Although rheumatology, which deals with rheumatic diseases, is one of the newest branches of medicine, the history of rheumatic diseases is even older than the history of humanity. Evidence of osteoarthrosis, that is, calcification-type rheumatism, was found in the ankles of 85 million-year-old dinosaurs found in Brussels. The first known findings of rheumatism-arthritis in humans were detected in skeletons dating back to 4500 BC in Tennessee, USA. Evidence of rheumatoid arthritis was found in these skeletons of American Indians.
Hippocrates, who is considered the father of medicine and lived in the sixth century BC, dealt extensively with rheumatic diseases. Thinking that the pain in the joints was caused by the bad fluid flowing from the brain to the joints, he used the word "rheuma", which means flowing fluid in the ancient Greek language, for these diseases. This word is the root of the word rheumatism and has been widely used in many parts of the world for hundreds of years.
Hippocrates defined the acute gout attack, which manifests itself with pain, swelling and redness in the big toe, from the Greek words "podos" meaning foot and "meaning seizure". He defined it with the word "podogra", which is formed by the combination of the words "agra". He used the word "gonagra" for knee arthritis, derived from the Greek word "gonos" meaning knee. By saying that arthritis in children can be completely resolved, he probably pointed out acute rheumatic fever, which develops after a bacterial infection in the throat called beta-hemolytic streptococcus and resolves within 6 weeks.
Hippocrates also described a rheumatism that progresses with widespread pain in hysterical women. This rheumatism is fibromyalgia, characterized by restless sleep, widespread body pain and fatigue. Although this disease was called psychogenic rheumatism for many years, fibromyalgia is a more accurate name and today this name is widely used to describe this disease.
This information, which has survived from Hippocrates to the present day, shows that people who lived hundreds of years ago were as diverse as today's people. It shows that they suffer from rheumatic diseases. Let's talk a little about famous historical figures who suffered from rheumatism. Ottoman sultans We know that some people have rheumatism. The most important of these is undoubtedly Suleiman the Magnificent. This most powerful sultan of the Ottoman Empire had gout, also known as the "disease of kings and the king of diseases". It is this disease that made this majestic Great Sultan say this very famous statement.
“There is no object that is respected among the people like the state,
The state is like a breath of health in the world.”
>
For this disease, which is called "nikris disease" in Ottoman Turkish, the famous Ottoman physician Hacı Pasha used the term "maraz-ı life", that is, a lifelong disease. Although it is not known exactly when Suleiman the Magnificent's nikris disease started, historical sources write that during the Nakhchivan campaign of 1553-1554, Sokulu Mehmet Pasha had a palanquin built so that the sultan would be comfortable and not step on his feet. As a strange coincidence, Suleiman the Magnificent's rival at the other end of the Mediterranean was King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor II. Philip also suffered from the same disease. He spent the last 15 years of his legal life with nikris disease, which had no cure at that time, and died at the age of 72 during his last expedition, the siege of Zigetvar. One of the famous historical figures suffering from rheumatism is Christopher Columbus. It is well known that this Genoese explorer and sailor, who lived between 1451 and 1506, had rheumatism. In his long book describing his first voyage, Columbus talks about joint pain, especially in his legs. In his writings about the third journey, his son Fernand states that his father had pains due to gout. During the fourth voyage, Columbus became very crippled and could not walk. This great explorer became unable to write due to his increasing illness in the last years of his life.
Although the history of rheumatism dates back so far, the establishment of the modern science of rheumatology is less than 100 years old and most of the important developments regarding rheumatic diseases have occurred in the last 40 years. -It took place within 50 years.
Read: 0
