Runny nose

The most terrible procedures in medicine. What was your most unpleasant medical procedure? Removing a bunion

The history of medicine is full of wild tales of strange treatments and medical procedures in which pain and suffering played an important role. Despite the noble and sincere desire of doctors to find humane ways to rid patients of their illnesses, sometimes some of the medical procedures were much more dangerous than the disease itself.

We present to you 25 examples from the list of the craziest treatments in the history of medicine. Let's just say we are lucky to live in our time...

(Total 25 photos)

Post sponsor: http://torgoborud.com.ua/Lari-morozilnye.html: Professional commercial equipment for restaurants, shops, canteens and fast food in Ukraine
Source: list25.com

1. Clyster for a better quality of life.

People of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries called a clyster a regular enema. Of course, there is nothing wrong with an enema, as it is still widely used today, particularly to treat constipation. The problem here is different, namely, what ingredients were put into an enema before the 20th century: warm water mixed with salt, baking soda, soap, coffee, bran, chamomile or even honey (!). And for some strange reason, the upper class loved it. It is believed that Louis XIV was a big fan of enemas and was given them more than 2,000 times during his life.

2. Treatment of hemorrhoids with hot iron.

Thanks to modern medicine, there are many ways to deal with even the most serious cases of hemorrhoids, and without pain. Unfortunately, our ancestors did not have such opportunities. In the past, there were no painkillers or high-tech lasers to get rid of hemorrhoids. Therefore, doctors found their own method: hot iron, which was used to burn out swollen veins. Need I remind you that no one had heard of anesthesia at that time?

3. Moldy bread was considered an excellent medicine.

In ancient China and Greece, moldy bread was pressed against wounds to prevent infection. In Egypt, moldy wheat bread was also applied to purulent wounds on the head, and the “medicinal soil” was valued for its supposed healing qualities. Such practices were believed to pay respect to the spirits or gods responsible for illness and suffering. Allegedly, having been satisfied with this treatment, they left and left the patient alone.

4. Snail syrup for treating the throat and ears.

It may seem incredible today, given how many medically approved syrups are now on the market, but one of the best has been considered for centuries... snail syrup. Allegedly, he helped everyone who suffered from a sore throat and cough. Some doctors even picked poor snails out of their shells and inserted them into the ears of patients to relieve inflammation.

5. Dog poop for a sore throat.

In the book “The Popularization of Medicine” (1650-1850), written by the British historian Roy Porter, who paid special attention to the history of medicine, you can read that doctors once came up with the “wonderful” idea of treating a sore throat with album graecum. And don’t let the beautiful Latin name fool you - it’s just dried dog droppings. Who said that modern medicine is terrible?

6. Scorpios for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

Most of us would shudder at the thought of being in a room with a scorpion, but many villages in the Thai province of Lopburi, near Bangkok, use "scorpion wine" to treat problems such as impotence. According to local traditions, scorpions are believed to help in the treatment of many diseases related to the sexual sphere, and this type of medicine is especially popular among the male population. The scary thing is that even in 2014 there are people who still believe that this is really true.

7. Smoking supposedly cures asthma.

Want to hear something funny? Long before all these anti-smoking advertisements appeared, one could see just the opposite picture - a lot of advertisements encouraging smoking. It sounds absurd, but in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, inhaling the fumes from burning tobacco was considered one of the most effective ways to treat asthma - without success, of course. When scientists finally realized the catastrophic effects of nicotine on the human body, this treatment was ridiculed.

8. Mummy powder was the aspirin of the Arab world.

In the 12th century, the Arabs conquered much of North Africa, including Egypt, and it was then that they began grinding up mummies to use the powder for medicinal purposes. The method of application was both external and internal, and the frequency with which the “magic powder” was used is simply amazing. It has been used to treat almost everything from common headaches to more serious problems such as stomach ulcers and muscle pain.

9. Ecstasy for manic-depressive patients.

In the late 60s and early 70s, the motto “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll” was so powerful in Western society that even the smart people of this world, whom we call scientists, succumbed to the new cultural trend. How else to explain the fact that some psychiatrists suggested using ecstasy - a drug that killed thousands of young people in the 90s - in psychotherapy?

