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Out-of -date conditions

(86 Posts)
apricot Wed 10-Jun-15 19:26:51

How many disorders can you think of which no longer exist?
Like chills, rheumatism, growing pains, weak chests?
My hands keep going purple and people say it's "bad circulation" but can that be a real condition? Either your blood is circulating and you're alive, or it isn't and you're dead.

mcem Thu 11-Jun-15 09:39:49

I'm thinking anno that chills in the kidneys may be a very Scottish ailment!
Mum insisted on vests tucked into knickers to keep the kidneys warm.
Why don't my DGDs suffer whenever they wear crop tops?

annodomini Thu 11-Jun-15 09:27:05

To ward off a chill in the kidneys, my mum made me, in my teens, wear woolly knickers. I later realised that these provided the perfect breeding gound for candida - aka thrush. Luckily the said knickers shrank in the wash.

Nelliemoser Thu 11-Jun-15 09:13:01

"Rheumatism" was use as a catch all for all sorts of ailments.

My parents used to talk about lumbago which I think was low back pain.
If so I suffer a lot from lumbago. Thinking about the word it almost certainly relates to pain in the lumbar spine region.

Weak chests were probably TB.

From my mum! "Don't walk around without socks or shoes on or you will get a chill in your tummy" Aka the trots.

petallus Thu 11-Jun-15 09:07:21

My grandmother used to say she had a bone in her leg when she didn't want to get up to do something or other I had requested.

I always took it as a serious ailment. It was years before I cottoned on.

Stansgran Thu 11-Jun-15 09:03:36

I think we should reintroduce swooning and fits of the vapours in the right circumstances. Done elegantly with a chaise Longue and a handsome man around ..... The possibilities are heartening.

Nelliemoser Thu 11-Jun-15 09:02:06

I had heard that goitres used to be the result of a lack of iodine in the diet. ?prevalent in Switzerland at one time until foods were fortified with traces of it. I don't know for sure where I heard that, it might have been a Geography teacher talking about land locked Switzerland.

Anya Thu 11-Jun-15 08:58:19

That's very scary Nellie - I never understand those who bemoan the 'good old days'

Nelliemoser Thu 11-Jun-15 08:52:44

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweating_sickness

I got completely side tracked by seeing a reference to this years ago when doing some family history research in Chester where there had been an outbreak.

It appears to be have been a very virulent bug which appeared in the late 15th to mid 16 century and then disappeared. I don't think anyone really knows what sort of bug it was.

Teetime Thu 11-Jun-15 08:47:17

I think sweating sickness was Typhoid or Typus - I remember reading that somewhere.

What about Dropsy which we now call lymphodoema.

Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema are now Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Stroke is clinically a Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA)

Heart Attacks are Myocardial Infarctions (MI)

I still have the vapours though. smile

Bez Thu 11-Jun-15 08:02:46

As to a quinsy - dreadful things! I had one just before doing my finals when I was almost 21 - terrible sore throat and GP gave me a bottle of the blue gargle! It got worse over the weekend and actually burst early Monday morning. Seems it should not get to that stage as is dangerous.
My mother was due to be met at Victoria station on her return from a convalescent home and I was the designated welcoming party - instead my father had the day off work and marched me up to the doctor ( just at the top of our road) and walked in with me just saying to the GP ' look at her throat!' He was white with rage - and he rarely got angry. I had to wait while the doctor boiled up the water for the syringe and he jabbed penicillin into my backside! I lost two stone in weight and had to delay returning to College for two weeks!

PRINTMISS Thu 11-Jun-15 08:01:26

Me too, I had quinsy, which my mother swore I got when I was pushed into the local open-air swimming pool, and stayed under the water rather longer than expected - didn't drown, but could not swim, and someone sort of rescued me! I am not sure when antibiotics became available, and so not sure what treatment I had, but still remember the heat and pain, no hospital, but about two/three weeks off school.
My gran always said it was 'growing pains' and a warning about piles, and keeping kidneys warm. Chilblains were always a problem, and I seem to remember something called "Zambuc" was rubbed into these.

Anya Thu 11-Jun-15 07:57:36

Watching Wolf Hall I wondered what the 'sweating sickness' was that carried off Thomas Cromwell's wife and two daughters very suddenly.

Is that a disease that's still around under a different name or something, like the plague, which doesn't 'exist' any more?

Bez Thu 11-Jun-15 07:54:29

Goitre is a condition which does still exist - it is a tumour of some sort on the thyroid itself - OH had one about eight years ago and the term was certainly used still here in France - this was all discovered at a routine chest ex ray and the French radiologist saw it and put it in his report. (We were here on holiday at the time but as nirmal they gave us the Xray and report). Back in UK initially the surgeon said there was nothing there and was just dismissing us when he changed his mind and sent OH for an MRI scan which showed the tumour ( fortunately it proved to be nothing nasty when tested) and it was so big it was almost inoperable! He had an operation to remove it and half his thyroid and they found the tumour had grown all around the nerves etc. he was lucky it all went OK. Thing was a year or so before he was given an endoscopy and they were unable to get the things down his throat as his oesophagus was pushed out of line and had a bend in it but they never thought to find out why!!! He also almost choked twice!

kittylester Thu 11-Jun-15 07:35:45

I've had a quinsey (sp?) it was horrendous but I didn't need to be in hospital. The treatment was the most enormous antibiotic tablets I have ever seen and, considering I couldn't even swallow my own saliva, quite difficult to take! confused

Sheena Thu 11-Jun-15 07:09:37

If anyone said to my Mum they had a pain in their leg/hip/arm/shoulder etc she'd say "Oh, you must have pulled a guider" ??? grin hubby and I still say it now !!

Grannyknot Thu 11-Jun-15 07:02:02

It is spelt Bell's Palsy. I've known two people,who b have had it and it is horrible.

Grannyknot Thu 11-Jun-15 06:59:25

Goitre was said when people had thyroid problems.

I love keeping my kidneys warm! smile

How about "having a turn"? grin

absent Thu 11-Jun-15 06:58:02

Bell's Palsey (no idea about the spelling) still happens and it's horrible. A friend was very ill for quite a long time.

Goitre is a thyroid problem but, perhaps, called something else these days.

Falconbird Thu 11-Jun-15 06:51:17

Haven't heard about Goiters either, not sure what they were.

Falconbird Thu 11-Jun-15 06:50:37

Haven't heard of Bell's Palsey for years.

Grandma2213 Thu 11-Jun-15 00:30:42

My mother always said she had Quinsy which I think was a sore throat (tonsillitis). I have since found out it is quite serious and usually requires hospitalisation! She was always prone to exaggeration, my mother!

Petallus We were warned that if we sat on the school radiators we would get piles. I got them as a result of pregnancy!!

Marelli Wed 10-Jun-15 23:36:17

I think 'growing pains' do exist - in the legs, anyway. I had really achey legs when I was young, and so did my DD and then her DD. Her little boy (my Gt Grandson) has the same problem.

petallus Wed 10-Jun-15 23:30:49

As a child i was warned if i sat on something cold i would get piles.

And it's true, i did!

mcem Wed 10-Jun-15 21:37:28

Agree with Charley. My daughter has been diagnosed as having Raynaud's syndrome. Her hands turn blue/purple in the cold. No remedy apart from gloves and heat.

Charleygirl Wed 10-Jun-15 21:25:52

apricot if your hands turn a purple colour you probably have Raynaud's Disease which is poor circulation.