Duration 17:4

A History of Allergies

by The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

56 932 watched

0

6.1 K

Published 21 May 2021

Go to https://bit.ly/noom_thehistoryguy and take your free 30-second quiz! Thank you #noom for sponsoring today’s video! Despite their omnipresence in human history, it took until the modern age for humans to understand what allergies are and begin to treat them. The History Guy remembers achoo!! the Forgotten History of Allergies. This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration. You can purchase the bow tie worn in this episode at The Tie Bar: https://www.thetiebar.com/?utm_campaign=BowtieLove&utm_medium=YouTube&utm_source=LanceGeiger Despite their omnipresence in human history, it took until the modern age for humans to understand what allergies are and begin to treat them. All events are portrayed in historical context and for educational purposes. No images or content are primarily intended to shock and disgust. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Non censuram. Find The History Guy at: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHistoryGuyYT/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheHistoryGuy Please send suggestions for future episodes: Suggestions@TheHistoryGuy.net The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you. Subscribe for more forgotten history: /channel/UC4sEmXUuWIFlxRIFBRV6VXQ . Awesome The History Guy merchandise is available at: https://teespring.com/stores/the-history-guy Script by JCG #history #thehistoryguy #allergies

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History

History guy

The history guy

History of medicine

Allergies

Hay fever

Allergy

Comments - 441

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@jdk96733 years ago Confusing a hippopotamus for a wasp seems like a life-altering mistake even in the best of circumstances. 15
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@leepinlepin3 years ago When you reach 1millon subs you should do a history of your channel! Because your history is worth remembering! 173
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@fancyultrafresh32643 years ago As I woke this morning to a headache, cotton eyes, scratchy sore throat, and a wheeze I peered at my YouTube recommendations and saw this. Thank you. 41
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@goodun29743 years ago "Tis the season to be sneezin'!" 70
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@MopTop883 years ago This episode was nothing to sneeze at. I learned a lot. 90
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@allanlank3 years ago As an allergy sufferer, I thank you for this "History Deserves to be Remembered". 65
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@chiefpontiac18003 years ago I have always been allergic to work. All these years of working, I have yet to find a cure, so I deal with my allergies and I am still working. WHAT WILLPOWER! 43
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@kl28943 years ago The History Guy channel is already a part of my weight loss journey. I find that listening to episodes of THG while I'm exercising, keeps my mind more occupied than listening to music does. It makes my sessions easier to complete. Thank you History Guy! ... 5
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@lydialady52753 years ago Coffee is excellent for asthma. It's hot, you have to sip slowly and therefore relax a few minutes. But, long before it was shown by serious study, doctors gave coffee as a treatment, and it was effective. The school secretary always gave asthmatic children a cup of coffee after their inhaler, and my son was grateful, because it always worked.
Thank you for this wonderful episode. ... 17
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@anneeh15913 years ago I have wondered on occasion whether or not deaths attributed to "poisoning' throughout history were actually allergic reactions 5
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@MarianneKat3 years ago If the clean theory is right, i missed out big time yet have significant allergies. Grew up in a 1880s farmhouse and played in the barn, had horses chickens dogs and cats. Try being an icu nurse with allergies during covid. Good times. ... 19
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@dorianmorrell27253 years ago Histamine that deserves to be remembered. 7
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@seangannon60813 years ago I’m very interested to know how “killed by hippo” was taken as “ killed by wasp”. 15
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@darrylroederer26803 years ago Over the past several years, I have been suffering from an Ever worsening case of kidney failure. A couple of weeks ago, I became a new dialysis patient. I have always had a very inquisitive mind and want to know how things work. So when they told me I was going to dialysis, the first thing I did was search YouTube for practical information on the subject. Unfortunately, I came up short. I live in a small town of about 15000 people, and it is absolutely staggering to me to think that even in this small town, there are well over 100 patients at the dialysis center, including myself. That means that this modern medical miracle is allowing I'm out an actual percentage of the local population to lead happy, healthy, and productive lives in the face of a disease that would otherwise be fatal. I would very much appreciate you doing an episode on dialysis. Thanks so much. ... 4