10. Sheep liver was used in Mesopotamia for diagnostic purposes.

Who needs blood tests, scans, x-rays and other "nonsense" when a sheep liver can tell you everything you need to know about a patient's condition? In Mesopotamia several thousand years ago, the liver was considered the only true source of life, and local "doctors" believed that the liver of a sacrificed sheep could show them what their patient was suffering from. Based on this assumption, they determined the “correct” method of treatment.

11. Crocodile droppings for birth control.

Another shocking medical breakthrough, again from Ancient Egypt. Dried crocodile dung was very expensive, and men who could afford it bought it for women. The droppings... ahem... were placed in a woman's vagina, in the belief that it would form a certain barrier when it reached the woman's body temperature. It was believed to be an effective method of contraception. In reality, women risked contracting a serious infection, which led to equally serious illnesses or even death.

12. Bloodletting “forced” the disease to leave the body along with the blood.

Ancient doctors of Greece, Egypt and other countries of the world believed that bleeding from a vein was an excellent way to get rid of various diseases. This treatment was especially recommended for indigestion and acne, but the only real benefits of this treatment were discovered many centuries later. It turned out that in some patients (in rare cases) it helped reduce high blood pressure. The strangest thing here is that this method of treatment began to be used in antiquity and was used until the 19th century.

13. Paraffin wax against aging.

If you thought that anti-aging treatments like Botox were modern inventions, then you are mistaken. Back in the 19th century, highly revered Western doctors used paraffin injections to smooth out wrinkles and make a person look “younger.” In addition, paraffin was also injected into the breasts of older women to make them appear more perky. However, after noticing painful consequences (also known as paraffinomas) after these procedures, doctors gradually stopped using this method.

14. Mercury is a universal medicine.

Believe it or not, dangerous mercury was once considered the most effective cure for almost everything from syphilis to tuberculosis, depression and migraines; In short, mercury was a medical hit in the 19th century. Even Abraham Lincoln took blue pills containing mercury during periods of depression, although he quit in 1861 when he noticed that they led to uncontrollable outbursts of rage. In 2010, those same blue pills from the President of the United States were exhibited in a museum and analyzed by the Royal Society of Chemistry. It turned out that they could cause insomnia, mood changes and worsen cognitive function.

15. Heroin syrup for cough and insomnia.

Friedrich Bayer, legendary entrepreneur and founder of Bayer AG (a giant German chemical and pharmaceutical company with annual revenues of 40 billion euros), began his professional medical career in 1898 by selling heroin syrup. Allegedly, this remedy cured coughs and other ailments such as insomnia and back pain. Needless to say, many patients are addicted to this medicine?

16. Dead mouse paste for toothache.

The ancient Egyptians are famous for their contribution to the development of civilization, but dental treatment is not one of them. Why? Well, in ancient Egypt, crushed dead mice mixed with other ingredients were used to relieve toothache. Naturally, this miracle paste had to be applied to the sore tooth. Needless to say, many patients eventually died from more serious illnesses caused by infection.

17. Goat testicles are a cure for male impotence.

John Brinkley, one of the greatest swindlers in 20th-century medical history, became one of America's richest men by promising to cure male impotence by implanting goat testicles into a man's scrotum. Of course, all this turned out to be a dangerously illiterate method and cost the lives of many poor people who dared to trust this clown.

18. Cannibalism is a cure for muscle cramps.

For patients who developed muscle cramps, constant headaches or stomach ulcers from hard physical labor, doctors in Ancient Rome and Egypt prescribed an elixir that contained human flesh, blood and bones. Seriously. This was the so-called cadaveric medicine, such medicines were used quite often, and many records have been preserved about them. The Romans, in particular, were probably the biggest fans of this treatment. They believed that the blood of fallen gladiators could cure epilepsy. This led to some merchants collecting and selling the blood of killed gladiators and making good money from it.

19. A “sugar coma” could cure you of schizophrenia.

There was a time (even in the 20th century) when people who suffered from severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia were treated worse than animals, and this is not an exaggeration. A patient with severe depression or schizophrenia has most likely had a lobotomy. But some lucky ones were prescribed more “human” treatments, such as an insulin coma. Despite the high risk (there were far more deaths than successful ones), insulin coma was rapidly gaining momentum throughout Europe, and many specialized departments were even built for this procedure. Needless to say, along with lobotomy and other inhumane treatments, the insulin coma was another unsuccessful idea that tarnished the name of psychiatry.

