Often reserved as a preferred pastime of beelzebub, people in the Middle Ages thought that the best way to soothe the excruciating pain of hemorrhoids was to stick a red hot poker up their behinds. This treatment was supposed to cauterise the hemorrhoids and, to be fair, was preferable to the alternative treatment of simply ripping them off. If you didn't fancy either of these methods, you could always pray to St. Fiacre who occupies the noble position of Patron Saint of Hemorrhoids (also, venereal diseases - he's basically the Saint of Butts). The story goes that he was once afflicted with the condition himself whilst gardening but, after sitting down on a rock, was miraculously cured. Nowadays, doctors generally recommend the slightly more soothing treatment of a sitz bath, but in some extreme cases will cauterise particularly bad hemorrhoids. It seems as though we've come full circle. Does science make you tingle in your special place? Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for plenty more.Want to write for WhatCulture Science? Click here to find out how you could get paid to write about what you love.
