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Actually I just Googled it and there were none in my area. I believe the closest one was about 100 miles away.
I remember them as a kid. We used to kid each other that they sucked out your brains. At least the ones we were used to had these little vacuum cleaners, with long tubes, that they stuck up our nose and we thought it hit the back of our brains! Just kidding; but it seemed as if they did go up there a very long way. They would clean out our sinuses and fill up their vacuum bottles with a ton of snot and other gross goodies. As they finished they would apply some kind of disinfectant and we would go our merry own way.
Does anybody still do this? Maybe they took out more than just snot and their patients missed the few cells they thought they had left? If I recall correctly I always felt better after one of their treatments. Or I did not have enough cells left to know I felt worse!
When I think of ENT, I think of an Otolaryngologist, which is a surgical specialty. I can see the crossover with Allergists for certain things, however.
When I think of ENT, I think of an Otolaryngologist, which is a surgical specialty. I can see the crossover with Allergists for certain things, however.
Basically you are saying that the field has evolved.
All medical specialties have evolved and continue to become more specialized with the advancement of training complexity, technology, interventions, research etc.
That's not to say that some of what you described isn't also potentially done by other specialists, and the more I think about it, maybe I am focusing too much on the "ear, nose and throat" part of your thread title. Most Oto/ENT's are ideally focusing on more complex issues and surgical interventions and not as much on the less glamorous things you describe above.
Last edited by Texas Ag 93; 02-07-2018 at 10:16 AM..
Actually I just Googled it and there were none in my area. I believe the closest one was about 100 miles away.
I remember them as a kid. We used to kid each other that they sucked out your brains. At least the ones we were used to had these little vacuum cleaners, with long tubes, that they stuck up our nose and we thought it hit the back of our brains! Just kidding; but it seemed as if they did go up there a very long way. They would clean out our sinuses and fill up their vacuum bottles with a ton of snot and other gross goodies. As they finished they would apply some kind of disinfectant and we would go our merry own way.
Does anybody still do this? Maybe they took out more than just snot and their patients missed the few cells they thought they had left? If I recall correctly I always felt better after one of their treatments. Or I did not have enough cells left to know I felt worse!
OK that's just gross. They probably stopped doing that because it was damaging. Just like they stopped using xrays to "treat" eczema. I used to have allergies and never remember any sort of procedure like that. OUCH! But you can buy a Neti Pot or squeeze bottle of saline solution that may effectively work without ripping out the very important hairs in your nose!
There's no EYES in ENT. When was there ever?
You DO have ENT doctors in East Stroudsburg, PA, 14 miles away - I see two.
First of all, your GP doctor should be able to give you a referral to someone. That's usually how it has always worked, in my lifetime.
Sometimes a specialist won't even see you without a referral. I tried to see an endocrinologist without a referral and they wouldn't.
We still have them locally in my small Florida county of 150K people.
Try Otolaryngology. It's the oldest medical specialty in the United States. Otolaryngologists are physicians trained in the medical and surgical and treatment of patients with diseases and disorders of the ear, nose, throat (ENT), and related structures of the head and neck. (but I googled ENT and they came right up)
NOW for many decades there are so many people who want treatment for "allergies" they've even broken off into that field as a specialty - diagnosing and treating underlying medical causes of allergic disease, including nasal inflammation, asthma, and food reactions.
Last edited by runswithscissors; 02-08-2018 at 02:33 AM..
OK that's just gross. They probably stopped doing that because it was damaging. Just like they stopped using xrays to "treat" eczema. I used to have allergies and never remember any sort of procedure like that. OUCH! But you can buy a Neti Pot or squeeze bottle of saline solution that may effectively work without ripping out the very important hairs in your nose!
There's no EYES in ENT. When was there ever?
You DO have ENT doctors in East Stroudsburg, PA, 14 miles away - I see two.
First of all, your GP doctor should be able to give you a referral to someone. That's usually how it has always worked, in my lifetime.
Sometimes a specialist won't even see you without a referral. I tried to see an endocrinologist without a referral and they wouldn't.
We still have them locally in my small Florida county of 150K people.
Try Otolaryngology. It's the oldest medical specialty in the United States. Otolaryngologists are physicians trained in the medical and surgical and treatment of patients with diseases and disorders of the ear, nose, throat (ENT), and related structures of the head and neck. (but I googled ENT and they came right up)
NOW for many decades there are so many people who want treatment for "allergies" they've even broken off into that field as a specialty - diagnosing and treating underlying medical causes of allergic disease, including nasal inflammation, asthma, and food reactions.
Thanks for the correction. It has probably been a good fifty years since I went to old Dr. Metzgar and he very well could have been an ENT? When the thread about cough medicine came up I was thinking about some of our old doctors that used to also dispense medications - they used to act as their own pharmacies. I tried to bring up the history of some of these old and probably long dead doctors; but I could not (probably do not know the right key words or where to search).
It is simply interesting how medicine has changed in the last half century. I am sure that we probably will not recognize today's medicine as technology changes.
Thanks for the correction. It has probably been a good fifty years since I went to old Dr. Metzgar and he very well could have been an ENT? When the thread about cough medicine came up I was thinking about some of our old doctors that used to also dispense medications - they used to act as their own pharmacies. I tried to bring up the history of some of these old and probably long dead doctors; but I could not (probably do not know the right key words or where to search).
It is simply interesting how medicine has changed in the last half century. I am sure that we probably will not recognize today's medicine as technology changes.
YAY for you not needing a doctor all this time. Same here. For sure our old school doctors were their own ENT and stuff back in the day. I guess you had to have a really serious "condition" to go to a specialist.
My grandmother, born 1904 had a homeopathist. We live in Philly , the center of the universe for homeopathy back then. It was actually "the" premier thing at the time.
So funny, She was German like him and would NEVER go to a "modern medicine" doctor.
And she was right! He used to make up his own meds, including arsenic!
She lived till 95 very healthy.
One time she ate cinnamon buns from a neighbor who was a crappy cook - just to be polite. I wouldn't eat one they were like a BRICK.
She had massive chest pain. 70 yrs old. I rushed her to Dr. Sylvester and he poked her chest with a long metal needle and I heard "whoosh" come out...gas escaping.
Then she was perfectly FINE and we went home.
Good times!
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Just kidding! 
