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Old-time medicine

dark rosaleen

Senior Registered
Remember what passed for medical treatment back in the old days? I have a distinct recollection from my life as a Mongol boy.

I was lying on a low cot made of felt or some heavy cloth on a wooden frame. It was in a tent or yurt made of the same type of cloth. The interior of the place was quite dark, although it was daylight outside.

I had a bad toothache, felt feverish, and kept crying to see my uncle.

My mother and some other women were there. I felt I must be seriously ill to be indoors with women in the middle of the day. I had a sense of dread and helplessness.

My mother rubbed a grainy, pepper-colored substance on the area around the bad tooth. After that, I remember a detached, floaty feeling that was less traumatic but not very pleasant.

In retrospect, I think some kind of systemic infection that started in the tooth was what killed me. The mystery substance may have been the ground seeds of the opium poppy, one of the few pain-relievers of the time.

Do you remember being treated for an illness or injury in a past life?
 
That's an interesting question, Dark Rosaleen, and one I don't think we've discussed before!

Yes, I do remember having been treated for illnesses or injuries in past lives, at least in two of them. In the Napoleonic Wars I was a British sailor who suffered lots of burns during the Battle of the Nile, when our ship, the Bellerophon, caught fire, but I wasn't really treated for them since the ship's surgeon thought I would die anyway. That was probably my luck, since nobody touched the burns or put anything on them, maybe that's why they didn't become infected.

In my Elizabethan life I had lower back problems from my mid- thirties on, brought on by trying to lift something that was too heavy for me. The fact that I earned my living as a clown and morris dancer at the theatre perhaps didn't help my back much either :) When it got bad, my wife put an ointment on it that smelled strongly of camphor and made the skin feel warm afterwards. When I sprained my hip once during dancing, my former apprentice put something similar on it, only it didn't smell as strongly. I had been given poppy or mandrake juice against the pain before, so I was a bit muddled and don't quite remember...
I also suffered from migraines in that life, and took mandrake or poppy when it was really insufferable. Fortunately, that only happened once or twice, the other times it went away if I lay down in a dark room for a while.

In my Anabaptist life I lost my eye and must have been treated for that as well, but I don't remember, the first weeks after I was injured were completely gone from my memory.

Your memory sounds very painful indeed! Many people must have died of relatively minor infections like that in the old days, especially the very young and the very old, and those that were weakened by something else...Thank goodness for modern medicine!
 
I've only had one dream in this respect. I was in an older building, lying in bed, surrounded by people I thought were friends. I was having severe trouble breathing. I felt that I had died there. As I am borderline asthmatic, and once hospitalized for a lung infection (the dream preceeded this by ten years), I wasn't sure if it was a portent of the future.

The building itself reminded me of a church. The walls were brown and either brick or stucco. There were several windows, one of which stained glass, and the other two were frosted glass.
 
In one of my significant Roman lifetimes I had oozing pus filled sores on my body that had to be burned shut with scalding him irons leaving me permenantly scarred and disfigured. I used to get flashbacks to this often. Whenever I held a stick near my face I'd slowly bring it closer to me as if trying to terrify me by imagining it as a hot iron. I now realize it was a flashback. It also explains why people seemed to be frightened of me in my memories. Until identifying that life I didn't realize the connect that I was deformed and monstrous looking, and kinda crazy. Even now I dislike anything brought too close to my face and hate shaving. I know I've been severely ill, injured and maimed in many lives and in a few others was a doctor myself but I don't recall much of the procedures. As an aside though I'm not very squeamish when watching graphic and gory stuff like that. Must be used to it from other lives. I avoid doctors too unless I'm really sick so I definately must have had alot of bad medical experiences in other lives and was experimented on during the holocaust. In the roman life I mentioned I also never went to the doctor, for 30 years straight. So it's been with me awhile for sure. Considering the treatments in the past you'd really be better off just dying, rather than going through all that pin and still dying. I suspect most block those memories from their recall in the majority of cases.
 
Interesting memories--although not for the faint of heart!!:eek:

It's also interesting that so few of us remember being treated by actual doctors, rather than friends or family. I suspect either there weren't many doctors in the past, or they didn't have as much practical knowledge as the little old lady down the road. Or as Zetascair points out, people felt better off just dying than suffering and THEN dying.

Hurray for antibiotics and anesthetics!
 