20. Malaria treating syphilis.

To begin with, it is worth saying that malaria can actually kill syphilis through fever: the temperature rises high enough to kill the bacteria that causes syphilis. This discovery was made by Dr. Julius Wagner-Jauregg, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1927 for his “breakthrough.” But over time, scientists realized that saving a patient from one disease, only to have a second one finish him off, is not exactly an achievement.

21. Dolphin therapy.

In Peru and some other countries it is still believed that if a pregnant woman is touched by a dolphin, the neural development of the fetus will be much better. This "dolphin therapy" is widespread in Peru, and pregnant women from all over the world come here to stimulate their baby's brain development in the womb. Organizers of such events claim that the high-frequency sounds made by dolphins enhance and develop a child’s neural abilities. Sounds like a great script for a Christopher Nolan or John Carpenter film.

22. Lobotomy.

Of course, this barbaric, terrible and ineffective method of treatment could not help but make it onto our list. Lobotomy, which was practiced in many countries even into the 20th century, consisted of cutting out the prefrontal cortex - the front part of the brain's frontal lobes. As a result of the procedure, the patient turned into a vegetable. The worst thing is that the inventor of the prefrontal lobotomy, António Egas Moniz, received the Nobel Prize in Psychology or Medicine in 1949 “for the discovery of the therapeutic effects of leucotomy in certain mental diseases.”

23. “Compassion Powder.”

In Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, fencing was the most popular male activity, but, unfortunately, it was also the cause of many serious injuries and frequent deaths. However, thanks to Sir Kenelm Digby and his invention called "sympathy powder", this problem was about to be solved. How? Apparently, if a fencer applied this ointment to his rapier (and it consisted of worms, pig brains, rust and pieces of mummified corpses), then it helped his opponent’s wound heal faster. Digby himself called this healing process “merciful magic.” The strangest thing is that there were fools who bought this nonsense.

24. Resection of half the tongue is a cure for stuttering.

This brutal treatment is still used in modern medicine in extreme cases such as oral cancer, where part of the tongue is removed to save the patient's life. Of course, now such operations are performed under general anesthesia and with the participation of experienced doctors who know what they are doing. But if you had been a stutterer in the 18th century and were looking for a way to solve the problem, doctors would have advised you to remove half your tongue. And if the patient was lucky and did not die from painful shock and blood loss, then his problem would go away simply because he could no longer speak.

25. Craniotomy “saved” headaches.

Migraines, seizures, mental disorders, or head injuries could lead to pain or strange behavior. In ancient times, the only solution to this problem was to drill holes in the skull (do not forget that anesthesia did not exist then). Why not? After all, what's the best way to forget about pain? Cause the person even more pain!

photo: neuroplus.ru

There are medical procedures that are simple and not scary, but on the contrary, there are terrible and unpleasant ones, and I’ll tell you about the latter.

The most unpleasant procedure I have had to do is angiography. Do not do it voluntarily, only according to doctors' indications. This is a very unpleasant and painful procedure. How did I find her? Absolutely by accident. I had an MRI of the cerebral vessels, where they revealed 2 (!) aneurysms. As it turns out, this is a serious disease that often causes sudden death. I was admitted to the hospital and the examination began. One of the procedures was angiography.

This is me after an angiography, they immediately applied a tourniquet

They put you on a table, you lie naked, covered with a sheet, there are many people in white coats around, a lot of equipment and various sensors. They smear your groin with alcohol so much so that everything burns. Then they pierce the artery in the groin to the bone with a huge needle. It was hellish pain. They inject a coloring liquid into your blood and look at your blood vessels on the screen. One of the sensors circles around your head, when it gets closer, there is intense heat in your head and you are on the verge of losing consciousness. Then you jump onto the gurney on your own, like a caterpillar, but you cannot bend your limb, otherwise you will be covered in blood. Then they apply a tourniquet tightly, causing a huge bruise on the body. You can't walk. So you lie on your back for a day, go to the toilet under yourself (in a duck), then slowly walk with a limp. Such a procedure cost about 10 thousand 3 years ago, but if it is a referral from a doctor, then of course it is free. Thanks to angiography, the doctors saw that there were no aneurysms, none at all, and the vessels were clean. Everyone exhaled. Later they added that aneurysms are best seen with a CT scan, and not with an MRI, and if there is no headache, then most likely there are no aneurysms, and my head really doesn’t hurt at all.

