NationStates Jolt Archive

A group of friends and I recently realised that none of us would be alive it weren't for modern medicine.
I was wondering how this trend is reflected generally.

The how did the species propagate long enough for modern medical science to come along?

I'm never sick. So whether I'd be alive or not depends on whether that's because of immunisation, or a kick-arse immune system.

I probably wouldn't be able to move as well. But I think I probably would be fine.

Well, I guess not. I was twice in traffic accidents and I seriously doubt praying or snake oil would have helped me.

The how did the species propagate long enough for modern medical science to come along?

Well, obviously not everyone would follow that trend (I don't have many friends, so the sample was quite small).
I was thinking is it 10%, or 25%, or 50% or how many?

Well, obviously not everyone would follow that trend (I don't have many friends, so the sample was quite small).
I was thinking is it 10%, or 25%, or 50% or how many?

Ah, I misread the OP. I took 'none of us' to mean the whole of humanity rather than just the specific group you discussed it with.

My bad.

I have Crohn's Disease, and I take A LOT of pills that are just for maintenance, not to mention the times I've been to the hospital for routine treatments or more serious operations. So yes, I do depend greatly on today's advances in the medical world, and I realize my own fears about it.

What if one day some catastrophe cripples the world's industrial powers, preventing the manufacture of the drugs? What if shipping and transportation fall apart? I would have nothing to look forward to but a very long and unpleasant death.

I consider myself very luck: Lucky that I was born into a family that can afford medical treatments (not to mention that they CARE); Lucky that I was born near the best pediatric hospital in the world, Children's Hospital Boston (IMO); Luck that I was BORN in this era, when technology exists to treat people who, in the past, would have been bedridden or even dead.

As far as I know I'd still be alive.

Who knows? I've never had a serious illness or injury that required medical intervention to save my life. But then, I've been immunized against most serious diseases, and - more to the point - so have most of the people around me. There hasn't been a polio epidemic in the US since before I was born, for example, but if there was no polio vaccine, there probably would have been at least one outbreak by now. So it's possible that I might have gotten polio, and it's possible that it might have killed me. Or it's possible I might have some natural immunity, because both of my parents were exposed to polio when they were children and didn't get it.

And that's just one disease. There are lots of others that have been successfully contained by widespread immunization. Without modern medicine, any one of them might have killed me. Or not - the human immune system is pretty tough, and I am obviously descended from people who managed to survive in times before the advent of modern medicine.

And that's just one disease. There are lots of others that have been successfully contained by widespread immunization. Without modern medicine, any one of them might have killed me. Or not - the human immune system is pretty tough, and I am obviously descended from people who managed to survive in times before the advent of modern medicine.

I completely forgot about that. Cholera, Polio...and later the Spanish Flu...If my own illness didn't kill me, one of these bastards would have.

I would have died at 15 when my appendix burst.

The how did the species propagate long enough for modern medical science to come along?

My friend did a topic paper on death in the Victorian Era; mostly about all the creepy pictures, massive funerals, and general fascination with the dead, but the bottom line was that people were actually dying faster then they were being born. Children especially were very, very unlikely to survive to even their teen years. Medicine was so bad, all they could do was hand out heroin as a painkiller because it was virtually the only treatment they had.

Which really only made for a lot of sickly drug addicts, doomed to die in very short order.

So yeah, modern medicine is nothing to sneeze at.

A group of friends and I recently realised that none of us would be alive it weren't for modern medicine.
I was wondering how this trend is reflected generally.

I'd be alive, but my babymaking capabilities would be nixed. I had an operation on my balls back in Septemeber. Even though it didn't save my life, it saved my babymaker.

I'd be alive, but my babymaking capabilities would be nixed. I had an operation on my balls back in Septemeber. Even though it didn't save my life, it saved my babymaker.

And that is what it is really all about people! :D

I suspect I would have died as a child, as I found out I had asthma when I was 10, and steam does not help me when I am having a asthma attack, only my inhaler. Anyone know if breathing into a paperbag really helps?

