3 Unsolved Medical Mysteries
If you were a sailor before the mid-1700s, you had a good chance of getting there Scurvy– Resulting in spongy gums, joint pain, and spontaneous bleeding – while at sea. No one will know why. This changed in the 1740s, when a Scottish doctor conducted the first ever clinical trial to discover a cure for scurvy. He gave six pairs of sailors different substances, such as vinegar or citrus. Over time, the performance of the couple who received the oranges and lemons improved significantly compared to the others.
Solve the puzzle? Not quite yet. Scientists did not discover the truth until the 1920s a reason Disease: Vitamin C deficiency. It turns out that the Scorbutean sailors ate only processed foods that did not contain vitamin C, and once they replenished them with fresh fruits, they were cured.
But many other medical mysteries remain Not resolved. We look at a few of them in the latest episode of The List Show, from the mechanics of migraines to the real issues behind “mass hysteria.”
You can read about a few below, and check them all out by watching the video above — and don’t forget Subscribe Head over to Mental Floss on YouTube for more great videos.
What causes migraines?
People have suffered from migraines for thousands of years, and Strange treatments Because this condition has been around for a long time. A Romanian doctor recommended electric shocks with an electric fish to get rid of headaches, and migraines were likely involved. The Swiss doctor who was the first to characterize migraines in the medical literature suggested good bloodletting to relieve the pain.
Obviously, doctors were willing to try anything to treat migraine sufferers, but the one thing they could not do was determine the cause of the disease. Migraines aren’t just bad headaches; Excruciating head pain comes with Additional symptoms Such as nausea, visual disturbances, sensitivity to light and sound, and even temporary loss of motor function.
The medical consensus now is that migraines are a consequence Abnormal brain activityBut what that really means remains a mystery. Migraines usually appear between the ages of 10 and 45, and people often report something that triggers them, such as stress, exercise, loud noises or other stimulants. Researchers believe that these stimuli may trigger disruptive signals in the brain that affect blood flow to the organ and surrounding muscles, leading to characteristic pain and sensory distortions. The reasons why certain stimuli have this ability, and how the brain reacts to them at a molecular level, are still being intensively studied. Currently, people with migraines can take prescription medications that either prevent them or stop them once they start.
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What is behind schizophrenia?
It can be difficult to analyze the causes of neurological diseases. We don’t know What causes schizophreniaFor example. This complex disease presents a range of symptoms ranging from paranoia, sensory hallucinations, delusions, physical tremors and movement disturbances.
Researchers believe that a combination of genetic and environmental factors increases a person’s chances of developing schizophrenia. more than 100 genes It is linked to the risk of schizophrenia, but it is not a condition that a single gene can cause or prevent. Instead, these genes are likely to show small mutations that increase the risk of developing the disease, and mutations can occur at different times during a person’s brain development. These mods can also interact with it Other health experiencessuch as prenatal infections or severe stress at an early age, which are thought to increase the risk of developing the disease. This makes it very difficult to pinpoint a single cause or stage of development that may lead to schizophrenia.
The connections between all these points are not yet clear. Although we don’t know its cause or have a cure, there are medications and treatment strategies that can help people manage the condition.
Why does mass psychopathology occur?
Mass psychopathology is somewhat of a medical mystery. History books are filled with incidents in which a group of people would start behaving in the same strange way, say they saw the same fantastical thing, or exhibit the same unexplained symptoms. Some people refer to this phenomenon as conversion disorder or mass hysteria, while others see the two as different things.
One of the strangest examples The dancing plague The year is 1518. A villager in Strasbourg, France, suddenly started dancing in the town square and couldn’t stop. Hundreds of people began to feel the same subconscious desire to dance. Some danced until they died of a heart attack or extreme exhaustion. The “plague” continued for several months.
As many historians considerWitch trials“In colonial Europe and America they were mass psychological events. Typically, incidents began with a group of people who began behaving erratically and/or accused someone of causing the attacks. In the notorious Salem witch trials in Massachusetts in 1692, some pre-teen girls began writhing and screaming and accused three women of witchcraft. The disturbing situation escalated: Husbands and wives accused each other Some practiced witchcraft, neighbors reported, and children condemned their parents. Ultimately, 19 people were hanged.
These days, mass psychological events are not generally associated with magic, but they still happen. They occur most often during times of high stress in the immediate community. In 2011, more than a dozen girls at a high school in Le Roy, New York, developed unexplained problems. Tics and convulsionsIn 2016, social media was full of posts about… Scary clowns Committing violence in random cities (with little actual evidence). Both incidents Shown Characteristics of mass psychopathology.
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