"They would work with the entire patient.Most of the homes in the areas of Sunset Hills were 2-story white frame structures. "Ancient people saw pain more accurately - pain not only as a physical condition but as an emotional and a spiritual condition," she said. The next frontier for pain relief, then, may lie in the past. The suffering and the emotional context - that defines what the patient is actually experiencing." "Now we're very rigid and almost literal," she said. "People now like to think of science and pain treatment as being very objective," said Cope. In spite of a dazzling array of modern treatments for pain, some experts wonder if ancient and primitive cultures still have much to teach us about pain and human health. "Queen Victoria was really the first one to have anesthesia for childbirth - she had chloroform," said Warfield. It took a British royal to popularize the concept of relieving the pain of childbirth, previously thought to be an unavoidable or necessary part of motherhood. "In those days, the best surgeons were the fastest surgeons." "They would also choke people with carotid compression until they passed out," said Warfield. "They used to hold kids over a gas stove so would breathe gas until they lost consciousness," Warfield said. Prior to that, doctors and dentists used some bizarre techniques before operating.Īn old Italian technique involved putting a wooden bowl over a patient's head, then hammering on the bowl until the patient passed out, according to Warfield. "The first new significant treatment for pain occurred in 1846 with the use of anesthesia for surgery," said Meldrum. "There are scientific reasons we know about now that has shown why they worked," said Warfield. The heat from the mustard plaster worked on the principle of "counterstimulation," the idea that one kind of pain or sensation could cancel out another, more severe pain. The plaster was applied directly to the skin, or on a cloth that was then laid on the skin. Remember, stuff wasn't regulated in those days."Īnother popular approach to pain relief called for the preparation of a wet plaster made from hot mustard. "Coca-Cola was originally sold as a cure for everything," said Warfield. Other commercial remedies contained varying quantities of opiates, alcohol or cocaine - which probably made them effective at relieving pain temporarily, said Meldrum. In addition to belts and trusses containing magnets, a range of balms and liniments said to contain magnetic properties were available to gullible sufferers. "Both electricity and magnetism have been used for as long as people have been able to produce them," said Meldrum. In the 1800s and early 1900s, as magnets and electricity became widely available, medical quacks were quick to exploit these exciting and mysterious forces for their purported healing properties. The quilts were then used by those suffering from pain or other ailments. Quilts from Appalachia incorporated images of medicinal plants in "medicine squares," said Cope. The American contribution to the history of pain relief is as colorful as a patchwork quilt. Amerindian healers sucked on pain pipes held against a person's skin to "pull" out pain or illness. In some cultures, rattles, gongs and other devices were believed to frighten painful devils out of a person's body. "Primitive man understood pain when it was visible, like a cut or scrape, but didn't understand it as well when it was internal," she said. Cope, director of the Pain Medicine Division at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "Magic and ritual were very common in ancient cultures," said Dr. They tried to appease angry gods with rituals like votive offerings and scapegoats, sacrificial animals that carried the sins of people out into the wilderness. Many ancient cultures believed pain and disease were punishment for human folly. Poine also gave us our word "pain," a fact not lost on people who suffer from bodily torment so brutal it feels like divine vengeance. — - The Greek goddess of revenge, Poine, was sent to punish the mortal fools who had angered the gods.
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