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@jennhoff033 years ago I have this thing called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, where I constantly develop allergies to anything in or on my body. It gets worse with exposure instead of better. Before the diagnosis, I had tried allergy shots and the doctor was flummoxed as to how I became MORE allergic every week instead of less. I repeatedly went into anaphylactic shock and finally stopped shots when I was at 1/64th of the starting dose (you're supposed to build up, not go down).
I am lucky enough to live in a house with a fancy air filtration system, air purifiers in every room, all hardwood floors and leather furniture and wooden blinds, etc. I often muse on my ancestors who lived with this condition back in the day. I'd have actually died about a zillion times over if I had to be a farmer or sleep on a feather bed. ... 7
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@gregcampwriter3 years ago My mother saw no reason to think that cleanliness took second place to godliness. Her floors were sterile enough for performing major surgeries on them, and that was while we had a golden retriever in the house.
I blame her for the allergies and asthma that I have. My immune system never had a chance to learn that the world isn't a threat. ... 4
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@Ann-kg1zd3 years ago Allergies have been a nightmare this year for me and nothing works over the counter. Been to an allergist with no help. Thanks for the video! 3
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@qbeard13 years ago Been there, done that, still wear the T Shirt. Some times I just sneeze in continous succession. It's quite the work out. 6
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@ericnorman52373 years ago I grew up with severe allergies when young. I live in an area where it is common for people new to the area to “pick up” “new” allergies. Oddly enough in my case, I grew out of my allergies, and now they’re still around, but more nuisances. ... 8
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@darlenewright58503 years ago I salute you by waving the tissue!! Huzzah! 6
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@nolgroth3 years ago The most "deadly" allergy I have, is to bee stings. That has not been a problem in my adult life. The most uncomfortable allergy is to the tall grasses around where I live. During the Spring, I have to constantly 'irrigate" my eyes to keep them from swelling shut. ... 5
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@sandrataylor23233 years ago As a sufferer of 13 different allergies, I was amazed that allergies were around centuries before. I always thought it was a modern affliction. Thanks for setting me straight. 14
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@donnaedwards35153 years ago I truly enjoy the "deep dive" you present on unusual and fascinating subjects!! 7
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@coling39573 years ago I used to get really bad hay fever - and it struck at school exams especially. but it seemed to be fairly localised. as when i left school I lived in several different places around the UK and also Germany... and i never had any issues outside of Devon.... weird. ... 9
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@thomasdarby60843 years ago I have had life-long "hay fever," and allergic reactions to grass and tree pollen, and cat dander. I'm 69 now, and it isn't as bad as it was when I was 10, and my eyes would seal shut and I had to lay down with a wet cloth on my eyes. however I wonder if my lessening has to do with continued exposure. I've noticed that, in the last 20-30 years, there are more and more complaints of food-related allergies (including peanuts, soy, wheat) that I'd never heard of before. I wonder if a lot of these are caused by a combination of our over-processed foods, and our over-medicated society... such that our bodies don't have a chance to produce antibodies. Discounting those that claim allergic reactions just to get attention or money, there has to be something going on here. Kids growing up in the 60's and 70's didn't carry Epi Pens with them in case they sat next to someone eating peanuts. This deserves a deeper look. ... 12
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@rh59713 years ago This episode is certainly nothing to be sneezed at! 3
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@atomic663 years ago The "After skool" channel has an interesting video about modern farming and how the resulting changes in the food we eat has led to, among other things, the higher prevalence in allergies we are seeing now. 20
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@Chiller013 years ago Closing in on a million subs. Well deserved when it happens. 3
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@davidnoseworthy45403 years ago Thank you THG, I am an allergy sufferer of mainly various plant pollens. This episode reinforced my knowledge of allergies even further. I found the different allergy sufferers throughout history, particularly interesting! Very much appreciated! ... 2
