Today, medicine is substantially different from what it was many years ago.
There were cures for diseases, once considered incurable, there are new diagnostic techniques, doctors have learned to do a complex operation, able to save the lives of many people.
But all the modern technology used by doctors and patients today, it was hard to imagine, for example, 100 years ago.
In ancient times, as well as 100 or 200 years ago, operations were either ineffective, or even dangerous, if the person did not kill the disease, it made treatment.
In our days you can sleep better, knowing that doctors no longer use brutal methods of treatment described below:
15. Cut part of the tongue to cure stammering.
For treatment of stuttering in the 18th century doctors recommended a procedure called a hemiglossectomy, which involved removing half of the tongue. Moreover, this operation was performed without anesthesia.
At the time doctors believed that stuttering begins in the vocal cords and removal of the tongue could help the patient to speak more clearly. The treatment was not only ineffective but also led to the fact that some patients died from blood loss during surgery.
14. Make a hole in the head to cure a migraine.
Trepanation (the official name for the procedure of drilling holes in the skull) was one of the first surgical procedures in the history of mankind. Historians say that it was used even in prehistoric times, and this is proved by rock paintings of the Neolithic period.
In ancient times it was believed that holes in the head help to expel evil spirits, and who was to blame for the headaches and strange behaviour.
But it should be noted that trepanation is still used today, but for another reason. This procedure is used by neurosurgeons performing brain. But, unlike ancient times, a remote part of the skull is replaced and the surgery is performed under sterile conditions.
13. To prescribe dubious drugs to cure cough in children.
There was a time when nobody watched what drugs to whom issued not checked as they are per person. For example, there was a lot of questionable drugs for baldness. But the most shocking was the cough medicine that contained heroin. At the end of the 19th century, this syrup has become very popular, and was intended for children.
Not surprisingly, soon began to leak information about adults and children who become dependent on medication. In the United States were forbidden to prescribe heroin in 1914, and in 1924 it was banned completely.
12. Him to bleed out, to treat diseases.
In ancient times, doctors believed that blood and other fluids in the body keep in balance to be healthy. One way to observe this balance was to give the patient the bleeding in order to prevent or cure any disease.
The first mention of cupping date back to the 5th century BC, when Hippocrates advised to use this method for “cleansing” the body.
For nearly 2000 years until the end of the 18th century bloodletting was used by the doctors. Today it is considered a pseudoscience, and its inefficiency has been proven.
11. Sleeping with the skull, to get rid of tooth gnashing.
Before doctors began to understand the human anatomy, for the treatment of diseases has attracted mages and priests. They believed that most ailments arise because of the demons or was sent by the gods as punishment.
In Babylonian times it was used a very strange treatment of a dental rasp. It was believed that tooth gnashing was triggered by the ghosts of dead relatives who tried to contact the person. A week sleep with a human skull had to help. The skull had to hug and kiss.
10. Mummies and cannibalism for the treatment of various diseases.
Throughout history in almost every part of the world healers used treatment cannibalism. The ancient Romans believed that if drinking the blood of a Gladiator, it’ll cure seizures. In the 17th century in England, king Charles drank a drink called “Royal drop”. It was made from crushed human skull and alcohol. It was believed that this drink restored health and vitality.
In the 16th century in Europe there appeared a strange being treatment – Egyptian mummies were sold in batches as medicine. However, few who knew that mummy was, in fact, recently killed slaves and not actual mummies. A couple of centuries ago, people believed that bleeding helped powdered mummy.
9. Stale urine to whiten teeth.
The ancient Romans used to rinse your mouth with urine to make their teeth were white and shiny. Moreover, we are not talking about normal urine, and that for a long time kept in tanks, as it was believed that it operates more efficiently. The urine produced ammonia, which served as a bleaching agent.
It is also worth noting that human urine is sometimes not enough, so as a substitute used animal urine.
