Since medicine was young in the 50's, Im sure Penicillin and Gamma Globulin were looked at as miracle drugs.
Where there doctors who gave them to kids no matter what the kid was sick with? Like as a "preventative" type of thing even if the kid didn't have an infection, etc?
I could see that happening since doctors were very limited on medicines that truly worked....And that would mean that the poor kid knew they were always getting a shot.
Date Posted:15:50:21 11/05/09 Thu
Just about!! Everytime I got the flu, it meant a trip to the Dr. office, rectal temp., and a shot in the butt. Unfortunately doctors at that time didn't know that pen. will not do anything for a virus. Regardless, the nurses still took my temp and gave me shots which didn't bother me then and don't bother me now. lol
Date Posted:08:14:40 11/06/09 Fri
Tim, I was one of eight children & six of us were born in the '50s. My mother was trained as a nurse but never got her RN. She treated us when we were sick & we got taken to the clinic only if she could not make a diagnosis or if the treatment was beyond her scope. So, in my experience, 'No' we didn't get penicillin shots at the drop of a hat (or pants).
I think I know what George meant by his comment 'medicine was young' but I would clarify that as 'medicine didn't have all the resources & capabilities that it has now' and relatively speaking, it wasn't so darn expensive. I spent 10 days in a hospital in 1957 for chest surgery. I went home a couple of hours after eye surgery last year.
Date Posted:04:12:19 11/07/09 Sat
I did read some stuff on the net about gamma gobulin as it was givin a lot to kids in the early 50,s as a prevention for polio before the salk-sabin vaccine came on the market i think it the late 50,s??? I also read that the gg shots at that time were a large single 10cc dose for both adults & children, Must have been a lot of sore bums back in them good ole days.
Date Posted:00:03:52 11/09/09 Mon
That was before my time, but I have heard that penicillin was given for everything from a sore throat to the flu to a bad cold in the '60s.
Did anyone here have to get a gamma globulin shot in the 50s or 60s? If so, what was that like?
Date Posted:12:27:30 11/09/09 Mon
In response to Jason's comment on the polio vaccines in the 1950s & 1960s:
Salk's vaccine was announced publicly in April 1955. I remember standing in long lines to get the polio shots soon afterward to receive the shot(s) which was given in the upper arm. The Sabin oral vaccine was given out in the early 1960s, probably 1963-64. They put drops of vaccine in standard sugar cubes which the receiver simply melted in the mouth.
Date Posted:15:42:29 11/09/09 Mon
It sure seemed that way. If the doctor made a house call (the main reason for this forum), it always included a shot in the buttocks, and that shot was always penicillin. Forturnately, only serious bacterial infections were treated that way, like pneumonia, and not viral ones, so it was not abused like oral antibiotics are today.
Date Posted:14:52:40 11/10/09 Tue
I hated it whe after the doctors examination at home he would start to assemble a syringe out of his doctors bag and tell my mother " turn him over and slip his pants down this has to go in his bottom".Sometimes he would say afterwards that he would send the nurse the next day to give another dose. I seemed to get a lot of chest and ear infections and these always required penicillin.
Date Posted:05:03:19 11/11/09 Wed
When the doctor gave shots at home, did he go through the entire process of boiling the needle in water? They didnt have disposable needles so I would assume they always had to boil the needle and syringe to sterilize it. So a kid would also have to lay there and wait until that was done as well???
I know I had to lay there while this was done and it brought my fear through the roof. I would assume this was even more commonly done in the 50's?
Also, it was mentioned here before that all the kids would sometimes get a shot if even one was sick. Did this happen often?
That would mean if you had many siblings, you were almost sure to get a shot all the time because someone would be sick? Imagine having 5 siblings. Chances are one would get sick?
Date Posted:14:48:42 11/11/09 Wed
The doctor would usually boil up the syringe before giving the shot and would bring it into the bedroom in a small bowl.When he came in with it the patient would already be turned over for the shot and squirming with fear.
Date Posted:01:04:30 11/14/09 Sat
TIMOTHY...PRETTY MUCH.
IF YOU WALKED, TALKED, MOANED, GROANED, CRIED, WHIMPERED, SNEEZED, COUGHED, HIGH TEMP, FEVER, SWEATING, PAINS, SORE THROAT, CUT TOE, BROKEN ARM, YUCKIEST, AND THAT AL CAPONE DISEASE (SYPHILIS), YOU GOT IT IN THE RUMP WITH PCN.
