Interesting+Cures+of+the+Past

Diseases Were Cured Differently in the Past... Caution: This Page May Make You Extremely Disgusted

Even today kids are scared of going to the doctor for shots and check ups. But imagine if you lived hundreds of years back, when going to the doctor may have been the last trip of your life.

Insulin Shock Therapy- Glucose (sugar)-Induced Comas, or Insulin Shock Therapy, was used particularly in Germany to cure schizophrenia. These comas were induced to control the personalities of those with schizophrenia. Patients were injected with many large doses of glucose to produce daily comas over the period of several weeks. Patients would start with a small dose, increasing over the space of a few days until comas were produced. The dose would then level out. After the patient has gone through 50 or 60 comas, or until the psychiatrist thought the maximum benefit had been achieved, the dosage of glucose per day was rapidly reduced. This caused everything from convulsions, to massive obesity, to restlessness, to sweatiness. The theory was that the patients were "jolted" out of their mental illness.

Heroin Cough Syrup- Heroin was commonly used in cough syrups before it became widely known as the most addictive substance on the planet. In the early 1900's, Bayer sold it as a cough suppressant. Scientists were convinced it was a non-addictive substitute to morphine. Boy, were they wrong! They even tested it on people, who reported they "felt heroic" using the medicine, which is where the name Heroin comes from. As a result, in 1913, hospitals were filled with children who were miserably addicted to something that was supposed to help them feel better.

Icepick to the Brain- Lobotomies were preformed by drilling holes in the head, almost like Trepanation. Luckily, though, one scientist found a way to make the process go faster! Patients were knocked unconscious using electric shock. The doctor would then proceed to stick an icepick through the eye socket of the patient, reaching it up into the brain. Doctors cut off chunks of the brain often, to help those who were mentally ill. Results varied from slightlysuccessful (meaning the patient was still living) to tragic. By the 1960's, thankfully, this practice declined when drugs were released to help mental illness.

Snail Syrup- “They abound with a slimy juice; and are experienced very good in weaknesses and consumption, especially for children and tender constitutions. To make a syrup of snails, take Garden snails, early in the morning while the dew is upon them, one pound; take off their shells; slit them; and with half a pound of sugar, put them in a bag; hang them in a cellar and the syrup will melt and drop through; which keep for use. It possesses in the best manner all the virtues of snails.” wrote one doctor in the year 1728. Snail syrup was used to cure coughs for many, many centuries. Like he said, people would take them, remove their shells, slit them in half, stick them in a bag of sugar, and let the mucus-like substance drip out. Then, they would drink it. Some people even pricked snails to bring out that same juice and drip it into their ears to cure earaches.

Tapeworm Diet- The Tapeworm Diet consists of the dieter eating the parasite's eggs. The eggs would then make their way to your intestines, take root, and hatch into little tapeworms. How lovely. How did this help you diet? The tapeworms would eat all the food you ate, keeping you thin while letting you eat everything you wanted. A popular slogan of this Tapeworm Diet campaign was "Eat, eat, eat and always stay thin!" which was technically true, because the tapeworms would eat all of the nutrients you consumed, keeping you thin. Your stomach, however, rejects the idea of a tapeworm in it and produces a special kind of fluid called acites. This gives you a potbelly, which, if you are dieting, is not what you were hoping for. (right is a picture of an advertisement for the tapeworm diet).

Trepanation- Trepanation is the loveliest of all strange cures. It is literally the process of punching a hole in a person's skull. This practice has been around since the Stone Ages and has been used in many cultures around the world in many different time periods. In the past, the rich and the royalty would use this to cure things such as epileptic seizures, headaches and mental disorders. Doctors, without the help of numbing drugs, would use a special tool called a trepan to drill a hole into the patient's head. The hole was usually one and a half inches in diameter. (below is an interview with a man who is a modern example of trepanation). media type="youtube" key="4vsB-oxHMRw" height="251" width="336" align="center"

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;">Bibliography:

- - -. "Insulin Shock Therapy." //Wikipedia//. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc, 11 May 2012. Web. 15 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Insulin_shock_therapy>.

//Tapeworm Diet Advertisement//. 31 Dec. 2009. //St. Margaret's Community Website//. St. Margaret's Community Website, 31 Dec. 2009. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://www.stmgrts.org.uk/images//diet_4_TAPEWORM.png>.//

//Steph. "Mad Medicine: 14 Crazy Cures from Ages Past."// WebEcoist//. Evolve Media// //Corporation, 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://webecoist.momtastic.com/// //2010/07/12/mad-medicine-14-crazy-cures-from-ages-past/>.//

Snail on a Tree//. N.d.// Snail World//. Infoqis Publishing, n.d. Web. 16 May 2012.// //<http://www.snail-world.com/images/snail-leave-300.jpg>.//

//MVP_51.// Bayer Heroin Bottle//. 23 Oct. 2005.// Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc,// //16 May 2012. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/// //commons/thumb/f/ff/Bayer_Heroin_bottle.jpg/220px-Bayer_Heroin_bottle.jpg>.//

Icepick Lobotomy//. 24 July 2009.// NeuroPhilosophy//. ScienceBlogs LLC, 24 July 2009.// Web. 16 May 2012. <http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/upload/2007/07/dully_icepick450.jpg>. //Sanchez, Ana.// Bobby Lund- Trepanation Interview//.// Youtube//. Youtube Inc, 16 Apr. 2007. Web. 16 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vsB-oxHMRw>.