I was born a month early by c-section, had they waited any longer, both myself and my mother would've died. I was in intensive care for several weeks because when I was born my lungs weren't fully formed...so yeah, I'd be quite dead had I been born 50 years ago, let alone 200. the combined medical bill for my brother and I to be born was about three quarters of a million dollars. thank god for insurance.

I'd also missed about a month of school nearly every year due to extremely bad infections following allergy season. I recall spending 6th grade with an infection in my equilibrium, it felt like I was riding a roller coaster when I was just lying down.

I also was on anti-depressants for about a year, without which I would most likely have committed suicide.

I'd really just be dead in general without modern medicine...I'm quite healthy now though!

Assuming I survived birth and infancy, in all probability, yes.

I'm never sick. So whether I'd be alive or not depends on whether that's because of immunisation, or a kick-arse immune system.

Of course, it's hard to have kick-arse immune system without sufficient food. 200 years ago people mostly got by on bread. That whole thing about people being a lot shorter in previous generations is due mostly to malnutrition that arises after the hunter-gatherer system is no longer viable, but before modern technology (modern meaning over the last hundred years) made it possible for even poor people to eat so much that they get fat.

Today we have fat homeless people. Two hundred years ago we'd still need common graves for them. But they wouldn't be fat.

i had a liver disease when i was a few months old, i don't know how serious it was, but i had to go to the hospital. so i would probably have died at very young age.
if i hadn't my life would probably be hell. i have asthma, and although i never have attacks unless they are provoked with histamine or a lot of smoke, i'd have to cough a lot (enough to prevent me from sleeping). my mom also has crohn and rheuma, so witha a little bit of bad luck i'll have those too (they often only become more visible with older age).


I suspect I would have died as a child, as I found out I had asthma when I was 10, and steam does not help me when I am having a asthma attack, only my inhaler. Anyone know if breathing into a paperbag really helps?

breathing in a paperbag is against hypeventilation, i don't think it would work against asthma. i also don't see why you'd breath in steam. it would only provoke an attack as far as i know.

My friend did a topic paper on death in the Victorian Era; mostly about all the creepy pictures, massive funerals, and general fascination with the dead, but the bottom line was that people were actually dying faster then they were being born. Children especially were very, very unlikely to survive to even their teen years. Medicine was so bad, all they could do was hand out heroin as a painkiller because it was virtually the only treatment they had.

Which really only made for a lot of sickly drug addicts, doomed to die in very short order.

So yeah, modern medicine is nothing to sneeze at.

I'm pretty sure that was just in the cities. For a long time after the industrial age began in England people didn't know how to adjust their hygienic practices for the massive numbers of people all living in one area. After Birmingham became what it became it was not until the 20th century that cities became self-supporting. At first they got populated mostly by people who moved in from the country looking for jobs to help their families.

But it's misleading to view the high death rate only in terms of bad medicine. The conditions in the Victorian age were very new. Every new change in lifestyle brings health challenges simply because it takes a bit of trial and error to adjust to these lifestyle changes when you've got a body that was designed to wander around in the grasslands spotting leopards to chase off, berries to pick up, and gazelles to hunt down. True, cavemen didn't have the benefit of orthopedic surgery or sanitation services, but I'd hazard a guess that they didn't have much trouble with carpal tunnel or cholera.

don't know don't care.

I'd have died a little while after birth.

If that didn't kill me, I'd be deaf since I needed tubes in my ears twice.

I suspect I would have died as a child, as I found out I had asthma when I was 10, and steam does not help me when I am having a asthma attack, only my inhaler. Anyone know if breathing into a paperbag really helps?

a) A lot of asthma is attributable to modern pollution. You might not have had asthma 200 years ago. The rates of asthma went through the roof when industrial coal burning became common.

b) Our knowledge of herbal medicine was much better 200 years ago, much the same way our knowledge of animal husbandry and organic fertilizer was better. Off the top of my head I know of 3 herbs that are great for asthma. Two of which are illegal in much or all of the United States because modern refining processes have turned them into dangerous drugs.

Infancy.

BAAAAAAD Asthma. Twice. Hospital, two weeks each.

I'd be dead. Or never even conceived in the first place; my mother, without "modern" (as of the late sixties or so) medicine, would have died in a motorbike accident before she even met my father.

