History of Migraine Headache
How long have
migraines been around? Contrary to the beliefs of many,
migraines are not a new disease, only a newly-named. In
fact, based on the symptoms, it appears that migraines are
among the oldest diseases known to
mankind.
Conditions that have been linked to
migraines were described in detail in Babylonian writings
dating back to 3000 BC, and papyrus scrolls dated from
around 1550 BC that were found buried alongside a mummy in
Thebes contain even more detailed accounts that are
remarkably similar to what modern migraine sufferers
describe.
Hippocrates - the Father of
Medicine himself,described what are clearly migraines in
460 BC, when he described a shining light that was
typically seen in one eye and followed by severe pain
that started in temples and worked its way to encompass
the rest of the head and down into the
neck.Hippocrates
was also well ahead of his time by being the first to
correlate head pain with exercise and seven sexual
intercourse. Of course, Hippocrates also attributed
migraines to vapors making their way up to the head from
stomach and thought that the headache pain could be
relieved by throwing up.
The Ebers
Papyrus, named after George Ebers who
obtained it, dates back to at least 1200 BC is an
encyclopedic compilation of various prescriptions and
medical treatments, including one for shooting pains in
the head consistent with modern day migraine
headaches.According to the instructions on the papyrus,
Egyptians were to use a strip of linen to tie a clay
crocodile holding grain in its mouth to the head of the
patient. On the linen were written the names of those
gods that the Egyptians believed could cure their
ailments.
As in so many things,
the Egyptians may have been preternaturally aware of
modern techniques because it is believed that this
procedure could possibly have brought relief to the
headache sufferer by compressing the scalp and collapsing
the blood vessels that were causing the pain. At the very
least it made more sense than the previous Egyptian cure
for head pain, which was to simply rub a fried fish on
afflicted side of the head.
Plato is considered one of
the all-time great thinkers the world has ever produced,
up there in the pantheon of great philosophers. And yet
he seems to have been so wrong about so many things,
including migraines. As far as Plato was concerned, head
pain was caused by people paying too much attention to
the body. In
fact, Plato seems to be in that camp that thinks migraine
sufferers are a bunch of whiners and that it’s all in
their heads, but not in their expanding and constricting
blood vessels. It may be time to start
second-guessing this whole idea of Plato being really,
really smart.
Hua T’o was a Chinese
surgeon in the second century who is given credit for the
invention of anesthetic drugs among other things. He was
also perhaps the first to take to acupuncture needles to
cure migraines. In one particularly infamous and,
hopefully, quite rare case, when Hua used a needle to
carve a tumor out of patient suffering from pain between
his eyes a canary flew out. The man not only lived, but
was cured of his pain.
Hildegard of Bingen was a medieval nun
and mystic who began experiencing visions at an early
age. Her visions
eventually led her to write several books on health and
medicine and natural remedies. Both her written accounts and
the illustrations she drew that reflected her visions have led
the belief that those visions may have been the result of
migraine auras. Her visions were detailed and vivid, as were
her descriptions and she has built a significant following who
consider her to be the first migraine-inspired artist. The
typical treatment of migraines during Hildegard’s time during
the Middle Ages basically consisted of opium and vinegar
solutions applied to the skull, with the vinegar thought to
have been used to open the pores of the scalp so that the opium
would be more quickly absorbed.
Centuries, if not millennia, from now people may be reading
a history of migraine treatment and shake their head when
they reach the 21st Century.Could treating with the
ingredients found in medication one day be laughed at in the
same way as we might laugh at the idea of treating it by
rubbing a fried fish on our head?
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Headache
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