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How Doctors Treated Ear Infections In 1908: Cocaine And Scalpels

October 8th, 2009 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network
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I want to share this section of the old textbook, A Text-Book of Minor Surgery by Edward Milton Foote, MD (1908) mainly because I want to share the photo of the “angular knife for incision of the tympanic membrane” with you.

Otitis Media

This is a common disease of childhood, usually following a cold in the head. The prominent symptom is earache. Every physician ought to be able to recognize the bulging outward of the membranum tympani and to relieve the pressure by incision of the membrane at the most favorable situation – viz., the inferior and posterior portion. The introduction of warm olive oil into the external meatus will sometimes relieve pain, and the application of external heat may also be tried; but the pain of a severe earache, unless relieved by puncture of the membrane, usually demands the internal administration of morphine. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*

Overheard At Pain Management Clinic

April 28th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in True Stories
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Doctor: Mr. Smith, your urine test is positive for cocaine.

Mr. Smith: [Blank Stare]

Doctor: Have you been snorting cocaine recently?

Mr. Smith: No.

Doctor: Then why is there cocaine in your urine?

Mr. Smith: Maybe your nurse put it in there.

Doctor: If my nurse had cocaine, I don’t think she’d put it in your urine.

***

Bonus tip for pain management specialists: cocaine’s half-life in the urine is 2-4 days. “Random” urine drug testing on Mondays offers a higher yield than other days of the business week because most patients abuse illicit drugs on weekends>>weekdays.