It would be interesting to find out how popular they really were.Īnd that’s not all. Often they would be sent to London for a brief period of time and then go out to the countryside once the hospital treatment was complete.ĭo you remember any of the treatments I’ve mentioned here? Please tell me in the comments. This was because a stay in London meant that the child would be able to attend hospital for treatment. Leaving the big cities was thought to aid recovery although, interestingly, a number of children’s homes in London took in children with illnesses too. Several of The Children’s Society’s children’s homes were built on the coast for this reason, such as St David’s Convalescent Home in Broadstairs, Kent and St Agnes’ Convalescent Home at Pevensey Bay, Sussex. In a number of cases we see that children convalescing from illnesses were sent out to homes in the countryside or on the coast. They were often prescribed in the diets of people convalescing from illnesses and it is probably for this reason that they were prescribed for John. One of the uses of brandy and other spirits was as a supposed aid to digestion and metabolism. They were often used as cardiac stimulants that were thought to increase blood pressure, but some doctors used them as treatments for a whole variety of diseases. When John entered a convalescent home with tuberculosis, he was prescribed port wine, brandy and a generous diet to help build up his strength.Īlcohol has been used as a medical treatment for a long time and spirits such as brandy were popular in the late-19th and early-20th Centuries. Presumably, as in the case of John, it was also seen as a cure-all that could help to relieve someone’s symptoms when they were ill.Īnother treatment mentioned in the post about tuberculosis in the early 1900s is the use of port wine and brandy. In the past it was regularly given to children this was to help prevent rickets, which was very common in the early-20th Century. In the post about tuberculosis in the early 1900s, we find that when John was ill, but before the cause of his illness was known, he was treated with cod liver oil.Ĭod liver oil contains vitamin A and vitamin D and it is still used today as a supplement to help with joint problems. In fact, it became so popular that it was widely used during the Second World War and May and Baker had trouble keeping up with wartime demand for the drug.įamously, Winston Churchill was successfully treated with M&B when he was suffering from pneumonia in 1943 which he contracted shortly after attending the Teheran conference that finalised the strategy for the war against Nazi Germany.Ħ93 was later superseded by penicillin and other antibiotics. In tests it was found to be an effective treatment for pneumonia and it was also used to treat other infections such as sore throats and gonorrhoea. It was produced by the firm May and Baker and so was often also known as M&B. In the post about influenzal colds in 1940, the medical book notes that the children were treated with 693 tablets.Ħ93 was a name for an antibiotic medicine called sulphapyridine. If you can remember any of these, or would like to tell us about any other common medicines or treatments that you can remember, please let us know in the comments section below. In previous posts, I’ve mentioned treatments and medicines that aren’t so commonly used any more although they were very popular in their time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |