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Bizarre Medical Practices From History

Weird History | February 6, 2026



Modern medicine has seen more development in the past 50 years than in all of human history combined. Many long-practiced medical treatments now seem completely bizarre in retrospect – things like putting animal dung on a wound, drinking urine, carving holes in your skull, or drinking medicinal potions made of morphine or mercury. But which practices are considered the most peculiar from all of human medical history? Which practices were once used as medicinal treatments only to be later found incredibly dangerous?

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#medicalhistory #medical #weirdhistory

Written by Weird History

Comments

This post currently has 35 comments.

  1. @andreiconstantinescu5163

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    The light war anesteshia wich I really belive it was at those times in history even in 40th and 50th anesteshia was light lighter than the presant anesteshia wich acts fast and last longer not to manchon the medicament lipsol bupivicain wich has an analgesic efect lasting 72 hours or more but it permits you as pacient to have normal function without supporting the gruliing pai after sergery for that amount of time just from a simple well placed injection 💉 . So yes aneseshia nowadays is deeper and far more safe and efficient than it was in the 50ths.⚕️

  2. @UnhingedHystory

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Great list, but Pope John XII turning the Vatican into a literal nightclub and Pope Gregory IX almost wiping out humanity because he hated cats are the peak 'unhinged' moments. History proves that a fancy hat doesn't always come with a brain. Love these deep dives into the madness of the past.

  3. @josearellano203

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Medical practice did as much to end life as to save it in the past. It's no wonder little progress came. It was so crazy prior to the last century. Getting sick in different places and eras was a death sentence. No one knew about germs or vitamins at all. Our ancestors endured so many hard times. This is why I am so happy to live in the 21st century. With real and advanced medicine we live longer. So let's not complain about the 21st century.

  4. @tinagibby953

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Ancient Romans used honey as a form of birth control. They also had people to urinate outside and watch to see if ants would go towards it. Then, the ants went there they figured you had Diabetes.

  5. @dimebagtribute

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    In France we've got something call "viperine" (viper), it's an "eau de vie" (fruit alcohol) with a viper drown in it. The venom infuse in the alcohol and some think it can cure a bunch of deseases…

  6. @NormaJeanMorrissey

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Ever hear of the young women who used radium. to paint numbers on watches? They would dip their paintbrush in the paint then smoothe out the brush with their lips. They developed neck and mouth tumors. One girl’s jaw fell off! I believe all or most of them died!

  7. @HoodieHistory

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Some of these old medical practices are crazy. Well I guess they're all a bit crazy. I can't believe they used to give radium pills and water to people including kids.

  8. @debbylou5729

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    I’m not seeing much difference between wax and current fillers. They both move, they both harden. At least you might get a crayon from one…..As for tapeworms, they sound safer than ozempic

  9. @purplemanatee

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Whenever I watch videos like this I wonder what common modern medical treatment and/or substance will seem absolutely nonsensical to people in the future. What are we doing now that is actually extremely harmful for us? It's interesting to think about cause it's an unsolvable issue. There will always be things that people do not know and thus people will always make decisions that are questionable in the future because that's simply how society makes progress.

  10. @kori1701

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    11:29 Nurse here. Urine is still used as a 'curative drink' even today by some fringe groups. 😖 It does not have any healthy properties. 😖

    Urine is not sterile but the idea that it IS came from the medical field. The bladder and urethra are sterile fields, which means that you cannot introduce anything into it from the outside without risking a serious infection. This is why nurses who catheterise a patient will do so with sterile gloves and instruments. But urine expelled from it is not.

  11. @chrismeese3666

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Good food, and nutrition, exercise and good clean air for the body, brain and spirit along with good education and hygiene are possible the best cures for many ailments. However money can’t be made from recommending the above, but billions can be made if health education is not given. Today misinformation about health is part of the economy. I think we all know good food and exercise helps the body heal and recover yet million consume alcohol, sugar by the tonne, drugs, and misleading information because it fits with their lifestyle.

  12. @NorahN-x8t

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    Well, watching them melt away within 48 hours felt so good, and yes, I used what I mentioned the other day. It actually took a bit more to make them totally disappear, I just go’ogled Melissa Thanderski and the pain unexpectedly disappeared so quickly.

  13. @BlackWidooow678

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    A weird way people thought people would be cured of diseases was they were forced to take LIVE tapeworm eggs as like pills or some garbage in an attempt to lose weight well in a way it worked. well… if you don’t mind a constant state of hunger and sheiveled muscled due to the laid eggs haved eating your muscle tissue or the 25 Meter worm eating you from the inside out so your light but weighted down by the parisite so yea imma stick to my regrulated diets and daily exercise 😅 thank you very much!!

  14. @pendragonshall

    February 6, 2026 at 6:58 am

    I wonder how many people don't know that more people die from modern medicine than have ever. It's over 100,000 a year minimum and that's just in the United States. That's death that's not permanent illness that's not disfigurement that's death

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