photo: interclinik.ru

The second unpleasant procedure that I remember was gastroscopy. I went through it twice and always felt very sick and there were fountains of tears from my eyes. It is done when you need to check your stomach. You have to swallow a large and long cord, while your mouth is treated so that it doesn’t feel anything, but your throat still hurts. As soon as I remember, the gag reflex appears again. They say that there are some painless techniques, but I did it for free on referral in a regular hospital and the sensations were terrible. What’s interesting is that the first time gastroscopy showed that I had gastritis, but 2-3 years after proper nutrition it showed that I was healthy, I was really surprised.

photo: almazovcentre.ru

The third terrible procedure in my memory is MRI of the brain. But here, too, it may depend on the device. I did it twice: for the cerebral vessels (costs about 2 thousand rubles 3 years ago) and separately for the head. So, when they made the vessels, it didn’t seem so scary, the apparatus crackled and that’s all. But today I had an MRI of the brain (thank you, it’s free, with a doctor’s referral). They put me in a huge apparatus, like a coffin. And then explosions began, as if a neighbor was drilling a wall with a hammer drill, but for some reason he was doing it with your head. The sounds were very strong and unpleasant, I had a headache, and after that I walked around as if in a fog, the condition was so disgusting. So you had to lie in the device for 15-20 minutes, which is quite a lot, it seems like an eternity, as if everyone had forgotten about you. The procedure is not at all pleasant, I would not have gone voluntarily, but then the doctors themselves directed it. I don't know the result yet.

Tell us, what terrible medical procedures have you undergone?

Each of us has undergone preventive examinations more than once: at school and university, when applying for a medical record or passing a military commission. Walking through the offices of doctors tired of dozens of patients, wasting hours of life in queues to see specialists whose qualifications are sometimes questionable - these are the main reasons that the culture of clinical examination is not particularly instilled in our population.

The life hacker is convinced: it’s worth taking care of your health even when nothing hurts. The disease is more treatable in the early stages, and identifying risk factors before symptoms appear is a sure way to save both health and money. And for those who are not tempted by the services of free medicine, there are private clinics and testing laboratories that allow you to conduct a “technical examination” of your body, bypassing municipal hospitals.

Examination by a dentist

Visiting the dentist at least once every six months should not be neglected, even if nothing hurts. An examination by a specialist will reveal hidden areas of caries, abnormal tooth growth or gum disease at an early stage.

Weighing

Blood pressure (BP) measurement

The blood pressure norm for each person is individual; it is generally accepted that the indicators of a person aged 20–30 years should be in the region of 100–130/70–90 mm Hg. Art. If your blood pressure readings differ significantly from those indicated, then you should not postpone your appointment with a therapist. Also helpful: A heart rate below 50 beats per minute and above 100 beats per minute is considered abnormal and requires evaluation by a doctor.

Colonoscopy

An indispensable procedure for diagnosing intestinal diseases, which is recommended to be performed every two years. Many people neglect it because of the unpleasant sensations that arise during the examination, but modern medicine offers the procedure under anesthesia.

Examination by a neurologist

Do not forget that many diseases are neurological in nature, and the list of their symptoms is very extensive. A preventive visit to a neurologist’s office will help prevent the development of such diseases.

Tetanus and diphtheria vaccination

Vaccination against tetanus and diphtheria is necessary every 10 years.

Hepatitis vaccination

This is all?

No, not everything. Do not forget that when you reach the age mark of 40–45 years and are predisposed to certain diseases, the list of recommended procedures will have to be expanded. It is necessary to carefully monitor to prevent exacerbation of existing chronic diseases and remission of those from which you have been cured. In this case, the individual list of recommended procedures will also increase. Do not neglect visiting your doctor on time and stay healthy.

