Medicine has come a long way over the years. What doctors thought was helpful in the past might seem strange or even scary to us now. As we learn more about the human body and health, we’ve left behind many old practices that did more harm than good.
In this article, I’ll introduce 21 medical practices that thankfully no longer exist. From odd treatments to dangerous surgeries, these old ways of “healing” will make you thankful for modern medicine.
Bloodletting
Doctors used to think letting out “bad blood” could cure illnesses. They’d cut patients and let them bleed or use leeches to suck blood. This often made people weaker and sometimes even killed them. We now know blood is essential and shouldn’t be removed unless absolutely necessary.
Trepanning
This involved drilling a hole in someone’s skull to “let out evil spirits.” People thought it could cure headaches, epilepsy, and mental illness. It was very dangerous and often led to infections or death. Today, we understand brain health much better and have safer treatments.
Mercury treatments
Mercury was once used to treat many illnesses, including syphilis. Doctors didn’t know it was poisonous. People who took mercury often got very sick or died from it. Now we know mercury is dangerous and never use it as medicine.
Lobotomy
This was a surgery where doctors cut connections in the brain to treat mental illness. It often left patients unable to think or feel normal. Many people were permanently damaged by lobotomies. We now have much better ways to help people with mental health problems.
Radium therapy
When radium was discovered, people thought it was a miracle cure. They put it in drinks, creams, and even food. We now know radium causes cancer and other health problems. It’s no longer used as a treatment except in very controlled cancer therapies.
Cocaine for children
Cocaine was once used as a medicine for kids with toothaches or coughs. People didn’t know how addictive and dangerous it was. Now we know cocaine is a harmful drug and would never give it to children.
Smoking for Asthma
Believe it or not, doctors used to tell people with asthma to smoke cigarettes to help them breathe. We now know smoking is terrible for your lungs and makes asthma much worse. It’s an excellent example of how medical advice can be very wrong.
Heroin for coughs
Heroin was once sold as a cough medicine. People thought it was safer than morphine. It turned out to be very addictive and dangerous. Now we know heroin is a dangerous drug and never use it as medicine.
Electroshock therapy for everything
Doctors used to give electric shocks to patients for all sorts of problems, from depression to homosexuality (which isn’t an illness at all). It was often painful and damaging. While a gentler form is still used for some severe depression cases, it’s much more controlled now.
Insulin coma therapy
The treatment involved withholding insulin from diabetic patients to induce a coma. Medical practitioners theorized this could alleviate schizophrenia symptoms. However, this approach was highly risky and ineffective in improving mental health. Modern medicine has developed far safer and more successful methods for managing both diabetes and schizophrenia.
Vibration therapy
Some doctors thought shaking patients on special machines could cure all sorts of problems. It didn’t work and sometimes hurt people. Now we know vibration doesn’t cure illnesses, though gentle massage can sometimes help with muscle pain.
Arsenic-based medicines
Historically, arsenic was a common ingredient in various medicinal preparations. Its toxicity was not fully understood at the time. Patients frequently suffered severe side effects or died from arsenic-containing treatments. In modern times, the hazardous nature of arsenic is well-established, and it has been completely removed from medical use.
Lead makeup and medicine
Way back in the old days, people put lead in their makeup and medicines. They had no idea it could make them sick. Lots of folks got really ill or even died because of the lead in these things. These days, we know lead is super bad for us, so we try hard to keep it away from our bodies and out of our houses.
Tooth transplants
In the past, rich people would sometimes buy teeth from poor people to replace their own bad teeth. This often led to infections, and the new teeth would fall out. Now we have much better ways to replace teeth, like dentures and implants.
Tapeworm diet
In the past, some individuals ingested tapeworm eggs as a weight loss method. The parasites were expected to consume food in the digestive tract. This practice was extremely hazardous and could lead to severe health complications.
Morphine for babies
People used to give babies very strong drugs called morphine and opium to make them stop crying. They didn’t realize how bad these drugs were for little kids. Now we know that these medicines can really hurt babies or even cause them to die. So we never give these drugs to them just to keep them quiet.
Turtle blood for tuberculosis
A long time ago, some doctors told people with a bad lung disease called tuberculosis to drink turtle blood. They thought it would make them better, but it didn’t work at all. This just wasted time when the sick people could have been getting real help. These days, we have special medicines called antibiotics that can actually fix TB and make people healthy again.
Malaria therapy
Back then, doctors did something that seemed crazy now. They’d give people a disease called malaria to try to cure another sickness called syphilis. They thought the really high fevers from malaria would kill off the syphilis. But this was super risky, and a lot of people died from it.
Urine therapy
In the past, some folks believed that drinking pee could make you better when you were sick. But there’s no actual proof that this helps at all, and it might even make you feel worse. We’ve learned that pee is just stuff our body doesn’t need, so it’s not a good idea to drink it as medicine.
Cigarettes for weight loss
Back in the day, people used to think smoking could help you stay skinny. Companies even sold cigarettes saying they’d keep you thin. Now we know that smoking is really bad for you and can make you very sick with things like cancer and heart problems. These days, we have much better and safer ways to keep a healthy weight that doesn’t hurt your body.
Icepick eye surgery
Some doctors used to stick an icepick through the eye socket to treat mental illness. This often left patients brain-damaged or dead. We now have much safer and more effective treatments for mental health issues that don’t involve dangerous surgeries.
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