8. Cigarette for treatment of asthma.
Today, the negative effects of Smoking, but in ancient times people believed that the inhalation of smoke helps to treat cough, asthma and other problems with the respiratory tract. When did cigarettes, some of them are advertised just for those who suffered from asthma, and doctors even recommended Smoking.
Warning labels on cigarette packs have started to glue in 1966, when there was a lot of information about the dangers of Smoking. Prior to this, even children could easily and legally buy cigarettes.
7. Crocodile dung as a contraceptive.
Women today can choose among a variety of contraceptives, which appeared due to the development of medicine. In the 16th century, there were condoms, and what people used before?
For centuries there were many different “birth control”, including the piece of cloth that has been dipped in various liquids. But in ancient Egypt, one of the most popular contraceptive was crocodile dung. It was quite pricey, and it is unknown how exactly he could be used, but we know that it led to infection.
6. Mercury as a medicine.
Today it is hard to imagine, but many years ago people swallowed the mercury specifically. This metal, about 1000 years ago amazed people who considered it medicinal. Several centuries ago there was ointment of mercury, which was used for healing wounds and treating skin diseases.
Doctors have prescribed mercury for syphilis and typhoid. Naturally, when patients began to “treated”, they showed symptoms of mercury poisoning such as severe muscle cramps, chest pain, shortness of breath, but in the end it leads to death.
5. Overdose of schizophrenics with insulin.
Schizophrenia is a terrible disease, because of which the patient may find it difficult to understand what is real and what is not. Appears paranoia and strange behavior. Today there’s a drug that can help the patient, but the special neuroleptic drugs appeared only in 1960-ies.
Until that time, there were several unhelpful ways to cope with the disease. One of them is called “Insulin shock therapy”. It was introduced in 1927 and used in the 1940s and 1950s. The patient was regularly injected with large doses of insulin, which were introduced in a coma. While the patient was in a coma, the doctor had given him a shock therapy (hit him with electricity).
4. Lobotomy to “cure” mental illness.
One word “lobotomy” makes many dark pictures in his head. What is this procedure? The doctor inserts a sharp tool, like a knitting needle or ice pick through the eye socket of the patient and excised or sever the frontal, parietal, temporal or occipital lobes from other brain areas. The doctor sees what’s going on inside the head.
This operation is often used in the period between 1940 and 1950-and for years to treat patients from a mental illness. Fortunately a little later, this procedure completely abolished.
Healed surgery anyone? The results are different. In some patients the situation is worse, some committed suicide, others became more obedient and take care of them easier. However, do to cure someone most likely failed.
3. The red-hot metal rod for the treatment of hemorrhoids.
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Modern medicine knows several harmless ways to treat hemorrhoids, but in the past it was not so simple.
In ancient times to get rid of hemorrhoids, the patient had to undress while the doctor nakalyaet fire a thin metal rod. When the web has already become a white filament, the doctor inserted it into the anus of the patient. And, of course, at that time, there was no question about anesthesia.
2. Weeks to lie in bed to cure “hysteria”.
Today’s women definitely would not like to be in the 1800-ies. At that time, women who read for too long and wanted to get the right to vote, were considered “hysterical”. They were sent to asylums, where they passed the strange treatment.
Women were forced to lie on the bed for at least 6 weeks. They were just lying and had no right to read, draw or speak. As the doctors at that time believed that women had stronger mental health than thin, those who were chained to the beds, ate mostly bread, butter, milk and lamb chops. Thus, thin women became full.
1. The use of urine to diagnose patients.
Modern medicine allows doctors to use a variety of methods of diagnostic scanners, blood tests, x-ray machines.
However, before this doctor did carry small pouches with the basic tools, and they had to rely only on their senses to identify the diagnosis. They could only work with what they are able to see, touch, hear, smell and taste.
They decided that the taste of urine can be determine, for example, diabetics as the urine of such patients attracted ants, and also had a sweet odor. Doctors began to taste the urine of patients and determine whether the person suffers from high blood sugar levels.
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