User:Vera0101/Bloodletting

The practice of bloodletting would come to take a toll on those on which it was practiced, with one casualty being Charles II of England. Being the King of England at the time, he was of upmost importance to the doctors treating him, who would use some of the most advanced techniques known at the time, which largely included bloodletting. Although they were treating him for a recent seizure, the procedures only induced more of them. After having lost about 24 fluid ounces of blood, he died in 1685.

Bloodletting at the time was used for rich and poor alike for a large variety of illnesses. The Dean of the Paris Medical Faculty, Guy Patin, trusted the procedure so much that he was willing to subject his entire family to it for the sake of their health. His son had been experiencing a lasting fever, so Patin put him through bloodletting 20 times. With his wife having been said to have an abnormal flow of blood to her chest, Patin had his wife bled 12 times. Even Patin himself had been experiencing a 'cold in the head', so he had himself bled seven times.

Another notable loss would be the first president of the United States of America.

William Cullen worked during this time as a physician in Scotland. He believed that bloodletting was a method of removing nervous energy from one's body. He believed that too much or too little nervous energy in the body could spell disease. It is believed that his work in the field later inspired Benjamin Rush.

Dr.François Broussais is another notable name from this time period. Although he did not take the conventional approach of cutting a vein open and emptying it into a bowl. He preferred to do his bloodletting with leeches. More specifically, Hirudo medicinalis, also known as the medicinal leech. Dr.Broussais thought that fevers were caused by the inflammation of different organs. He believed that using leeches for bloodletting would be more effective than normal bloodletting, as you could simply place a leech over the area of the inflamed organ, rather than cut a vein and hope that the blood is draining from the right place. His usage of leeches alone drastically increased the usage of them in his home country of France, where almost 35 million leech procedures took place every year.

Entering the fourth century BC, Herodotus advocated for the strong health benefits of bloodletting through cupping. He also mentions that it gives the potential to prevent frequent fainting, as well as increase efficiency of digestion and restore appetite to those that are unable to eat. Herodotus also promoted cupping's ability to accelerate the recovery time from diseases and remove sleepiness. More specifically, if cupping was performed from the ear, it would also have the potential to give the same effect to the body as a good nights rest. In the first century BC, Celsus was also an active supporter of cupping for the purpose of bloodletting, as he believed that it could help combat smaller forms of sickness.