 |
| This 1927 article from The Independent newspaper in St. Petersburg, Florida, talks about diet as a cure for arthritis. |
Arrgh, arthritis. It plagues me. I feel for the pioneers who suffered from it. They didn't have access to things like joint replacements and specific exercises that lessen symptoms.
They did, though, have access to pharmaceuticals. Like today, some were addictive and others were more benign. In the safer category, pioneers relied on aspirin's precursor willow bark and on aspirin itself as it became available.
As for the lethal drugs, they've always been a problem. Today, some people take addictive prescription opioids (I steer clear). In the late 19th and early 20th century, Floridians and others sometimes turned to laudanum, cocaine and even heroin. I couldn't believe that last one when I saw a photo of it in my research.
Holistic methods were popular. But science in frontier days hadn't yet advanced enough to fully understand arthritis. One 1880s study suggested it was caused by indigestion. Even the word arthritis itself wasn't always used in the literature I reviewed. The medical field sometimes called it rheumatism or gout.
Indigestion was pinpointed after a doctor conducted studies in which patients fasted for four to eight days. Water and lemonade were allowed. Several patients achieved complete relief. Inflammation-causing foods aggravate my arthritis, so I'm guessing the cured people benefited from the same.
The researcher was Dr. Casey Wood, a professor of chemistry at a Montreal college. His study was included in C.E. Page, M.D.'s 1886 book, whose title begins with "The Natural Cure" and continues for another 23 words I won't bore you with.
The fasting news wasn't all good. Dr. Page tells readers, "In chronic rheumatism he [Dr. Wood] obtained less positive results..." Instead, Dr. Page suggests chronic sufferers do the following - and very modern it sounds:
"Moreover, in chronic cases—cases of long standing—the best results may be hoped for—in fact the best possible results have invariably followed—from an abstemious (frugivorous) diet, together with simple bathing, as special symptoms may indicate,—and an improved general regimen, as to fresh air, exercise (inaugurated gradually), beginning, perhaps, with passive exercise, as rubbing, etc."
In other words, show some restraint when eating, lean toward natural foods including fruit, and do some exercise. Sound familiar?
Another tome, the 1913 book "Natural Cure," suggested arthritis sufferers were being poisoned. The author said exam of the eye's iris could determine if poison was in the patient's system. What shocked me were the substances that author Dr. Henry Lindlahr mentioned:
“We have treated many hundreds of cases of so-called chronic neuralgia, neuritis, rheumatism, neurasthenia, epilepsy and idiocy, due to the pernicious effects of quinine, iodine, arsenic, strychnine, coal-tar products and other virulent poisons taken under the guise of medicine.”
Sounds scary. I've always heard quinine was a lifesaver for combatting malaria.
I wonder if commercially available "cures" contained some of the above-mentioned items. Newspapers of the era advertised potions and pills whose ingredients weren't always disclosed.
The newspapers also reported on other types of cures. One small notice in a 1934 edition of the Key West Citizen said short lengths of radio waves were being used to treat "infectious arthritis" and other conditions. A 1915 issue of the Daytona Daily News claimed arthritis and other common diseases had practically been banished in the United States by use of distilled water.
And a 1915 issue of the Ocala Evening Star issue reported on "a new cure for rheumatism" put forth by the Academy of Medicine in Paris. The cure was said to also work for arthritis and gout. Patients were to cover the afflicted body part with melted paraffin that formed a protective, warm shell.
I'm old, and I remember my Sicilian immigrant grandmother doing exactly that - dipping her painful, arthritic hands in melted paraffin warmed to a certain temperature. I don't know if it helped. I do know I have arthritis in the same joints she did. Maybe I'll give it a try, for its soothing benefits if nothing else.
One thing I won't try is a practice Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. scorned in his Medical Essays book, a collection of essays he wrote from 1842 to 1882. (Dr. Holmes was a noted physician and father of the Supreme Court justice of the same name.)
One essay recounts a lecture he gave, at which he chided listeners who laughed at odd cures from the distant past. Are we any better today? he questioned. Then he asked how many were carrying horse chestnuts in their pockets.
Yes, horse chestnuts in pockets. Apparently, that was a thing for a while. People claimed the practice cured rheumatism. Holmes told the audience he encountered people of all classes proclaiming its benefits. Did they rub them and get some kind of relief that way? Today, horse chestnut seed extract is considered alternative medicine.
Horse chestnut trees don't grow well in Florida. Pioneers here who ascribed to the theory either brought them when moving here or had relatives or friends mail down a few of the shiny nuts. Anything to find relief.
And the search for cures continues.