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@ajg6173 years ago I am allergic to dust, grass, trees and anything else you can think of. The only time I never suffered from allergies was when we lived on a boat on the NJ shore. Always an on-shore breeze and never had any allergy symptoms. What a shock when we moved into our first home.... ... 5
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@nukemanmd3 years ago I was born in 1951, and do not recall any instances of kids suffering from peanut allergies. Now it seems to be prevalent. 11
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@Swaggerlot3 years ago I recall my first thoughts of self-harm were as a pre-teen and were solely the result of severe seasonal asthma in the days before Ventolin and similar medicines were readily available. I remember those awful days still, nearly sixty years later. ... 1
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@charjl963 years ago I may not be able to help suffering from allergies right now, but at least I can make light of it by watching this video! 1
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@foxcm20003 years ago This is history that is still with us today! 2
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@Lew1142 years ago Great episode. I'm an allergy sufferer. I wouldn't have guessed that records of allergy suffering would exist all the way back to Ancient Rome, Persia, and ancient Egypt.
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@stevedietrich89363 years ago Hippopotamus . . . wasp . . . yeah, I see how they could easily be confused . . . 7
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@TerrificRallyMaestro3 years ago Great video as always! I'd like to see you take on some of the history in SE Utah, particularly around Lake Powell -- lots of fascinating stories to be told, like the ancient Defiance House, the pass Mormons dynamited out of the gorge, and the creation of the dam itself. ... 2
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@richardgalli72623 years ago A interesting piece of history. I wrote a paper on allergies in college for a English class and one thing stuck with me that you can develop an allergy to anything at anytime.
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@cheebawobanu3 years ago The delightful Winsor McCay!
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@Nastyswimmer3 years ago Thankfully most of us don't need to worry about being allergic to hippos 2
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@cernejr3 years ago I have suffered allergies for decades - no doctor, no book provided me such in-depth information. Thank you!
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@nate83132 years ago you know, because of my ADHD I get a lot of random thoughts along the lines of "huh i wonder why this was a thing" and without fail some wonderful person out here in this big ole internet has spent hours researching, organizing, writing and editing the presentation of exactly the thing i wanted to know. thank you for joining their ranks today sir and appeasing my endless appetite to understand the world around me ...
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@TrickiVicBB713 years ago I have really bad pollen allergies.
This was a really informative and learning video. thank you THG
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@granslam1753 years ago As someone with non-genetic anaphylaxic allergies to Dairy and Egg, (and a lot of other things that I’ve grown out of over the last 17 years) I am so glad that you decided to make this video! I’ve always wondered how allergies fit into history, and previously my best understanding was that they started to surface in the 60s and have become more prevalent each year. ...
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@iac43573 years ago I was born in '65, and remember my Dad & younger Sister always had Hayfever each Summer; while I did not.
But once I got into my early-mid 20's, I too had allergies for several years.
I also recall a coworker years ago said that susceptibility to pollen etc. can be like a "window" that can opens or closes every several years; triggering your allergies ! ...
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@samsorensen97653 years ago Could the humpbacks from coughing be an actual description of cystic fibrosis. It’s historically a pediatric disease because people didn’t survive into adulthood until recently. It also causes humpbacks in modern people with the disease. ... 3
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@DawnOldham3 years ago My husband has allergies and asthma, and we have five kiddos with varying degrees of allergies. Mostly it’s to animals with fur. We have two with peanut allergies but can eat nuts, while my husband is fine with peanuts (which are a legume, or bean) but can’t even touch nuts! When they were young, two of the children had pretty bad eczema, but thankfully that went away! Allergies can make a person pretty miserable, so I’m forever grateful for Zyrtec and similar products! ... 1
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@Expertpixelpusher3 years ago Cool to know that people in the ancient world were afflicted with the same thing I deal with on a regular basis. Makes me feel like I have it easy with my modern remedies. Thanks for the great insight, History Guy!
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@catatonicbug75223 years ago I never had allergies as a kid on the West Coast, but once I moved to the Midwest, I developed allergies that have followed me, and I am now forced to take medication every day, all year long. 1
