this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 25 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Just on cancer as an example, there's a solid argument to be made that it was historically diagnosed as a consumptive disease. My great great aunt died of cancer awhile back and she was practically wasting away.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 22 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

consumptions usually refers to TB, its has been called wasting sickness forever, because one of the symptoms of cancer(terminal) was cachexia which is your body wasting away. i found it interesting inuyasha mentioned its old term"wasting sickness" which immediately knew it was cancer.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Sorry I got my Ye Olde disease mixed up.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

i remember consumption being the old name for Tuberculosis, its also known as the white death, due to people looking sickly and pallor when having the final stages of tb.

wasting was always associated with cancer, and then HIV/AIDS. if you hear films using old terms like wasting sickness, you can bet its cancer.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 12 points 4 days ago

Even bronze agers knew what cancer was, they just called it weird things.

I'll never forget looking at a virally trending obituary from the 15th century and seeing "Cancer, and Wolf" as a cause of death.

If you look it up you'll see other things like "King's Evil" aka scrofula or jawfaln (lock jaw from tetanus)

[–] Forester@pawb.social 0 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I'm pretty sure the over 1,000 atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons over the last hundred years had zero effect on background radiation levels and on levels of human contamination from eating radioactive fallout...

I'm not saying we didn't have cancer before but I would be very surprised if the rates are not elevated. Even counting misdiagnosises as consumptive illness.

On a similar note, I do suspect that our current petrochemical heavy environment has changed the human microchoism enough to possibly make it more likely for some of the classical autism traits to be passed on generation to generation influencing their heritability in society at large. Sincerely, an artist with two autistic parents in denial. And at least three autistic grandparents.