5 A2 medicine

CHAPTER 1 Modern Medicine WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU FEEL SICK? TAKE MEDICINE? GO TO THE DOCTOR? When people get sick or injured, many take medicine to feel better. And sometimes people take medicine so they don't get sick. There are many different kinds of medicines and different ways to take them. Maybe people take a pill for a headache or drink something that tastes horrible to stop them from coughing. Other times people go to a doctor and get an injection because they don't want to get the flu. Today, medicine is a big business. Before 1970, there were many small businesses that sold medicine. In 1960, Americans spent only $27 billion on medicine. Then, in the 1980s and 1990s, small medical businesses started to come together to make very large businesses.

These businesses spent a lot of money on scientific research, and the cost of medicines started to go up. People were also living longer and so could buy more medicines during their longer lifetimes. In 2007, Americans spent $286 billion on medicines. In this book we are going to look at all kinds of things that can cure us, make us healthy, or help us if we get injured. And we will also see how our body itself can make us better.

CHAPTER 2 Old and New Medical Practices SOME VERY OLD MEDICAL PRACTICES ARE STILL USED TODAY. From several thousand years ago until the mid-19th century, most doctors did something called bleeding. They cut the patient's skin and let some blood out. They believed that the blood had unhealthy things in it, so it was better outside the body than in it. However, bleeding was often dangerous because it let too much blood out or the cut became infected. Bleeding probably killed more people than it cured. Doctors at this time also used small animals called leeches to bleed people. The leeches were put on a patient's body and they sucked the blood. It was terrible, but it was safer than using a knife.

Doctors thought leeches could cure just about anything from a headache to the flu. To cure a sore throat they put leeches in their patients' mouth and down their throat. Leeches were used as far back as 3,000 years ago for many different medical reasons and, surprisingly, they are still used today. Modern doctors put leeches on an area of the body where there is an infection or where they have done surgery. The leeches suck the blood that needs to be taken away from the area. They also put a chemical in the blood that helps it move around the body better. Acupuncture is another old medical practice that started in China several thousand years ago. It is still used today in many parts of the world. Acupuncturists put needles in parts of a patient's body to stop pain. Many people who play sports use acupuncture to help them with the pain from their injuries.

CHAPTER 3 Nature as Medicine MANY THINGS IN NATURE CAN MAKE US FEEL BETTER, BUT SOME THINGS DON'T DO ANY GOOD AT ALL. "Quack" doctors are not real doctors. They make medicines from natural things, but their medicines don't work. William Bailey was a quack from the USA. His medicine, Radithor, had a very dangerous chemical called radium in it. One of his patients drank 1,400 bottles of Radithor. The radium ate away some of his face and then killed him. But many things in nature, like herbs and spices and different foods, were used long ago and did help people feel better. Many people still use these remedies today because they work. Let's look at some of them. If you have a sore throat, drink some warm water with salt. But don't swallow it. Hold the salt water at the back of your throat for a few minutes. Your throat will not hurt as much.

You're studying hard for an exam and you feel a headache starting. Cut an onion into small pieces and put them on your forehead. You won't smell very nice, but the headache will usually go away. If you have a bad cold, eat some uncooked garlic. Once again, you won't smell very nice, but your cold will probably go away sooner. So the next time you are sick, before you buy medicine, look in your kitchen for some of nature's remedies.