Monday, 26 April 2021
Dreams as a diagnostic tool; Dreams, Hippocrates
Monday, 19 April 2021
Disease of the mind; The Sacred Disease, Hippocrates
Have you read The Sacred Disease? If so what did you think of it?
Want to read The Sacred Disease but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.
Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.
Get a copy of The Sacred Disease.
Monday, 12 April 2021
Pithy diagnostics; Aphorisms, Hippocrates
This is an important diagnostic and treatment text and we should not get put off by the title. It is instead a treasure trove of medicine from the classical greek times. It is roughly grouped into sections of ideas. It covers diagnosis and treatment, as well as prognosis. These are covered in the general sense rather than in case studies.
Have you read Aphorisms? If so what did you think of it?
Want to read Aphorisms but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.
Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.
Get a copy of Aphorisms.
Monday, 5 April 2021
More plays from the Bible; Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays(6-10), Various Unknown
Why might you read the Miracle Plays?
The Miracle plays are a snapshot of how Medieval England saw the stories of the Bible. I am just reading a collection of them rather than each version. This makes them great to compare how Christianity was understood across time, even if they are not directly about doctrine.
For my Self Education project, they fill this role. They allow for a greater understanding of the way in which faith was a part of everyday life in medieval England. This will be important when I get to read more of the church fathers. As a narrative, they show a stage in the development of the play in the English speaking world.
Stories of the Miracle plays 6-10
Abraham and Issac
The play starts with Abraham praying for Issac his young son. We then see Issac also praying. There is a short scene in heaven where God tells his angels he will test Abraham. the test is to see whether he loves God or his son more.
Angels are then sent to instruct Abraham to go to the mountain and sacrifice Issac. While he prays it isn't so he complies. He takes Issac with wood for the fire up to the mountain.
Issac finds out he is to be the sacrifice and starts pleading with his father for his life. Abraham tells him he has been instructed by God to sacrifice him. Issac accepts his fate. Abraham dithers over doing the deed but eventually swings for the kill. He is stopped by an angel and is relieved. Issac asks why he has stopped and Abraham explains.
They sacrifice the ram God has arranged and descend the mountain praising God.
Reflections on the Miracle plays 6-10
Abraham and Issac
Have you read The Miracle Plays? If so what did you think of it?
Want to read The Miracle Plays but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.
Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.
Get a copy of The Miracle Plays.
Monday, 29 March 2021
Arguments against the treatment practices of Cnidus; Regimen in Acute Diseases, Hippocrates
Why you might read Regimen in Acute Diseases?
Content of Regimen in Acute Diseases
Hippocrates starts with how he does not agree with the Cnidus school of medicine. Especially about how to treat diseases. He states that their diagnosis is too simplistic. As well as their treatments being wrong. They are too simplistic because they miss things the physician could ascertain. These things cannot be gotten from asking the patient.
He spends the rest of the book giving his version of what to give as a treatment in what situation. He covers, barley meal or barley water and when to use each. As well as when to use fasting and when it only makes things worse. He covers drink as well when to give wine and what type. As well as when to use only water though he recommends this for very little.
At one point he recommends cutting a vein in the elbow and bleeding a patient. This is the only reference to that in this work. Hippocrates is more focused on food and drink as treatment.
Reflection on Regimen in Acute Diseases
Hippocrates was against taking just water in most cases. It is interesting that today water is the one thing we are told to consume when sick. Though Hippocrates is talking about Acute diseases i.e. those that might end in death. So maybe it isn't reasonable to compare those with a cold or flu. Also, he was not talking about treated water. Maybe that is also the reason for the difference.
The single reference to bleeding a patient is odd. It is offhand enough to think it was part of the common practice. And yet it is the only mention of it in the work. He also does not discuss its use but rather just adds it in as an afterthought.
It is also interesting that for gruel Hippocrates is focused on barley meal. Today when I think of gruel I would think of oats or wheat.
What others have to say about Regimen in Acute Diseases
"The main Hippocratic concepts on four still common acute and urgent respiratory diseases −pneumonia, pleurisy, thoracic empyema and upper airway obstruction− were identified and most of them were found to be in agreement with contemporary medical thinking and practice." From BMC Pulmonary Medicine
Comparisons with other texts
Like we see in Epidemics Hippocrates very rarely prescribes bloodletting. Though it is not common in his texts he is offhanded enough about it that it must have been common at the time.
Like Prognosis he deals with the acute diseases where there is a chance of death. But unlike prognosis where he is focused on survival this work is focused on treatments.
Conclusion
Hippocrates in refuting another school covers how to treat Acute Diseases. He is focused on food and drink. This includes how often to administer them. His philosophy of treatment could be summarised as; don't shock the body any more than you must. Hippocrates very rarely suggest bloodletting as a treatment. And this is the first book we have seen that is systematic about how to treat people rather than specific cases.
Have you read Regimen in Acute Diseases? If so what did you think of it?
Want to read Regimen in Acute Diseases but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.
Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.
Get a copy of Regimen in Acute Diseases.
Monday, 22 March 2021
How to tell if your patient is going to die; Prognosis, Hippocrates
Have you read Prognosis? If so what did you think of it?
Want to read Prognosis but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.
Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.
Get a copy of Prognosis.
Monday, 15 March 2021
Why location and weather matter in medicine; Airs, Waters and Places, Hippocrates
Have you read Airs, Waters and Places? If so what did you think of it?
Want to read Airs, Waters and Places but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.
Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.
Get a copy of Airs, Waters and Places.
No longer content to be just a science major
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