Bizarre Medical Treatments That Have Weathered the Tests of Time

A handful of days-of-yore treatments have, however, proven both effective and in one way or another enduring.

Thankfully, many old-time medical practices have lost favor over time, like giving morphine to teething babies and prescribing asthma sufferers heroin.

A handful of days-of-yore treatments have, however, proven both effective and in one way or another enduring.

One such technique is electroshock therapy, which was administered to patients suffering from affective mental disorders like schizophrenia and depression.

It gained popularity in the mid 1900s, at which time patients were given up to 20 high-voltage blasts in a single session.

Improper uses and catastrophic results led to its decline in popularity in the 60s.

Today, when administered correctly, it's still considered an effective treatment for clinical depression.

Another age-old remedy that still has some street cred is leech therapy.

In the middle ages it was used to extract excess and tainted blood from suffering patients.

The bloodletting itself is far from mainstream practice today, but scientists continue to investigate the medicinal properties of leech saliva.

Finally, there's good old fresh country air, which doctors used to recommend for everything from respiratory problems to immune issues.

Recent research shows that some time away can help city dwellers build up a resistance to environmental allergens.