As a person that is prone to headaches, (and some have been real doozys!) I always seem to have a bottle of ibuprofen close by.  I'm sure glad that I have that ibuprofen, because these "headache remedy's" from before the 1900's are just a bit scary.

1. Burn your head.  (WHAT? As if the inside pain wasn't enough!) Apparently, a person was to shave off their hair, and burn down to the muscles.  If a person wanted to burn down to the bone, they could, just make sure there were no muscles in that area, because burning the muscles would cause cramps.

2. Put a dead mole on your head. (Do you find these on the side of the road or what?) Problem solved. I guess.

3. Run a warm, sweet bath. (This remedy might actually help today.)  Apparently a person was to sit in a warm, honey sweetened bath.  The honey vapors would then act to draw the aches out of the head.

4. Add some eels to the bath. (WHAT?!  I don't even know how to purchase one of these creatures!) Thanks to the The Dutch Society of Sciences, a person was to sit in a bath, put one hand on their head and the other on an eel.  The electricity from the eel would then help them immediately.

5. Trepanning. (I didn't even know what this was! Now that I do...gulp!)  Going back to the cavemen of the 8th century BC, to relieve the pressure, why not just put holes in your head? This treatment was still happening even into the 1600's!

I feel bad for the headache sufferers of yesteryear.  If only these poor people had some analgesics! A whole lot of pain and the chance of infection could have been avoided.

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