Radium - peaking in the 1920's it was rumoured to cure remedy diseases, restore youth, and revitalize one's sex life. Devices such as the Cosmos Bag, bottles of Radithor, the Rator-Plac, Revigators an
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...and radiation water
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Top 10 Antique Medical Cures
#2
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Mercury - believed to cure STDs, most notably syphilis. The first great emperor of China, Qin-Shi-Huang, was driven insane and killed by mercury pills he regularly ingested with the belief they'd gra
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...grant him immortality.
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#3
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Blood Letting - diseases were thought to be the result of bad blood so a patient would be cut and drained of this "bad" blood. 1st U.S. president George Washington died after having 3 and 3/4 litres
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drained from him after catching a flu. Religions incorporated the act as the Talmud (a central text of Judaism) included rules for specific days when it could be practiced, early Christian writings recommended the best saint's days for the ritual and Islamic texts referenced it as a treatment for fevers.
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#4
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Lobotomies - patients with conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, panic disorder and "mania" underwent this psychosurgical procedure wherein brain tissue is purposely damaged or extracted. Sid
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Side effects could include increased temperature, vomiting, bladder and bowel incontinence and eye problems, apathy, lethargy, and abnormal sensations of hunger and others.
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#5
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Trepanation - the process of cutting or boring a hole in the skull to relieve a number of neurological ailments and even remove demons. It was also thought to treat certain psychological complication
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Unlike a lobotomy or leucotomy, trepanation does not include tampering with brain matter.
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#6
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Doctor Assisted Female Hysteria Cures - Female hysteria was the first psychological disorder attributed exclusively to women and included nervousness, hallucinations, emotional outbursts and sexual ur
The cure: doctor assisted stimulation was most recommended but later there were "home remedies" that led to today's thriving sex toy industry.
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#7
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Animal Waste - Dung from various animals, lizard blood, fat from cats, fly droppings, cooked mice are among remedies Egyptian doctors could prescribe as treatment. Even into the 18th century various
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animal excrement was used as cures for diseases like jaundice, sometimes mixed with wine.
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#8
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Cannibal Cure - peaking in the 16th and 17th centuries, many Europeans, including royalty, priests and scientists, routinely ingested remedies containing human bones, blood and fat for everything from
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headaches to epilepsy. 16th century German-Swiss physician Paracelsus believed blood was good for drinking. One of his followers even suggested taking blood from a living body
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#9
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Tobacco Smoke Enema - "blowing smoke up your a**" was a literal form of treatment in the later half of the 18th century, as a device built for this purpose was used for resuscitating drowning victims,
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reating sufferers of typhoid fever and cholera.
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#10
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Heroin/Morphine - opiates were over exposed and not fully understood until well into the 20th century. Just prior to this they were used as over-the-counter remedies for dysentery, diarrhea and colic
