Medicines

In the middle ages the people were not very well informed about the human body. Their ways of diagnosing and treating illness involved superstitious and unethical ways. As a result many deaths occurred due to poor judgment and lack of knowledge of the human body. A method that they used was blood telling, to cut persons veins or to cover them with leeches to suck their blood, hoping that it would heal them. Some operations they did were to remove cataracts from they eyes, amputations and bone setting after a break. They tried to use anesthetics, but they were often fatal. Also, middle aged doctors used astrology and the position of the moon and stars to decide when a cure was most effective. Illness was also thought of as a punishment from God, and could be healed through prayer or by going on a pilgrimage. They also used plants and herbal remedies, similar to today and most of the plants they used could be easily grown in medieval gardens. Finally, most of the disease and illness came mainly from poor hygiene, and since people lived in close proximity diseases were able to spread at very fast rates. People greatly feared hospitals believing that they would not come out alive and hospitals were breeding grounds for diseases due to, unclean medical instruments, and lack regulations for hygiene and health. Medicine impacted the middle ages by stoping people from dying from preventable diseases. Medicine allowed people to live longer during the middle ages. Medicine also help people suffering from extreme pain.


 * __Bloodletting__**


 * An early theory was that there were four main bodily humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. An imbalance in one of these humors was a reasonable cause to proceed with bloodletting, purging, vomiting. **
 * Bloodletting is the process of withdrawing various quantities of blood from the veins of a person in order to prevent or cure illness. In the middle ages this was the most popular way of treating illness. **
 * Nearly every recognized medical condition at the time was treated by these methods. Bloodletting was used to treat everything from fever to anemia to debility. As you can imagine, bloodletting an anemic patient clearly is not the best idea. **

Some people in the middle ages believed that diagnosis was influenced by astrology. The chart below showed doctor what to do or not to do for someone with a specific astrology sign.
 * **Aries** || **Avoid incisions in the head and face and cut no vein in the head.** ||
 * **Taurus** || **Avoid incisions in the neck and throat and cut no veins there.** ||
 * **Gemini** || **Avoid incisions in the shoulders, arms or hands and cut no vein.** ||
 * **Cancer** || **Avoid incisions in the breasts, sides, stomach and lungs and cut no vein that goes to the spleen.** ||
 * **Leo** || **Avoid incisions of the nerves, lesions of the sides and bones, and do not cut the back either by opening and bleeding.** ||
 * **Virgo** || **Avoid opening a wound in the belly and in the internal parts.** ||
 * **Libra** || **Avoid opening wounds in the umbellicus and parts of the belly and do not open a vein in the back or do cupping.** ||
 * **Scorpio** || **Avoid cutting the testicles and anus.** ||
 * **Sagittarius** || **Avoid incisions in the thighs and fingers and do not cut blemishes and growths.** ||
 * **Capricorn** || **Avoid cutting the knees or the veins and sinews in these places.** ||
 * **Aquarius** || **Avoid cutting the knees or the veins and veins in these places.** ||
 * **Pisces** || **Avoid cutting the feet.** ||

Middle Ages Medecine was very basic and this was not good in a time where illnesses such as the Black Death killing nearly a third of the population. Medicine was obviously limited. Niave physicians had no idea what really caused the disease and illnesses at the time. The Catholic Church believed that illnesses were direct punishment from God for committing sinful behavior. Antibiotics were non-existent during the Middle Ages and without them, as you can imagine, it was almost impossiblt to cure the diseases of the time without them. Medecines were made from herbs, spices and resins. The medicine would be applied to drinks, pills, washes, ointments, etc.. For example a remedy they used to treat black death was lancing the buboes and applying a warm poultice of butter, onion and garlic. Obviously, this remedy was not complex and was uneffective.

Trueman, Chris. "Medicine in the Middle Ages." //History Learning Site//. 2000. Web. 3 Feb 2010. .

McLeod, Judyth. "Medicine in the Middle Ages: Healing the Sick in Medieval Times." //suite101.com//. April 2008. Web. 27 Jan 2010. .

Trueman, Chris. "Medicine in The Middle Ages." //historylearningsite.co//. historylearningsite.co.uk, Web. 27 Jan 2010. .

"What was it really like to live in the middle ages?." //learner.org//. Annenberg Media, Web. 27 Jan 2010. . "What was it really like to live in the middle ages?." //learner.org//. Annberg Media, Web. 3 Feb 2010. .

Surgery in medieval times were preformed as well as attempted. These included caesarean births, bone setting, dentistry, the removal of bladder stones and even cataract procedures. Some surgeons specialized in removing arrows from their patient’s bodies. There were many types of operations done during this time period. Trepanning was a skull surgery cutting a hole in the skull. Historians believe that they did this to try and cure mental illness. Although they tried all of these procedures and preformed them they had no knowledge of bacteria or sanitation. Therefore most of their patients died of bacterial infection or of complications from the procedure. **__Medicine__** Many medicines were used in the middle ages. They varied between diagnoses but some medicines and remedies were sometimes used for many different diagnoses. A Treacle was considered to be an all around medicine it was prescribed It was said to prevent internal swellings, cure fevers, unblock internal stoppages, alleviate heart problems, epilepsy, and palsy, get rid of blemishes, induce sleep, improve digestion, strengthen limbs, heal wounds, remedy snake bites, cure prolapsed uteruses, and cure the plague. Treacle stems includes more than 60 ingredients, including the roasted skin of vipers. It took 40 days to make and 12 years to mature. But not all diseases had remedies. Leprosy was thought to b extremely contagious lepers had to cover themselves and carry rattles or noise makers to let people know they were “unclean” they lived in colonies all over since they could not b around “clean people”. In market places they had to point to food they wanted with a staff since they were not allowed to touch anything.
 * __Surgery__**



=**__Diagnosis__**=

====Usually the diagnosis of a patient was incomplete. The process of diagnosising a patient involved inspection of blood, feces and urine, and taking pulse. Blood, feces, and urine measured the balance of humors within a person's body. Observation also played a major role in diagnosis. It consisted of taking a visual note of the patient's external appreance, listening to the patients own narrative illness, and inspecting and smelling his or her excerta. The doctor would prescribe medication based on the patient's wishes. Herbal remedies, mixtures, and gem therapy were frequently in treatment. Common treatments for particular ailments could be pounding henbane and hemlock and laying it on painful thighs, herbal potions to cure jaundice, vomiting and bloodletting for paralysis, and for belly disease.====

Diagnosis Continued Medicine during the middle ages, 1066-1465 A.D, diagnosis were influenced on superstition and astrology.Medical charts informed doctors on what to do and things to avoid based on the patient's date of birth. No-one knew what the actual cause of the disease were. The Roman Catholics church believed disease were brought on due to too much blood being contained in the body. Doctors would cut a major artery to realease the "excess blood." This method was not effective at all.Many patient's bled to death. This period did not have the knowledge nor education to know the harm that was being encountered.


 * __Work cited__**

Bellerby, Rachel. "Surgery in Medieval Times." Dec 1, 2008 : n. pag. Web. 2 Feb 2010. []. "Interactices." //health//. 2010. The Western Tradition., Web. 27 Jan 2010. .

"Healing and Hospitals ." //medieval medicine//. 2010. Web. 27 Jan 2010. .

Natural Herbal Remedies For :Middle Ages - Medival. " //Annie's Remedy// . 2010. Annie's Remedy, Web. 27 Jan 2010. [].