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@robertpierce19813 years ago Some episodes make my eyes water. This one simply explains it. 1
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@brucearthur51083 years ago My wife is an allergy nurse. She watched this entire video with glee! In fact she paused the video once to say that you were right. 1
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@MarvinStroud33 years ago I hadn't seen Fred Ott's sternutation in several years. Thanks.
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@mikemcintosh99333 years ago I was diagnosed in adolescence with food allergies including a sever one to chicken and certain legumes. Thank goodness for modern supermarkets. Had I been born in the past to a chicken farmer I might not have lived to adulthood! ...
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@skyden241953 years ago Since I was born and lived in desert environments for the first 7 years of my life, I didn't have allergy attacks. It wasn't until my family moved to northern California, where plants and pollens were much more abundant, that I started having severe attacks. When my family had to move to Illinois, which had an even greater abundance of plant life, my parents had me seen by an allergist; I was 13-14 yrs old by then. I was given a scratch test, and of the 25 different allergen test triggers poked into my back, only three didn't have reactions: cat, dog, and horse; the only 3 animals that were tested on me. All other plant based spots had some level of reaction. I ended up being prescribed 2 preventative allergy shots in the shoulder, twice a week. Needles to say, I became numb to receiving medical injections ever after. I still get allergy attacks, but not as severely as when I was a kid. ...
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@1st1anarkissed3 years ago I did not have allergies until after two rounds of chemotherapy. They never mentioned it as a side effect until I got sick from extreme catarrh. (Love that word) 1
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@amywright22433 years ago I admit I tend to skip the sponsor ads. But NOOM! How cool! I started Noom a week ago, and I've already lost 4 pounds! That's 16 sticks of American butter. ☺️ Very happy to see them sponsoring THG.
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@kcthesledgestoryteller3 years ago You hit a hot button topic for me. I was largely exempted from duties on my grandparents’ farm because of my severe hay fever . About 5 years ago I finally took the big allergy test — 48 allergens, 48 positive. For the most part Zyrtec was getting the job done, even while owning a dog . But something about this particular year has me dealing with frequent stuffiness. I ca only speculate on one factor being the massive prevalence of dandelions this year. ... 1
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@edwardharris89283 years ago I love your content and look forward to yours shows. I would like to make a suggestion for a video topic on the history of cranes (not the bird) 1
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@wayne.edward.clarke3 years ago A while ago a flying doctor with a circuit among tropical islands found that every person living on one island was suffering from the same type of skin worms. He gave them the modern medicine for the skin worms, they were all cured, and then every one of them, without exception, developed an allergy to a common plant on the island that none of them had ever been allergic to before. It turned out that the immune response to the skin worms was still working, and the plant contained a chemical that was similar enough to a chemical on the skin worms to trigger the immune response that previously had been activated by the skin worms.
This led to the theory that many allergies happen because something that used to attack us is no longer doing so, but the immune response to it is still powerful and is being triggered by another substance that has a chemical that is similar enough to a chemical in the original attacker to trigger the response. That's why, as noted in the video, the rich are more likely to have allergies, since they work and play outdoors far less often than others, and are more likely to be excessively clean beyond the requirements of good health, thus avoiding infections and parasites that have been common throughout history. ... 1
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@matthewlivezey43043 years ago As always - The History Guy delivers on bringing lesser known facts to the masses in an entertaining and informative way.
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@rayraudebaugh53953 years ago As a life long allergy sufferer this at least let me know that I have suffered with many throughout history. 2
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@Sam-tb9xu3 years ago Do you have a list of the art you use during this episode? Some of those paintings and 1800s ads are amazing!
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@OrdinaryMan6663 years ago I suffer with severe allergic rhinitis and am allergic to dairy products so really appreciated this video
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@eliscanfield39133 years ago I'm allergic to pot, hemp oil, and probably cbd. (Never tested that one) My shortness of breath and dizziness are controlled by allegra when the neighbor is enjoying one or two joints upwind. Usually. 1
