out of people doing the best they could with the limited knowledge at their times, as our knowledge changed so did the treatments. It is called "Scientific Advancement". What you need to do is look at their level of knowledge at the time, what they knew and theorized and realized many of these were pretty practical given what they knew and thought. We are looking in hindsight
lorrie rothstein 5 years ago
i was watching a netflix stsnd up special with tom papa and he made a joke about medicine in the past. hr said you went to the doctor and they cut off your leg for everything. i took a human sexuality class and i remember learning about contraceptives in the past. thank god for the pill.
Not what you think. 5 years ago
After reading all of these I conclude Syphilllis was curable with anything you can get your hands on.
K.Kobayashi 5 years ago (edited)
More like, syphilis is such a nasty disease that they tried everything they could get their hands on. We are so lucky to be born after the invention of antibiotics.
Load More Replies... Jim Ellington 5 years ago
Modern medicine isn't exactly great, either. Eight years ago I moved into an apartment that ended up being inundated with mold, and I developed a raling lung infection and general malaise. I was prescribed antibiotics, and they helped a bit, but soon I found myself having difficulty on my two-mile-round-trip walk to the grocery store. Eventually the chest pain convinced me to go to the hospital, where they performed a series of tests on my gall bladder (?) and kept me overnight for observation before sending me home with no treatment or medication. Over time my condition grew worse, even after moving out of that apartment, and last year I found myself having to call an ambulance for the chest pain and edema so bad my ankles were swollen to the circumference of my thighs. At the hospital they did nothing for seven hours and I ended up getting claustrophobic and having a panic attack. The hospital refused to let me step outside for fresh air and instead discharged me...
Jim Ellington 5 years ago
...with a shiny, new prescription for ibuprofen. I walked a little more than a mile home in three hours and have waited there to die since. I cannot sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time, and only sitting upright, and I have had a headache for three months that ended up extending down to my chest and shoulders. I would love to know how differently things might have turned out if I was initially treated for fungal exposure instead of being subjected to repeated assquackery.
Load More Replies... Kenny Kulbiski 5 years ago
Yeah these are ridiculous in hindsight but what will be saying about us in a hundred years.
K.Kobayashi 5 years ago (edited)
They'll probably say we did our best and made remarkable progress, and even the "barbaric" medicines were at least tested extensively and shown to have some positive effect. Although some people continued to deny science and used "medicine" that weren't demonstrated to be safe OR effective.
Load More Replies... LittleMissLotus 5 years ago
People who say that vaccines and modern medicine aren't necessary should be given these treatments 🙄
Renee Borghesi 4 years ago
Some things that we are doing in modern medicine will be on a list like this someday. We are no where near knowing it all. We can’t even kill corona viruses.
Load More Replies... Eliška Hůlková 5 years ago
It is easy to judge now. After circa 2500 years of medical research, our medicine is way more effective and safe than it ever was. But that doesn't make us better than people that were here before us. They tried their best and every little piece of information they obtained contributed to the development of science. The knowledge of human body we have now is here mostly thanks to them. Most of the people that profit from healthcare today did nothing to obtain it. It's very much blind luck (or fate or whatever) that we were born today. Let's be a bit humble and have some respect for those who lived before us. Sorry for moralizing, thank you for reading it all.
sino8r 5 years ago
No, that was well put! Some people on this site need to respect history. Imagine what people of future will think of our generation and our extreme selfishness/arrogance?
Load More Replies... Freya the Wanderer 5 years ago
These remind me of a line from "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home": "Don't leave him in the hands of 20th century medicine!" To a doctor from the 23rd century, medical practices of the 1980s probably would look like the Spanish Inquisition.
Emperor Kitten 5 years ago
For anyone interested in this kinda stuff I recommend the Sawbones podcast.
Dave P 5 years ago
A lot of these were based out of people doing the best they could with the limited knowledge at their times, as our knowledge changed so did the treatments. It is called "Scientific Advancement". What you need to do is look at their level of knowledge at the time, what they knew and theorized and realized many of these were pretty practical given what they knew and thought. We are looking in hindsight
lorrie rothstein 5 years ago
i was watching a netflix stsnd up special with tom papa and he made a joke about medicine in the past. hr said you went to the doctor and they cut off your leg for everything. i took a human sexuality class and i remember learning about contraceptives in the past. thank god for the pill.
Not what you think. 5 years ago
After reading all of these I conclude Syphilllis was curable with anything you can get your hands on.
K.Kobayashi 5 years ago (edited)
More like, syphilis is such a nasty disease that they tried everything they could get their hands on. We are so lucky to be born after the invention of antibiotics.
Load More Replies... Jim Ellington 5 years ago
Modern medicine isn't exactly great, either. Eight years ago I moved into an apartment that ended up being inundated with mold, and I developed a raling lung infection and general malaise. I was prescribed antibiotics, and they helped a bit, but soon I found myself having difficulty on my two-mile-round-trip walk to the grocery store. Eventually the chest pain convinced me to go to the hospital, where they performed a series of tests on my gall bladder (?) and kept me overnight for observation before sending me home with no treatment or medication. Over time my condition grew worse, even after moving out of that apartment, and last year I found myself having to call an ambulance for the chest pain and edema so bad my ankles were swollen to the circumference of my thighs. At the hospital they did nothing for seven hours and I ended up getting claustrophobic and having a panic attack. The hospital refused to let me step outside for fresh air and instead discharged me...
Jim Ellington 5 years ago
...with a shiny, new prescription for ibuprofen. I walked a little more than a mile home in three hours and have waited there to die since. I cannot sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time, and only sitting upright, and I have had a headache for three months that ended up extending down to my chest and shoulders. I would love to know how differently things might have turned out if I was initially treated for fungal exposure instead of being subjected to repeated assquackery.
Load More Replies...
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