Hurray for antibiotics and anesthetics!
Definitely!!! I recently had a memory of giving birth to a stillborn child in early 1400's Holland -- it was not a pretty experience. The pain was excruciating -- and the way the woman delivering the baby was pushing on specific areas of my body certainly didn't help matters. :butbut: I died shortly after giving birth. When I have kids in this life -- I'll be asking for that epidural! : angel

Aili
 
Ailish, I can certainly see where you are coming from with regard to your birth issues. :( But experiences from past lives do not always carry on into our current lives. Carrying those memories of trauma may be a hindrance in planning a satisfying birth in this life. It sounds like you still have some healing to do to overcome your fears of childbirth.

For what its worth, I have heard of people using hypnosis to manage pain and fear associated with childbirth. This is usually not in the context of past life memories, but you may be open to looking into something like that. :)
 
Hi traveler,

This was a relatively recent memory -- so I'm still digesting it ;) I'm not scared of giving birth or afraid of history repeating itself in this life. It was actually very healing to remember the experience. I tend to look at the life as a whole -- and the moment of death can be an easy transition or a difficult one. It was a good transition -- I was with someone I loved very much -- and I was not alone. That whole life -- was a wonderful experience. :D

My epidural comments come from listening to my sisters-in-law speak about their birth experiences. One has four kids and her 2nd child came too fast for the epidural -- and she says it was much easier with it. I'm oh-so-happy to have that option when I do have a baby! ;)

Aili
 
Hooray for modern medicine I say! This life I had one child with an epidural due to complications and one without as everything was fine and both experiences were interesting and not without their difficulties but at no time did I have any fear for my life or safety or that of the babies.

Thankfully we (fortunate people in the first world) don't have to experience anything like the blood curdling dramas that would sometimes go on back in the old days if something went wrong. As you said Ailish, not pretty.

Quite often remembering some of these things from the past it is hard not to feel grateful for the level of comfort and safety we enjoy now.
 
I never thought about that my fear of giving birth to a child stemmed from a pl-trauma...Do you think that if I healed that memory, my fear would go away? (presuming that it *is* a pl-trauma :) )
 
There is a book called "Birthing From Within" by Pam England which is a good resource for working through childbirth fears. It isn't about pl's, but it does concentrate on self-hypnosis and visualization techniques to overcome fears.

Personally, I found the author a bit extreme in her perspective, but she does provide some good suggestions. Since many people here do self-regressions, it may be a familiar approach.

Jumping back to the original topic, memories of "bad medicine" from other time periods reminds me of a book I read by a dentist who started using hypnosis to help alleviate his patient's fears of dental work (was it Dr. Bruce Goldberg?). He stumbled across a woman who told a story of living in the 1800's and having a blacksmith pull her bad teeth out, obviously without anesthesia. When things like this have been done in the past, it is no wonder many people carry over fears of tooth pain and dentists!
 
traveler said:
When things like this have been done in the past, it is no wonder many people carry over fears of tooth pain and dentists!

I never considered that, but it sounds like a possibility. Consciously, I have no problem with dentistry, but my subconscious does! My dentist recommended a night guard to stop me from grinding my teeth in my sleep. I gave up on it after the second time I woke up to find the thing safely under my pillow. Maybe my subconscious was expecting the tooth fairy.: angel
 
Do you remember being treated for an illness or injury in a past life?
dark rosaleen's question is a good one. Do any new members have a memory to share?


Aili
 
I remember being sick in my life as Elisha in the Monastery during the 1300's - I was dying and the Abbess was "letting my blood" - trying to rid my body of illness. It was not a very pleasant experience.


Does anyone else recall being treated for an injury or illness in a past life?
 
I don't remember being treated for an illness, but yesterday I laid down in my bed and closed my eyes to meditate. I soon felt something tickling my face, and when I opened my eyes, I found myself lying in a different bed, and in different surroundings. The tickling was being caused by long hair partially covering my eyes and face.


I immediately became aware that I was burning hot, and I felt incredibly weak. My hair was clammy, and some of it was stuck to my forehead.


I turned my head and I could see a young man kneeling at my bedside. He was holding my hand in both of his, and was repeatedly kissing it. Then he brushed my hair back away from my eyes, and wiped my brow and neck with a damp cloth from a wooden bowl of water next to the bed.


I can only vaguelly recall my surroundings. I could see over the young mans' shoulder, a fierce log fire burning away at the other end of the room.


I didn't feel as though I was dying, but I felt very sick with this fever, and the young man was doing his best to make me feel comfortable.
 
That was fascinating Chris - thanks for sharing. It sounds incredible how you experienced it :) Do you know if this memory belonged to your life as Lisbet or is it a different one? In that case, do you have other memories from it and do you know which period it was?


