Treatments

• Treatments

  Religious treatments:

  common religious treatments included prayer, fasting, and pilgrimages also flagellants who whipped themselves. it was believed that doing these things would remove sin and show faith to god, allowing him to remove illness.
• Treatments

  Supernatural treatment:

  using charms and amulets or even chanting incantations was believed to ward off diseases. physicians would usually check star charts and horoscopes during diagnosis. different operations could only be carried out at certain times, depending on the position of the stars.
• Treatments

  Humoral treatments:

  many treatments involved restoring the balance of the four humours: bloodletting (phlebotomy) included cupping, leeches, and cutting a vein; purging was when patients were given emetics or laxatives; theory of opposites was applied to an excess humour; the colour, smell, and even taste of urine was examined to check for a balance in humours.
• Treatments

  Remedies:

  herbal remedies were drank, sniffed, or bathed in. bathing specifically was advised to draw in heat and clear blockages in the humours. the most used ingredients were aloe vera, mint, and saffron. a theriaca was a common spice-based mixture for many illnesses.
• Treatment

  Hospitals:

  the number of hospitals increased during the middle ages because of the church running them in monasteries but also due to endowment (wealthy people leaving money in the will to set up hospitals) most hospitals focussed on hospitality rather than treatment and generally didn't employ physicians or surgeons. infectious or terminal patients were usually rejected since nothing could be done.
• Treatments

  Home:

  the majority of people were treated at home by housewives. this involved making them comfortable, feeding them, and mixing herbal remedies.
• Treatments

  Medics:

  medical advice was very expensive but was available for those who could afford it. there were three types of medic: physicians - trained at university and learnt galen's work, they diagnosed illnesses and recommended treatment, and were very expensive; barber surgeons - carried out small operations (like bloodletting) and their knowledge was based on experience; apothecaries - mixed herbal remedies, were disliked by physicians since they were cheaper, and they sometimes provided poison (which went against the hippocratic oath).