People once treated migraines by drilling holes straight into skulls, and parents soothed teething babies with heroin syrup and cocaine tooth drops 🤯. This video explores the truly bizarre and sometimes dangerous ways people tried to treat pain throughout history, highlighting many "strange medical treatments" and "ancient medical practices". Discover the shocking "history of medicine" and how far our understanding of health has come by examining these "bizarre health practices" from our "dark history" that illustrate just how weird medical practices used to be.
Skull drills for migraines, heroin syrup for teething babies, and tobacco smoke pumped into some very unfortunate places—this episode dives into the bizarre world of “miracle” cures people once trusted more than common sense. From glowing radium water to ice-pick brain surgery, we’ll look at how real doctors, healers, and desperate patients tried to outsmart pain… and often made things much, much worse.
What you’ll learn:
Why smart people in every era fell for brutal or ridiculous pain cures
How ideas like humors, “bad blood,” and vital energy shaped old treatments
The real stories behind trepanation, laudanum syrups, radium tonics, and more
How marketing, social status, and pure desperation kept bad medicine alive
What these disasters can teach us about trusting “miracle” fixes today
Cases covered (real history only):
Skull trepanation for headaches and “evil spirits” in Europe and the Andes
Heroin and cocaine drops sold as gentle pain relief for children
Radithor and other radium-laced tonics marketed to ease fatigue and arthritis
Tobacco smoke enemas used along rivers as a revival kit for drowning victims
Ice-pick lobotomies pitched as cures for chronic pain and mental illness
Bee-sting and snake-venom therapies for rheumatism and nerve pain
Mummy powder and animal carcass poultices used on headaches and fevers
Nettle whipping, burning cautery, and other “counter-irritation” techniques
Kerosene mouth rubs, henbane fumes, and other dangerous toothache remedies
Magnet bracelets, wolf-tooth amulets, and nail-in-the-tree folk cures
Key takeaways:
Pain makes people gamble: the worse it gets, the wilder the cure sounds
“Natural,” “scientific,” and “modern” have all been used to sell terrible ideas
Placebo, social pressure, and storytelling can feel stronger than facts
Medical progress is real—but so is the constant temptation of easy answers
Knowing past mistakes helps us question flashy health trends in the present
Disclaimer:
This video is for commentary, analysis, and education. It is not medical advice. Do not attempt any of the historical treatments shown or discussed. If you’re in pain, talk to a qualified healthcare professional, not a YouTube historian.
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