If she'd somehow survived, I'd've died at or before birth; my heart stopped several times anyhow. I'd've probably killed my mother in the process of being born (no caesarean section), preventing my sister from being born, and even if she'd managed to make it out my mother would've died in childbirth with her. Fun, eh?

Since birth, however, I've been very sturdy and rarely ill. Had the usual mishaps and ailments as a kid; skull cracked open, broken collarbone, chickenpox, measels; but most of those it's just a case of doctor saying "Yep, X is wrong with you, go home, rest, and it'll hopefully get better".

And that is what it is really all about people! :D

Yeah. Even today, I probably would have dead balls if my dad hadn't known what was going on.

I'd be dead. Or never even conceived in the first place; my mother, without "modern" (as of the late sixties or so) medicine, would have died in a motorbike accident before she even met my father.

This is a point in the issue that most people seem to miss. There wouldn't have been a motorcycle accident 200 years ago. If you don't have motorcycles, you don't need the technology to fix their fallout.

Yes, people were killed by horses, but horses go a lot slower, and getting thrown on the dirt at 15 mph is a lot easier to survive than getting thrown to the asphalt at 70.

I reckon I'd have been alright, assuming the polio etc. didn't get me.

I had to be incubated as a baby, but there's nothing really modern or medicine about that, just warmth, which they had even in the past.

Other than that, the only illness or accident that I've had that's been even remotely life threatening was a slightly septic toe.

This is a point in the issue that most people seem to miss. There wouldn't have been a motorcycle accident 200 years ago. If you don't have motorcycles, you don't need the technology to fix their fallout.

Yes, people were killed by horses, but horses go a lot slower, and getting thrown on the dirt at 15 mph is a lot easier to survive than getting thrown to the asphalt at 70.

I took the post to mean "assuming everything else was the same", hence my answer. If you don't assume that, it all gets rather unpredictable...

My mother has had a couple of trips to casualty because of unruly equines, but she didn't start riding until some years after she'd had children, and none of them have been life-threatening so far. One might've cost her an arm with no medicine, though. And all of my horse-based landings have been good ones; I've walked away every time :D *Touches wood*

I'd be alive, but my babymaking capabilities would be nixed. I had an operation on my balls back in Septemeber. Even though it didn't save my life, it saved my babymaker.

I must: Why?

I would have died at birth because less than 50 years ago they let babies with my disability die.

A group of friends and I recently realised that none of us would be alive it weren't for modern medicine.
I was wondering how this trend is reflected generally.define Modern Medicine.

I was two months premature... so yes, I would've died.

The how did the species propagate long enough for modern medical science to come along?by breeding young and alot.

I'd be alive, but my babymaking capabilities would be nixed. I had an operation on my balls back in Septemeber. Even though it didn't save my life, ... :eek: A ZOMBIE!!!!

it saved my babymaker. :eek: :eek: A BABYMAKING ZOMBIE!!!!

i was a very sickly child, especially coming out of my toddler years. even if i would have survived that, considering my medical past, i'd be dead from poisoning / missing a foot / have a certain disability that is best not to mention / dead from some other infection from any one of the stupid accidents i've had over the years

If I was born 200 years ago into my family I would have been born into a wealthy family who lived in a 'Big House' on an extensive private estate. So I probably would have survived nicely.

A group of friends and I recently realised that none of us would be alive it weren't for modern medicine.
I was wondering how this trend is reflected generally.

I would probably be death somewhere before I was born :(

Probably.

... :eek: A ZOMBIE!!!!

:eek: :eek: A BABYMAKING ZOMBIE!!!!

Silly Junii...I'm not a zombie. Zombies are asexual.

I must: Why?

Testicular torsion. Hurts like hell.

interestingly enough, if i were born 10 years LATER i likely would never have been born.

i was born the youngest of 7 children in 1957. its not like my mother wanted that many kids. if the pill had been freely available in the 50s, she wouldnt have.

I think I would be alive. 1800 isnt that bad: 1100 is.

Lets see: I would have some problems, but not many major ones. My biggest problem would be my sight, since glasses were really expensive back then.

Probably. That tonsil infection would have sucked a whole lot more though.

