A Deep Dive into the Deadly World of Victorian Patent Medicine

I love how Victorian medicine is the equivalent of a kid making a potion in their bathroom sink with random bathroom products. Except instead of toothpaste and body wash its heroin and alcohol 😂

Remember, if you wouldn’t fall for a scam, it’s because you are not their target. Too many cruel and privileged people scoff at victims of scams for being “dumb”, when in reality they are desperate. And preying on the desperate is evil.

Sad that this view on women hasn’t changed much in the medical world. Women’s pain and concerns are often brushed off at “anxiety” or “menstrual pains.” Sooooo many times I’ve had male doctors tell me I’m fine and it’s in my head just to find out later something actually was wrong.

I have a chronic illness and the doctors haven’t helped much at all, so my parents signed up for an MLM claiming to essentially be a “cure all”. They want me to sell it and are upset that I refuse to. Patent medicines are def still a thing, just with a new name. 😢 be safe out there folks❤

"Female weakness" is one of the most 19th century terms I've read in quite a while.

I'm an archaeologist in Illinois. A few years back we found a patent medicine bottle on a late 19th century site that still had some left in it. We had it chemically analyzed. The results were... interesting. Lots of alcohol, cannabis, a bit of opium, and laudanum.

It’s so rough hearing all this horrible misogyny around “female trouble” but at the same time I am in the process of getting a hysterectomy because my periods are so bad that I will indeed fall to the ground insensate, half conscious, with a scream of agony when it’s that time of the month 😂

I love how Kaz just has a mock Victorian apothecary with legit branding in their home.

I really appreciated you setting the stage in the beginning by telling us about the state of "legitimate" medicine at the time. I knew it was awful back then but I never directly connected it to the proliferation of quack medicine and patent medicine. Makes total sense why an average person would try snake oil, but I never thought about it before!

Fun fact: my great-grandmother Lydia Pinkham Grant was related to Lydia Pinkham, the patent medicine entrepreneur and one of the first fabulously wealthy women in American history. Unfortunately, the relation was not close enough for any of that patent medicine money to come down to my family. Nonetheless, I remain eternally grateful for the piece of Portland glass that Lydia Pinkham Grant owned and came to me as a wedding present.

What used to be called patent medicines are now marketed as “herbal supplements.” Through a loophole in FDA regulations, “dietary supplements” are not regulated as drugs, even though medicinal claims are typically made for them.

I work in a nursing home; a lot of our ladies are 100, 101, and were born in the 1920's era. The amount of information dawning on me right now is fabulous and insane. To think that their parents and grandparents going through the majority of all the craziness-

These medicine shows didn't end, their form has just evolved. Where we once had a traveling circus type of setup, we now have The Dr's and Dr Oz, syndicated across the country.

I just realized the commonality between someone shouting from the back of a crowd like “yes I used that it works!” And everyone believing them to an influencer posting a video going “yes I used it it works!” To everyone and them believing it lmao

Older UK people like myself will remember a comedy song called “Lily the Pink” about an amazing ‘medicinal compound’ which reached number 1 in the UK charts in 1968. It’s based on an older folk song about Lydia Pinkham’s patent medicine, something I only realised when watching this video, wondering about any connection and then googling.

as a german person who always wears a big black coat, usually has a book with them & owns several (ethically obtained dw) animal skulls, i do kinda vibe with this doctor character

When I was a kid my grandma fell for the order on TV herbal remedies scams. She ended up very sick from taking what amounted to vitamins and herbs and ended up in immune system failure. Luckily she was able to be treated at University of Michigan Hospital and lived, but her chances were very low. When Kaz says “although natural, not innocuous” it’s so very true.

The ending bit of this still existing today hits hard for me tbh. My maternal grandma desperately needs knee surgery, it’s something everyone has noticed: her ex-husband, her current husband, my paternal grandma, cousins, etc But she’s so distrustful of the medical system that she refuses to seek any medical help, only seeking “natural remedies” As a disabled person myself, it’s hard for me to blame her, the medical system is messed up. But she desperately needs it and all of us have been trying to support and convince her to take that step It’s such a complicated and messy issue and makes me all the more angry that it still happens, especially when you see someone you really care about get stuck in the rabbit hole. So the compassion side of this and how it’s still prevalent today is something I appreciate and was very glad you brought up

The BBC has an outstanding Victorian Pharmacy series. If you haven’t already watched it, you might like it. It’s here on YouTube. Great video. I really appreciate how you stress that the onus of blame should be on the quacks who peddled this stuff, and urged your viewers to think kindly on people of the past.

One of my favorite media depictions of patent medicine is in RDR: Undead Nightmare, when you meet this snakeoil salesman (who's also in the main game) who's selling what he calls a "zombie repellent" miracle elixer. It actually attracts zombies instead.