Believe it or Not! 5 Bizzare Compounds Which Were Once Used As Medicine

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The worlds of medicine and pharmacy have always been fascinating. Many past treatments which may seem outright bizarre and utterly horrifying today may be hailed as a brilliant invention back in the days. In this article, we will count down the top 5 bizarre compounds which were used as medicine and the rationale behind its use.
5. Mercury

This compound has been long connected with medicine since the ancient times. The use of mercury could be traced back to as far as to ancient Greek, Egyptian and Chinese civilization. 2000 years ago, mercury sulfide (also known as cinnabar) was recorded as in traditional Chinese medicine and in Indian Ayurvedic medicines. It was more widely known as Zhu Sha in China with its brilliant red colour (a naturally occurring mineral of mercury which contained sulphur). Mercury-gold compounds used for longevity in India was named Makaradhwaja (1). Today, mercury is still recorded as one of the medicinal ingredients in the Pharmacopeia of China, albeit the concentration has been significantly reduced. Another more famous use of mercury as medicine was during the European syphilis outbreak around the end of 15th century. Due to the lack of effective treatments (antibiotics had not been invented yet), syphilis patients were treated with mercury ointments (2).
4. Dehydrated tapeworms and tapeworms eggs

As stomach churning as it may sound, tapeworms and their eggs were once thought of as effective diet pills back in the early 20th century. It is not clear who first hatched the idea of the tapeworm diet, but sanitized tapeworms were once sold to people who were dissatisfied with their body weight. Catchy marketing slogans such as "Eat! Eat! Eat! & Always Stay Thin!", "No Ill Effect" or "Easy to Swallow!" were used to grab dieters' attention (3). It may be surprising to many people, but there are still people who are willing to try the tapeworm diet today. A woman from Iowa, USA, was recently found to have attempted the notorious diet with hope to shed a few kilos of her body weight. This daring effort prompted the Iowa Department of Public Health to issue a statement against tapeworm diets to the public (4). The Department's medical director, Dr Patricia Quinlisk, was quoted as saying "Ingesting tapeworms is extremely risky and can cause a wide range of undesirable side effects, including rare deaths," (4)
3. Opium

The notorious opium was once considered a food source with quasi-medicinal properties in many parts of the world, including India, Burma, Pakistan and China. In Indian Ayurvedic and Tibbi system of medicine, opium was used in a minute quantity for many illnesses including pain alleviation and bowel conditions due to its strong potency (5). However, the compound was frequently abused and sold by unqualified persons as it was easily accessible. Opium was ingested either in its crude form or in combination with spices or rice. It was also made into pills or pounded and mixed with water. Opium was also the cause of much trouble in China when the British smuggled Indian opium into China which subsequently led to the Opium War around the mid-1800s (6). Today, opium is largely replaced by better derivatives such as morphine for medicinal use in pain management.
2. Arsenic

Hailed as the Poison of Kings and King of Poisons, arsenic has a long history as a potent poison that kills, and a powerful medicine that heals. It is odourless, tasteless, and a potent poison (7). Roman Emperor Nero, famously used arsenic to kill his brother in order to secure the throne to the empire. In traditional Chinese medicine, arsenic was used to treat a range of diseases from psoriasis, syphilis, asthma, rheumatism, haemorrhoids, cough and cancer. The compound was also frequently found in homoeopathic remedies for conditions such as digestive disorders, food poisoning, anxiety and depression (8).
1. Coca-cola

Cola-cola was first invented in the year of 1886 by Dr John S. Pemberton who was a doctor and also a pharmacist (9). Although the company’s official website was quoted to state “Coca-cola didn’t start as a medicine…” (9) but indeed the early marketing campaign advertised Coca-cola as “the ideal brain tonic” and “[it] invigorated the fatigued body and quickened the tired brain” (10). This was due to the caffeine content of the drinks. The Coca-cola company went through a series of federal lawsuits with U.S. government administrator to retain the caffeine contents, of which the head of the Bureau of Chemistry of the US Department of Agriculture, Harvey Washington Wiley, insisted that caffeine was a poison and a habit-forming drug (10). Up till today, there are still advocates, from time to time, to recommend Coca-cola for medicinal use. A recent systematic review (the most powerful research analytical tool, if performed correctly) concluded that Coca-cola was effective (91.3% success rate, 24 papers with a total of 46 patients) in treating gastric phytobezoar (11).

There you have it, 5 bizarre compounds and their usage back in the days. Medical science has since progressed significantly with better and safer forms of medication becoming widely available.
Reference:
1. Jie L, Jing-Zheng S, Li-Mei Y, Robert A. G, Michael P. W. Mercury in traditional medicines: Is cinnabar toxicologically similar to common mercurials? Exp Biol Med. 2008;233(7):810–7.
2. Norn S, Permin H, Kruse E, Kruse P. Mercury--a major agent in the history of medicine and alchemy. Dan Med Arb. 2008;36:21–40.
3. Golden J. Still can’t lose weight? There's always the tapeworm diet [Internet]. Philly.com. 2014 [cited 2016 Jun 23]. Available from: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/...e-weight-Theres-always-the-tapeworm-diet.html
4. Dahi M. Iowa woman tries “tapeworm diet”, prompts doctor warning [Internet]. Today Health & Wellness. 2013 [cited 2016 Jun 23]. Available from: http://www.today.com/health/iowa-woman-tries-tapeworm-diet-prompts-doctor-warning-6C10935746
5. UNODC. Quasi-Medical Use of Opium [Internet]. UNODC. 1953 [cited 2016 Jun 23]. Available from: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1953-01-01_3_page008.html
6. DEA Museum & Visitor Center. Cannabis, Coca, & Poppy: Nature’s Addictive Plants [Internet]. DEA.gov. [cited 2016 Jun 23]. Available from: https://www.deamuseum.org/ccp/opium/history.html
7. Vahidnia A, van der Voet G, Wolff F de. Arsenic Neurotoxicity - A Review. Hum Exp Toxicol. 2007;26:823–32.
8. WebMD. ARSENIC [Internet]. WebMD. 2016 [cited 2016 Jun 23]. Available from: http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...ngredientid=1226&activeingredientname=arsenic
9. Company TC. Is it true that Coca‑Cola started as a medicine? [Internet]. 2016 [cited 2016 Jun 23]. Available from: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/faq/is-it-true-that-coca-cola-started-as-a-medicine
10. Benjamin Jr LT. Coca-Cola – Brain tonic or poison? [Internet]. The Psychologist. 2010 [cited 2016 Jun 23]. p. 942–3. Available from: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-23/edition-11/coca-cola-–-brain-tonic-or-poison
11. Ladas S., Kamberoglou D, Karamanolis G, Vlachogiannakos J, Zouboulis-Vafiadis I. Systematic review: Coca-Cola can effectively dissolve gastric phytobezoars as a first-line treatment. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2013;37(2):169–73.

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