treatment

• blood letting:

  • also known as phlebotomy
  • believed that bad humours could be removed through removing blood
  • mostly done by barber surgeons and wise women
  • some people with no medical background offered blood letting because they was high demand
  • blood letting was done through cutting a vein, leeches and cupping
  • some patients bled for too long and died
  • very common treatment
• purging:

  • was believed that humours came from foods eaten
  • purging was to remove leftover food which would cause the humours to imbalance
  • patients were given an emetic to make them vomit - strong bitter herbs sometimes containing poisons like hellbore
  • patients were given a laxative to clear out body
  • sometimes, patients were given an enema
• herbal remedies:

  • common ingredients like mint and saffron were used
  • common remedy was theriaca - spice-based mixture with up to 70 ingredients - written about by Galen to help cure poisons and snake bites
  • Matiera Medica was book which contained many recipes for healing herbs - honey as anaesthetic for cuts
  • warm baths to dissolve blockages in humours - herba added to water e.g violet for sore stomach
  • paralysis patients would bathe with a boiled fox - believed fox's nimbleness would pass on to patient
• astrology:

  • physicians used star charts to treat disease and prescribing treatment
  • treatment varied according to the horoscope of the patient and their date of birth
• trepanning:

  • drilling hole inside skull to allow demons and evil spirits to leave
  • used for headaches
• charms:

  • charms and amulets used to ward off Devil
  • bought from apothecaries
• monarch:

  • being touched by the King was supersitious belief
  • believd that since King was chosen by God, he had the power to heal
  • believed to cure scrofula (lung and skin disease)