Hey! We're Salem (Raluca in the early episodes) and Mia, and we're a medical scientist and a historian who put their brains together to create this medical history podcast!
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It's the first episode of LeechFest! In this episode we talk about asylums, mental health and Daddy Dukesberry.This month we go through a summary of early mental illness history and mental health treatments, talk about who were seen as "insane" and why asylums got built by the hundreds in the 19th century. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
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The Spanish flu was one of the most deadly pandemics in recent history. What a fun thing to banter about, discuss and draw modern comparisons to! Hope you like it! <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
We talk about the practice of incest in the royal houses of Europe, which is a conversation that of course has to include The Jaw. We also talk about the Russian Empire, and about how hemophilia may have been the straw that broke the Romanov's dynasty's back. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
In this episode we talk about the origins of the modern vaccine i.e. variolation and also the different types of vaccines available today. We also go over the mRNA vaccine and cover some of the more common concerns people have about it. Lastly, we talk about the history of the anti-vaxx movement and how it looks in the present day. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
<p>In this episode we talk about eugenics as a movement throughout history, as well as its scientific foundations and consequences. Did you know that while most people think of eugenics as a thing of the past, it continues to be a topic of controversy, with people advocating for liberal eugenics as a means for disease management and /or individual enhancement. We delve into what constitutes modern eugenics and how the image of eugenics has changed over time. Or has it?</p><br><p>The cover image is an Eugenics Society poster (1930s) from the Wellcome Library Eugenics Society Archive.</p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
<p>As a medical history podcast, we can't not talk about the Black Death. Frankly, we're surprised it's taken us 6 episodes to get to it. We talk bacteria (and a few other prominent theories for the plague), discuss plague doctors (obvs) and Mia reveals she is a proponent of the miasma theory. In addition, we play a little game of Would you survive the Plague?</p><br><p><br></p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
We've been on a medieval kick lately! We mentioned plague doctors in the previous episode but there was so much more to medieval medicine than those beaked freaks. In this episode, we take a look at sickness and health between approximately 8th and 15th century in Europe. We talk about medical practitioners and the methods they would employ, and also look at how the practice changed over time. This episode is also very female-focused, so we talk about female healers and some reasons why they would get accused of witchcraft. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
<p>This podcast is no stranger to major epidemics. We've already covered the Spanish Flu and the Black Death. But what if we told you that the epidemic currently devastating American health has not been caused by a virus or bacteria at all, but rather by a poor understanding of pain and addiction, insufficient regulations surrounding medications and the greed of a pharmaceutical giant? </p><br><p>Note: We are not entirely accurate when we mention benzodiazepines at the end. They are anti-psychotics, not painkillers. Benzodiazepines are sometimes prescribed together with opioids as they can alleviate psychiatric co-morbidities in patients with chronic pain. Combining opioids and benzodiazepines can carry risks as both drugs sedate users and suppress breathing—the cause of overdose fatality. Also, Mia says 300 million people died from the opioid epidemic, the correct number is 300 thousand.</p><br><p>Image by Franz Eugen Köhler, <em>Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen,</em>1897</p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
<p>In this episode we discuss the Islamic Golden Age, specifically the factors that led to the scientific advances in the Islamic world, the contribution of Islamic teachings to the way Islamic scientists developed their ideas, as well as the specific contributions of the Islamic world to science and medicine. How did medical education look like? What kind of treatments did Islamic physicians employ in the hospitals? In what field of medicine did Muslim doctors excel in?</p><br><p>The cover art for this episode is a painting of al-Razi, coming from Science Museum Group, in the United Kingdom.</p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
<p>This month we tackle to topic of neurodiversity throughout history, focusing on autism. We start out by looking at how the term came to be and at how the etiology autism changed through time, and later we dive into some interesting myths connected to autism. Changelings, for example, were a major element of European folklore, and were believed to be non-humans/ fairies which were switched out for healthy babies, and which could be identified by their 'atypical' behavior or appearance. Aliens, and Indigo Children are other examples of tropes used in connection with autism. Lastly, we look at a non-Western approach to neurodiversity and discuss the (over?)medicalization of neurodiversity in the West.</p><br><p>The image represents the devil stealing a baby, and it is a detail of "The legend of St. Stephen" by Martino di Bartolomeo, courtesy of Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main.</p> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/5955624">LeechFest Early Access Feed</a><br><p> See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>
