Elite Facts Presents
10 Worst Medical Treatments Ever
10.
Ancient Egyptians thought a dead mouse would ease toothache pain.
In some cases, mashed mouse was blended with other ingredients, and the resulting paste
was applied to the painful spot.
Egyptians weren't the only ones big on mouse cures.
In Elizabethan England, one remedy for warts was to cut a mouse in half and apply it to
the offending spot.
Mice were also used to treat whooping cough, measles, smallpox, and bed-wetting.
9.
What's the best treatment for stuttering?
Doctors in the 18th and 19th centuries often cut off half the stutter's tongue.
Hemiglossectomy is still used today, but as a treatment for oral cancer.
And now it's done under general anesthesia, which wasn't the case back in the day.
And pain was only one problem.
The treatment didn't work, and some patients bled to death.
8.
Clysters - aka enemas - are thought to have been used since ancient times.
They were particularly fashionable from the 17th through the 19th centuries.
Wealthy people used them to treat constipation as well as a variety of other complaints,
for which they are useless.
In high society, enemas became enormously popular, with aristocratic hypochondriacs
taking several scented enemas a day.
During his time on the throne, Louis XIV of France is said to have had more than 2,000
enemas.
7.
Digby thought that the strange concoction would somehow encourage the wound itself to
heal - via a process called "sympathetic magic."
. It was made of earthworms, pigs' brains, iron oxide (rust), and bits of mummified corpses,
ground into a powder.
The powder was applied not to the wound itself but to the offending weapon.
6.
Seventeenth century medicine can seem a bit crazy to modern people, but perhaps nothing
seems wackier than Sir Kenelm Digby's "Powder Of Sympathy."
The powder was intended as a treatment for a very specific injury: rapier wounds
Snake oil hasn't always been a just euphemism for quack medical treatments.
For centuries, oil from the Chinese water snake was an actual treatment used in traditional
Chinese medicine to relieve joint pain.
In fact, it's still used today.
Snake oil seems to have been brought to America by Chinese laborers who worked on the Transcontinental
Railroad.
This was backbreaking work, and the laborers are thought to have rubbed the oil on their
aching joints.
5.
In 1863, Italian chemist Angelo Mariani came up with a healing tonic containing red wine
treated with coca leaves.
Vin Mariani, as the brew was known, was a hit - perhaps not surprising, as coca leaves
contain cocaine.
Ads claimed the drink was endorsed by 8,000 doctors and was ideal for "overworked men,
delicate women, and sickly children."
It was enjoyed by Thomas Edison, Queen Victoria, to name a few.
It sold briskly in the U.S., where it helped inspire a certain similar product.
It was called Coca-Cola.
4.
Hitler was a hypochondriac.
His doctor injected his buttocks with vitamins - sometimes laced with crystal meth.
As one observer remarked, the injections helped keep Hitler fresh, alert, and active
Albert Speer considered the Furher's crystal meth addiction one reason for his rigid tactics
in the later stages of World War II, when he would refuse to allow troops to retreat
even under the most dire circumstances.
3.
In the early 1900s, John Brinkley became one of the richest doctors in America, despite
having no medical qualifications.
He claimed he could cure impotence, infertility, and other sexual problems by surgically implanting
goat testicles into a man's scrotum.
The surgery had no scientific merit and was extremely dangerous.
Many patients died.
2.
In the Middle Ages, some doctors believed "like cures like."
So when confronted by the Black Death - thought to be caused by deadly vapors - they were
convinced that the key to fighting the disease was to use a bit of "therapeutic stink."
Some recommended flatulence stored in jars.
Each time the deadly pestilence appeared in the neighborhood, people were to open the
jars and take a whiff.
1.
Think condoms are a drag?
In ancient Egypt, the contraceptive of choice was crocodile dung.
Dried dung was inserted into the woman, the idea being that it would soften as it reached
body temperature to form an impenetrable barrier.
Other contraceptive "pessaries" used back in the day included tree sap, sea sponges,
and elephant dung.
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