Strange medical procedures that were considered healing in the past

These medical practices and beliefs (whether ancient or fairly recent) look ridiculous or even wild in the eyes of a 21st century person. Although the ancient Egyptians sincerely believed that the brain cools the blood, and the heart is responsible for the intellect and thoughts, even Hippocrates himself gave out strange diagnoses, for example, about the uterus wandering around the body. So how were our ancestors treated?

Mercury treatments

According to legend, the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, calmed down in a grave surrounded by rivers of liquid mercury. It was with her help that he longed to gain immortality and died from her, before he reached the age of 40.

Mercury has been used as an antiseptic and to treat skin sores, and has also been added to saline solutions and cosmetics. Syphilis was treated by her. There is only one side effect of mercury procedures: slow death.

Tobacco smoke enema

In the 17th-18th century, the resuscitator's kit included a spicy tobacco enema, for which an innovative device was developed by those standards: rubber rectal tubes and a couple of bellows. Doctors believed that tobacco smoke could warm up an almost dead body and restore breathing. At first, drowned people were resuscitated with such an enema, and then it became a fashionable way to treat everything: colds, headaches, hernia, typhoid fever and cholera. By 1811, scientists discovered the toxic effects of nicotine on the heart, and this enema fell into disuse.

swivel chairs

The swivel chair became the epitome of humane treatment of the mentally ill in the 19th century. Chaining, keeping in a dark room, ice showers, laxatives, insulin coma, or frontal lobotomy did not give much effect. Patients were now elegantly seated in a chair and spun around until the poor fellow passed out. It was believed that such a carousel could shake the brain and get rid of schizophrenia and other mental disorders.

radioactive water

In the early 1900s, radioactive water was wildly popular for treating mental illness and preventing aging. It has even been used to treat diarrhea and malaria. Radium was added not only to water, but also to sweets, contraceptives, suppositories, and toothpaste. Spa lovers began to visit radium spas. Today we know that radiation exposure is fatal, and although the body is able to filter out about 80% of radium toxins, the remaining 20% accumulate in the bones, blood and tissues.

Vibrators for the treatment of female hysteria

Once upon a time, doctors knew for sure that women do not experience orgasms. However, it was believed that women were prone to such a disorder as hysteria, and therefore they needed special therapy to achieve the “hysterical paroxysm”, which we, in fact, now call the female orgasm. It must be said that pelvic massages have been popular for centuries, starting in ancient Greece as a way to treat a "wandering uterus" until the 1920s. The first electric vibrator appeared even before the vacuum cleaner! Of course, for use solely for medicinal purposes.

Leeches and bloodletting

A long time ago, people went to the barber not only for a shave and a haircut, but also to extract a tooth, fix a broken arm, or bleed. Initially, it was practiced as a way to expel evil spirits from the body, and then as a treatment for either nosebleeds or pneumonia. The then humoral medicine believed that there should be a balance of four fluids in the body: sputum, yellow and black bile and blood, and bloodletting was the main method of maintaining this balance. Then, for these purposes, they already began to use leeches, and not lancets, with which they opened a vein. Hirudotherapy is still used today, only the approach to these procedures has become more scientific.

OTC morphine and opiates

Morphine was once the main medicine in the first aid kit. Although it is still used as a pain reliever in medicine today, in the past it was a popular remedy for colds, insomnia, and menstrual cramps. Opiate-based syrups were used to soothe even children when they were teething. In 1900 it was possible to buy all sorts of patent drugs based on cocaine, heroin, morphine and opium without a prescription.

trepanation of the skull

Drilling a hole in the patient's skull (without any anesthesia) was considered an effective treatment in antiquity. Trepanation is one of the oldest surgical procedures, dating back to the Mesolithic era. It was constantly used by such medical pioneers as Hippocrates in ancient Greece and Galen in ancient Rome. Ancient medicine relied more on the mystical and ritual nature of this operation, believing that with its help an evil spirit is released as a source of mental illness. For the company of trepanation, they tried to cure migraine and epileptic seizures. Although it sounds barbaric, many patients have survived the procedure. In the 21st century, trepanation also exists, but as a neurosurgical intervention for traumatic brain injuries.

Cannibalism

Today's modern medicine often uses one body to heal another body: blood transfusions and organ transplants. But our ancient ancestors had a whole direction of "cadaveric medicine". Headache? The ancient Egyptians prescribed mummy powder. Sore muscles? Rub these places with human fat. Epilepsy? The Romans believed that the gladiator's blood would help orally, that is, inside. Human organs, fat, bones, blood and mummified remains were considered magical and were used in healing until the 18th century.