Fwd: RE: HERB - Can anyone help?

[Mary Temple]

I did a quick search at amazon.com, and wasn't able to pull up the book. 
I'll do a little more digging.

Here is my husband's "dissertation" on Leprosy. :) He forgot to mention that 
one of the 'classic' symptoms is the loss of the eyebrow hair.

Katerine
>
>Mostly isolation, and in many cases some form of inadvertent starvation and
>lack of proper protection from the elements.  8-)
>Okay, the following information is all from memory since I don't have the
>book in front of me.  In addition to the book "The Medieval Leper," some of
>the information comes from some Indian and Muslim works (Mostly Baghdad
>texts around 1000 - 1200) I have read.  Sorry it is kinda long.  I have
>tried to give you the meat first and then add a few extra morsels of
>interest later. 8-)
>
>The short answer is - not really any real treatment.  Popping the sores and
>bleeding were fairly popular in early stage, but later stage leprosy was
>mostly "treated" by consigning the afflicted to a hospital which should 
>have
>been properly called a hospice.  Isolation does not seem to be responsible
>for checking the spread of the disease (it is the least communicable of all
>diseases classified as communicable) since the largest factor seems to be a
>genetic predisposition.  In addition, some people with only a slight
>susceptibility might contract leprosy and then be spontaneously cured, or
>never progress beyond the early stages of the disease.  These were the ones
>who fought diagnosis (and any subsequent "treatments") the hardest.
>
>Treatment was often complicated due to the political / social ramifications
>of leprosy above and beyond the medical issues. (The Medieval Leper goes a
>bit into why leprosy had this special status, and focuses on the social
>aspects quite a bit).
>Before any "treatment" could be attempted they had to establish with
>confidence that someone had the disease - which was a legal (as opposed to
>medical) proceeding.  Usually this was done by a body of "knowledgeable 
>men"
>- presumably doctors or physicians, but often town elders or local
>politicians.  This could frequently take several years since leprosy has an
>inordinately long onset time (normally years instead of days or months) and
>the symptoms are difficult to accurately diagnose until it reaches later
>stages.
>Leprosy in its early stages is fairly innocuous, mostly polyps on the
>forehead.  Since these could be warts or moles, it was often hard to define
>as leprosy - all the more so since most victims fought the diagnosis (since
>it meant leaving their home and family and might have other legal
>ramifications for their family).
>Later (second stage leprosy) is most visibly with additional polyps (which
>may ooze) and a thickening of the voice.  Sometimes no sores are visibly,
>and the voice may be only slightly affected, or may be so severe as to make
>communication nearly impossible.  In addition, nerve damage starts becoming
>more severe at this stage.
>Late (third stage, advance leprosy) is what we normally think of as
>"classic" leprosy - withered limbs (due to injury resulting from lack of
>sensation), acute disfiguration of the face (particularly the nose), oozing
>sores and skin that gives the appearance of falling off, voice thickened to
>the level of near impossible communication, blindness.
>These late stage symptoms are fairly obvious, but may take 10 or more years
>to develop.  The extremity damage is not necessarily due to the leprosy
>directly (feet, hands) but as a by product of the nerve damage - injuries
>are not noticed and fester.  In addition, leprosy does mark the bones and
>cartilage which accelerates the process (and causes the problems with the
>nose).
>Treatment, when the lepers could be placed under care, was most similar to 
>a
>hospice.  There was no real treatment, although there were various quack
>attempts (I use that term since all evidence seems to indicate that the
>sellers of these treatments did not believe they worked themselves).  Some
>of the more legitimate attempts at treatment were in keeping with other
>standard medical practices - balancing of humours (from the Greek texts,
>which were remarkably similar to the principles underlying Chinese
>acupuncture and herbal treatments), and vapours (which were frequently 
>tried
>due to the smell of the sores).  In addition, puncturing the polyps / sores
>was often tried in early stages (as with bubonic) but was only apparently
>marginally successful.
>Treatment was complicated by several factors - long onset time, resistance
>to diagnosis, spontaneous remission (which did occasionally happen), and
>familial inheritance.
>According to "The Medieval Leper," of married couples where one contracted
>the disease, fewer than 5% of the spouses developed leprosy.  The largest
>factor seems to be a predisposition or familial susceptibility (which was
>correctly identified in period since several texts talk about evidence at
>trials being "and his mother was a leper, thus he may be as well," and
>such).  In addition, very few of the clergy that assisted in the hospitals
>actually developed leprosy. Since many of these were on deserted islands
>except for the leper colony is probably too much to believe that they
>actually simply avoided exposure.  They simply had a higher resistance.  In
>addition, tuberculosis may have given some people additional resistance
>(since the bacteria that cause the two are closely related).
>Sorry to have rambled on so long, but hopefully some of this will be
>interesting and / or useful.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mary Temple [mailto:noxcat at hotmail.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 10:18 AM
>To: herbalist at ansteorra.org
>Subject: Re: HERB - Can anyone help?
>
>
>From what I remeber from skimming through the book my husband bought two
>weeks ago(The Medieval Leper - I can get more information on it), there
>wasn't much they could do for leprosy. They hadn't figured out it was a
>bacteria, but they did know it tended to run in families.
>
>It's actually a fascinating book for those interested in things medical - 
>it
>
>even has pictures (both drawings and photographs of people suffering from
>the disease and of the bones from the leper graveyards). The main body of
>evidence is from the Scandinavian countries. I asked my husband if this was
>because it was more prevalent there, but he said it seemed to be simply
>because that where the best extant documentation came from.
>
>Lady Katerine Rowley
>Bryn Gwlad, Ansteorra
>mka
>Mary K. Temple
>Austin, Texas
>
> >I have a son doing a report on medieviel medicine for school.  Does 
>anyone
> >know if there was a medievel treatment for leprosy besides isolation?  Or
> >should I say along with isolation.
> >
> >Thanks in advance for your help.
> >
> >Aleena
>
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