Friday, August 9, 2013

Wondering how far medicine has advanced (Part 2)

As I promised you on last Tuesday's blog posting, that I would continue further on that subject and I always try to keep my word.  So here is part 2.  Will there be a part 3?  Maybe, but not sure when.  But first let me get off the subject some.  I listed some medical uses of mummies.  But did you know that they were so plentiful that they even used them for fuel for their locomotives instead of hard to find coal or wood?  Yep, even Mark Twain saw this on his trip through Egypt and he claims he heard an engineer call out. "Damn these plebeians, they don't burn worth a cent!  Pass out a King!"

Here are some interesting medical cures that no most doctors of today do not recommend or prescribe:

  For a plague sore - cut a live pigeon in half and apply half to the sore to draw out the venom.
  For headache - apply the noose of a hanged man.
  For gout - take rasping from a hanged man's skull.
  As a snuff - snort moss from a hanged man's skull.
  As an unguent - apply baby's fat.
  For satyriasis (the male version of nymphomania) - "leap into a great vessel of cold water or put nettles in the codpiece."

Now I am not sure if any of the above would work, except maybe for the last one.  That would definitely cure what ailed that guy!!

Other unusual medicines were made from lice, the tale of a lizard, preparations of toad, unicorn's horn, bezoar (a stone supposedly found in the stomach of an Asian goat), and a lot more stuff I am not going to list here; I am already getting sick. . .

Strange medical cures were not only the "in" thing back then but in recent times.  In the 1950's they used radiation for a lot of things.  It was thought to be the new cure all.  I know from experience.  The doctor ordered X-ray treatments on my tonsils and adenoids to burn them out.  The doctor said it would take a lot of "treatments".  After the second one, seeing all the protective gear and how careful the technician was to avoid the X-rays, my Mom stopped the process after the second visit.  Thanks Mom!!  Of course some good may have come from completing the X-ray treatments.  I could save on electricity the rest of my life since I would glow in the dark (grin).  Now, it makes me wonder if what the physicians are practicing today will be deemed witchcraft tomorrow. . . Now, stay away from doctors and have yourself a very great day, you hear?

17 comments:

  1. Wish I could,,hate all these meds I have. Want to chunk em all most of the time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chemo scares the bejeesus out of me. What other "cure" can kill you faster than the ailment?

    Of course our present medical treatments will be consider barbaric! They ARE!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Trouble, I know what you are saying, wish I could, too. But now it is too late.

    lotta joy, I don't think any of them do us any good. I used to have a very good alternative doctor but she got old and retired to Arizona. We all seem to get old no matter how hard we fight it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Now, it makes me wonder if what the physicians are practicing today will be deemed witchcraft tomorrow. . . "

    You aren't the only one Dizzy. Twice I was prescribed meds that were later taken off the market. Never took them, and it's a good thing.

    Your mom was a smart woman.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now my wife researches everything to make sure what the doctor ordered is the right thing. Isn't the internet wonderful?

      Delete
  5. It's funny how some of the "old" remedies resurface many years later and are found to be helpful. My Mom (born in 1915) told me about onion and mustard plasters on her chest for congestion (sounds like stuff you'd put on a hamburger, doesn't it?), and just think how good vinegar is for everything from cleaning windows to adding a tablespoon or so to a glass of your drinking water. Bill & I eat lots of garlic... we may not have a lot of friends but we sure do ward off evil spirits ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Odd Essay, When I was a kid I had mustard plasters put on my chest a few times. Didn't come off too east. Also washed windows with vinegar in water. You know garlic will also cure a lot of things, keeps everyone away, even the doctors (grin).

      Delete
  6. I love garlic. I make a dip out of sour cream, garlic (a lot of raw garlic), salt and pepper. Beer and pretzels round out the perfect snack. My husband is not a fan, he gives me the evil eye after I eat it. I love how the raw garlic burns in my mouth. My husband is not happy when I exhale garlic for days afterward.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Garlic is good and it also keeps the vampires away.

      Delete
  7. WHERE in the world did you get this information ... HAHaaa what fun .... moss from a hanged man's skull? wth ... they just laid hung people out in a field? and moss grew on it.

    for snuff?

    man

    I'm skeptical of doctors because I figure I might just walk in at the time her or his son/daughter needed a Ferrari ... and I would be the payee of said Ferrari.

    I'm just hoping I wake up dead one morning and be done with it ... I'm not kidding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look back at this blog posting of mine: http://dizzydick.blogspot.com/2013/08/wandering-to-flea-market-for-blog.html

      The info came out of that book that I got at the flea market, titled "Weird History 101". The doctor told me that the disease I have will kill me but at my age I may die first. Either way, I end up the same. . .

      Delete
    2. ah ... yes, I read that post haaaa blog fodder....

      Are you serious about a disease you have?

      Delete
    3. Carolyn, yes, I have CCL, a form of cronic leukimia which is a cancer of the bone marrow so radiation isn't affective because it is shielded by bone which absorbs most of it and Chemo doesn't work becuase there is very little, if any, blood flow in the bone marrow. But, so far, I feel great and will keep going on as long as I can keep going on. I didn't expect to live this long anyway. My sense of humor will not let me feel sorry for myself. (grin)

      Delete
    4. bummer, Dizzy... well if a sense of humor can cure... you got it f'sure. dang

      Delete
    5. I try to play the sympathy card when my wife wife wants me to do something, but it doesn't seem to work anymore, maybe I played that card once too often (grin).

      Delete
  8. I think the great vessel of cold water would be a bit better than nettles! (I can't stop laughing).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That probably depends on what you do with the nettles (grin).

      Delete