Would you ever consider having trepanation – drilling a hole in your head – to relieve your headache? Not a regular, run-of-the-mill treatment for headaches even in the 1600s, but nonetheless a treatment that some people resorted to when nothing else helped. And amazingly, there are some records of people suggesting it worked for them! As you can imagine, trepanation was a dangerous surgery and involved using a circular saw in a variety of sizes to create a larger or smaller hole. These holes could then be used to apply medicine directly to the brain!
More often than not though, headaches were treated with herbs, spices, resins, breastmilk, garden worms, doves dung, vinegar, and foods. These could be mashed up and applied to fabric to make a poltice for the head and temples or herbs sewn into cloth caps, which could be worn on the head. Sometimes, it was suggested to use a herbal snuff made of Betony or Rue or steep herbs in wine or mead and to have a nip as needed.
There are a lot of herbs that have traditionally been used to ease a headache, including meadowsweet, willow, mint, rose, chamomile, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram.
Some examples of recipes used:
– A handful of daisy’s mixed with 12 earth worms and an egg white spread on a cloth to place on the forehead and temples.
– Marjoram tea
– Chewing poppy seeds or steeping them in brandy. Poppy was especially known in some areas for hangover headaches and called headache flower. The opium poppy was used in ‘official medicine’ whilst folk medicine used field poppies.
– Chewing willowbark
– Thyme was recommended for headaches by folk and ‘official medicine’.
By the 19th century, women were thought of as frail and weak and that any overstimulation could lead to many brain issues, including headaches. Wandering wombs mnstruation, over indulgence, and an imbalance of the temperments or humours were other reasons considered.
Even today, we are not entirely certain why some headaches and migraines occur. We have also developed research and have centuries of empirical research that supports the use of using many of the herbs. Plants such as meadowsweet and willow, for example, became the basis for asprin when the salicin within them was found by science to be pain relievering with anti-inflammatory properties. This chemical was then extracted to create the white pill we know today. Potentially, it is more potent, but it also comes with various side effects. So, although there are some remedies that we might think of as strange today, there are many that have been proven as effective.
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Disclaimer: Nothing in this article is meant as medical advice or for people to try.
Rox Madeira 