Before Anesthesia: The History of Pain Relief Methods
By: Carolina González Quiceno
March 30, 2024
Before the anesthesia and the medical-scientific advances that now make many conditions more bearable, people did not have many means to relieve pain. So what were their methods?
One of the options was to get drunk until they didn’t care about feeling the pain, since alcohol would not eliminate the pain, but it did make it more bearable.
Healers and mystics in many parts of the world also prepared herbal, alcohol-based sedative potions that clouded the mind. The 2nd century Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo was one of the first doctors to perform surgery with anesthesia, before the practice was adopted in Europe. Although the exact recipe has been lost, it is believed that the sedative was made from cannabis or blue-flowered wolfsbane, a poisonous plant.
Hemlock, the same deadly poison that Socrates poisoned himself with, was considered as an ingredient in sedatives, which could also contain other substances like youth, wild boar bile, devil’s turnip, beauty, lettuce, and vinegar.
In the 15th century, a mixture of opium, mandrake, and henbane was the preferred sedative for surgical procedures such as amputations.
Other Pain Relief Methods
In addition to the sedatives mentioned, there were other methods. One involved hitting the person on the head until they passed out, which could lead to head trauma. Another technique involved applying pressure to the nerves until the extremities became numb.
Surgeon Robert Liston gained fame for performing admirable operations with great speed, reducing the trauma of the surgery.
Diethyl Ether and Modern Pain Relief
Diethyl ether and chloroform appeared in the mid-19th century, allowing surgeons to perform surgery more meticulously. Local cocaine-based analgesics emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, leading to the development of modern drugs and gases used in operating rooms today.
Source: here