Surgical and medical treatments come and go. For example, modern doctors oppose the use of arthroscopic surgery to treat certain knee problems. Such operations are slowly becoming a thing of the past due to ineffectiveness, but some treatments have fallen out of favor because they were more like torture. We invite you to learn about the most unpleasant and unusual ones.

1. Trepanation

Trephination (drilling or scraping a hole in the skull) is the oldest form of surgery known to scientists. It was carried out back in the Neolithic. It's difficult to say why people started trepanning, but some experts believe that they wanted to get rid of the "demons" inside the skull. The most amazing thing is that many people underwent this procedure and lived for many years after it was performed. Scientists managed to find out this thanks to ancient skulls on which traces of healing are visible.

Although doctors no longer make holes in patients' skulls to rid them of restless spirits, some continue to perform the procedure to relieve pressure on the brain. For example, a general practitioner at a community hospital in Australia used a power drill he found in a staff closet to drill a hole into the skull of a 13-year-old boy. Without this operation, the child would have died due to a blood clot in the brain.

2. Lobotomy

It’s hard to believe, but a procedure even more cruel than trepanation was popular among doctors of the 20th century. A lobotomy involves using a leukotome tool, similar to an ice pick, to sever connections in the prefrontal lobe of the brain. The procedure itself was invented not so long ago, in 1935, by the Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz. A year later, a lobotomy was performed for the first time in the United States. Walter Freeman, who became an evangelist for a new form of “psychosurgery,” was not afraid to do this. He traveled all over the country performing the procedure on thousands of unfortunate patients.

Instead of a leukotome, Freeman used real ice tongs, which he inserted into the patient's skull through the corner of the eye socket using a hammer. Then he swung these tongs in the hole. Needless to say, this entire procedure was carried out without anesthesia. Patients most likely lost consciousness due to painful shock.

Fortunately, advances in the development of psychiatric drugs led to a decline in the popularity of lobotomy in the 1960s. The last two procedures were performed by Freeman in 1967. One of the patients died of a cerebral hemorrhage three days later.

3. Lithotomy

Ancient Greek, Roman, Persian and Hindu texts talk about a procedure known as lithotomy, which was performed to remove stones from the bladder. During lithotomy, the patient had to lie on his back while the doctor inserted a blade into the bladder through the perineum. The surgeon then used fingers or surgical instruments to insert them into the rectum or urethra to remove the stone. The procedure was too painful and the mortality rate reached 50%.

Lithotomy began to lose its popularity only in the 19th century, and was soon replaced by more humane methods of stone extraction. Additionally, healthy diets in the 20th century helped reduce the number of patients with bladder stones.

4. Rhinoplasty (old school)

In the 16th century, syphilis began to spread in Italy. It is generally accepted that the first infected were Italian sailors returning home from the exploited territories of America (the so-called Columbian Exchange).

This sexually transmitted disease is characterized by quite severe symptoms, for example, decomposition of the bridge of the nose. Such a deformation of the nose indicated imprudence, and therefore many infected people decided to have an operation that would help hide this symptom.

Italian surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzi developed a method that helped hide the deformation of the nose. He created a new nose using tissue from the patient's arm, and then covered the "fake" with skin from the shoulder, which was still attached to the limb at the time. Once the skin graft was securely attached (approximately three weeks), the skin was separated from the arm. Cases have been reported of patients' new noses turning purple or even falling off during the cold winter months. Today, syphilis can be cured relatively easily with a course of antibiotics.

5. Bleeding

In modern medicine, blood loss is generally considered a bad sign. However, for 2000 years, bloodletting was one of the most common procedures performed by surgeons.

The procedure was based on the flawed scientific theory that there are four types of fluid in the human body: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. It was believed that it was the imbalance of these fluids that led to disease. This is why doctors opened superficial veins, and in some cases arteries, to release blood in an attempt to restore balance to these important body fluids. Lancets and blades were used to perform the procedure. Bloodletting was usually carried out over several days. In the West, bloodletting was popular until the 19th century. In 1838, Henry Clutterbuck, a lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians, argued that "bloodletting is a remedy which, when used wisely, cannot be overestimated."

6. Beer will revive the dead

Finally, there is one more medical procedure, the description of which is first found in the earliest Egyptian medical texts. It was believed that half an onion and foamy beer could cure... death. Is it any wonder why this remedy didn’t catch on?