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@167curly6 days ago As a teenager I developed sneezing when wearing woollen sweaters and using feather pillows, and since then wear only cotton sweaters and use foam pillows. A simple cure.
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@HoLeeFuks3 years ago Well i personally want you to live long and prosper so you can keep uploading informative videos. 6
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@patrickfreeman82573 years ago As I was performing a morning ritual, one that, once upon a time utilized pages from the Sears and Roebuck catalog, I couldn't help but wonder, what about the history of mail order? 1
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@hithere87533 years ago I'm allergic to stupidity. Everytime I watch the MSM I breakout into convulsions. 1
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@constipatedinsincity44243 years ago Summer guitar 🎸. I prefer a Stratacaster. 3
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@7891ph3 years ago This one really hit close to home, as I've suffered from environmental allergies all of my life. And it's not just natural triggers; I've wound up in the hospital several times due to violent reactions to various workplace chemicals.
To the non allergy croud, this stuff can be life threatening, and are not figments of us sufferers imagination.... ... 1
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@edschermerhorn54153 years ago Interesting as always! I can only imagine that if I had been born a generation or more earlier, I wouldn’t have lived to adulthood. Several “near death” anaphylactic reactions to nuts nearly took me in my youth. Thankful for modern medicines and for food labeling to avoid most reactions now! ...
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@goneutt3 years ago Seneca described an asthmatic attack, and how a fast or coarse diet would minimize the attacks. Wine barrels have always been treated with a sulfur candle, and sulfites are a surprise allergen.
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@k.c11263 years ago As a person suffering mightily this spring, I appreciate the historical perspective ....
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@charjl963 years ago I just got back from being outside and now my nose is running. This is the perfect video. 1
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@jpkalishek45863 years ago As a teen I suffered hay-fever if cutting grass, also a bit from cottonwood, and as I worked as a groundskeep, yeah, fun, then I moved to NOLA and didn't have too many problems once I had been there a few years (did I get used to it? Grow out of it?), but then I moved to Texas and oy. Zirtec and its generics are about all I can take or I get to feeling worse than the hay-fever causes, though I was getting to where I needed the meds less and less, though
Now I've moved back up home, and have not had an issue in the 5 years I have been back. ...
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@mrniceguy37503 years ago A few years ago I finally went to the ear, nose, throat specialist... I’m actually allergic to almost everything... Water and chicken is about the only food I’m not allergic to. Any mold. Pollen of course.. But surprisingly, no pet allergies, and no ragweed allergies. Another great video. Thanks. ...
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@chriskenney43773 years ago I welcomed the understanding in this episode as I continually wiped my nose. Thanks.
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@ScooBdont3 years ago In your research did you come across the link between allergies and parasitic worms? Some research has shown that the systems behind allergic reactions were originally tasked with defending the body against parasites and reintroduction of those parasites to people has caused their allergic reactions to completely disappear. It’s fascinating research that has huge implications. ...
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@legionix28773 years ago Right on cue! I just finished a med school exam on allergies today.
Certainly fascinating to see that allergies were always associated with the wealthy. Not only is exposure to allergens toleragenic, but it is believed that since the part of the immune system that triggers allergies is responsible for fighting parasites and since such diseases are rarer in wealthier societies, that system goes haywire without facing a natural challenge. ...
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@dubyah88243 years ago Woah, Zyrtec and Claritin too from ‘87/‘88 to not long ago to become generic? That seems like a long time! 1
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@theneonexplorer3 years ago This video came just as I accidentally ate a food I was allergic to last week. A food I first reacted to in 2007. And consistently reacted to for 14 years. And all of a sudden...
Nothing. Not so much as itchiness or anything. I've been eating my former allergen every meal for a week where I am not eating alone. Nothing. So weird. ... 1
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@lxoxrxexnx3 years ago I have personal knowledge of allergy. I lose a lot of springtime activity as a result. 1
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@ericveneto15933 years ago I had JUST watched Mr. Beat's FDA video.