...Sorry for asking so many question, but I get really curious at these things :D
 
Hi Sunniva,


No I wasn't Lisbet in this memory. In fact, i've written everything here that I know. I have no idea what the time period was, or who I was, or whether it was a memory from a past-life that i'm already aware of - sorry, i'm as curious about it as you are - :confused:
 
Hehe that's okay Chris :) Too bad you don't know more, but - hey - we've seen it happen numerous times now that when one memory slips through and you give attention, more memories will follow. So I look forward to the updates ;) :D
 
It is not exactly a 'cure' that I remember, but I thought sharing a scene from my life as Helen, a girl who lived in Victorian England, and died from a blood disease (anemia, leukemia, or haemophaelia maybe) at age 12, was appropriate here.


From my journal :

I am a girl of about 7 years of age. I had been playing outside, and I wanted to go back inside the house. So, I ran up the few stairs to the front door. I fell, and hurt my knee. It was bleeding. I started crying, and the maid came out to see what was going on. When she saw I was bleeding, she hastily took me up and carried me inside. Daddy came to see what was happening and he took me from the maid, went with me into the living room and let me sit on his lap, trying to comfort me, and putting his clean white handkerchief on my knee to stop the bleeding. I heard my mother come running downstairs, and she was panicking, ordering the maid to tell the coach driver to drive into town to get the doctor.
She then came in, went back into another room to ask the maid for some warm water and clean cloth, and she was very nervous.


I was sitting on my daddy’s lap, I knew it was always the same when I got a wound that bled, and I expected a punishment – after the doctors visit when everything was ok again – for not being more careful. I had been told at least a hundred times to be careful when playing because of my illness….But right now I just loved sitting close to daddy, letting him dry my tears, and humming a song for me to let me forget the pain. Daddy was not home often, and it was even more rare that I got so physically close to him, and I enjoyed every moment of it, even when I had to be hurt first to receive this kind of attention.


The doctor came, looked at my knee, cleaned and disinfected it properly, and ordered my parents to see to it that I would rest to recover from the loss of blood. Even such a minor injury of mine was always a reason for worries.
Eevee
 
I recently recalled a scene from my life as Lisbet where I had been bitten on my ankle by a poisonous snake or maybe a spider. I have a vague recollection of being carried home by my boyfriend "piggy-back" style, he was telling me to calm down and not to panic, although clearly it was him who was doing all of the panicking - :tongue:


The next thing I am aware of is that I am on my bed, laying on my left side with my knees up under my chin. I don't know if there was any reason for me being in this position that was relevant to the treatment being given, but my father is sucking at the wound on my ankle (trying to suck out any venom I guess) I remember this hurt very much and there were many tears.


I could see a mortar and pestle on the stool next to my bed, Papi has used it to make some kind of foul smelling green paste, and he's applying it to the wound, before covering it with a 'big leaf' and finally wrapping everything with a cloth bandage. I obviously recovered, but I don't recall any sickness being caused by the bite.


Of course, after I finished meditating, I couldn't resist having a look at my ankle to see if there were any marks carried over - : angel - but unfortunately there was nothing there.


I'm curious to find out about the treatment I received, what the green paste was? and what purpose the leaf served? Any ideas are welcome.


Does anybody else remember being treated for an injury or sickness in a past life?
 
Thanks for sharing, Chris, it was very interesting.


I immediately thought of plantain, whose leaves we used as children to put on a bleeding wound, and I read now they have some antispetic substances and really help to stop bleeding. In Wikipedia it said:

Historical uses as a wound healer and snakebite remedy have been found to have scientific merit.
But I don't know if there are plantains in Central America. However by quickly googling it looks like there are many other leafy plants with similar effects, and some of them are also crushed and put into to wound. It is said, for example, of Guaco that you can find also in Ecuador that:

Brazilian Indians have an ancient tradition of using guaco for snake bites; preparing a tea with the leaves and taking it orally as well as applying the leaves or the stem juice (in a hurry) directly onto the snake bite.
I'd call this another validation. ;) :thumbsup:


Karoliina
 
Thank you very much Karoliina for finding that out for me - hug2.gif


I hadn't done any research on this yet, to be honest I wouldn't have known where to start looking - :eek:


I remember that the green paste had a smell like vinegar, mixed with something else, could have been some kind of plant, but I remember that the smell of it was disgusting - :D


Thank's again, i'm going to have a look at that information - :)


Just edited to say I thought it was interesting to read this about the Guaco plant:




The whole plant exhales a strong penetrating and nauseous odour
 
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