I don't know of any problems I had that would have been uncureable besides a few colds and stomachaches every year...

I suspect I would have died as a child, as I found out I had asthma when I was 10, and steam does not help me when I am having a asthma attack, only my inhaler. Anyone know if breathing into a paperbag really helps?

the paper bag thing is for hyperventilation, not asthma


I would have been born very premature. So no.

So it's possible that I might have gotten polio, and it's possible that it might have killed me.

Polio wasn't a problem 200 years ago. While it sounds counter intuitive, polio only became a problem with the advent of modern sanitation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

"The belief that the polio virus is spread by contact with the feces of an already infected person has been offered as an explanation for the increased incidence of polio in developed countries such as the United States during the 20th Century. According to this theory, before the advent of modern sewage treatment plants and other improvements in public sanitation, virtually all individuals were exposed to the polio virus early in their lives when they were at least partially protected by maternal antibodies. Thus, they developed mild, non-paralytic infections, probably during infancy, which provided them with lifelong immunity. However, with better sanitation, both these early infections as well as the likelihood of receiving antibody protection decreased, resulting in greater susceptibility to paralytic polio. Thus, in the words of Smith:

'Put simply, paralytic polio was an inadvertent by-product of modern sanitary conditions. When people were no longer in contact with the open sewers and privies that had once exposed them to the polio virus in very early infancy when paralysis rarely occurs, the disease changed from an endemic condition so mild that no one knew of its existence to a seemingly new epidemic threat of mysterious origins and terrifyingly unknown scope (p. 23).'

This central theory regarding the spread of polio is supported, at least to some extent, by experiences in third world countries. During World War II, for instance, U.S. and British troops stationed in undeveloped countries were much more likely to contract polio than native peoples, who apparently had already developed immunity (Paul, 1971). Even in the 1970's, when individuals from developed countries came into contact with those from a country without a modern sanitation system, the incidence of paralytic polio was about twenty times greater for those from the developed country (Nathanson and Martin, 1979).
"

http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/poliodefinition.htm

Being too clean can be just as unhealthy as being filthy.

As to the OP's original question, no I wouldn't be around. I barely survived my spinal cord tumor with modern medicine. Without it, I would have died a horrific death.

I would have died at birth because less than 50 years ago they let babies with my disability die.
See, as impolite of me as it is, that leading statement begs the question. What's your disability?Being too clean can be just as unhealthy as being filthy.Cleanliness has suggested associations with a lot of autoimmune/allergic diseases too, including major problems like asthma. However, the benefits of clean living far outweigh the costs.

As for myself, I'd probably still be alive today. I've never had anything more serious than a cold (and never a bad one at that) and I've only slightly broken one bone. Admittedly it was my skull, but it would have healed without the superficial treatment. I live on the edge of the suburbs - my house is in an estate but also backs onto open farmland. Incidentally, a lot of people from my village didn't need the TB vaccination as they tested positive on the BCG skin test.

A group of friends and I recently realised that none of us would be alive it weren't for modern medicine.
I was wondering how this trend is reflected generally.

Probably not. I had a severe reaction to a smallpox vaccine test as a baby, so bad that if I ever have a smallpox vaccination, it will likely kill me, so I'd imagine that doesn't bode well for my ability to fight off the disease. Factor in childhood asthma and weak eyesight and that I came from the lower economic classes, and I'd say I'd have been toast pretty early on.

I spent the first couple days of my existence in an intensive care unit and in an incubator, being given pure oxygen.

I'd be dead pretty quickly.

Probably not. I had the rotavirus when I was quite young, for which I had to be hospitalized for an extended period of time.

Probably not. I had a severe reaction to a smallpox vaccine test as a baby, so bad that if I ever have a smallpox vaccination, it will likely kill me, so I'd imagine that doesn't bode well for my ability to fight off the disease. Factor in childhood asthma and weak eyesight and that I came from the lower economic classes, and I'd say I'd have been toast pretty early on.

But do you know what your families economic situation was 200 years ago?

I was born to a migrant construction worker and a woman who dropped out of school at 13 to work in a handkerchief factory.

A few generations ago both sides of my family were very well off, owning large estates in Ireland. My paternal great grandfather had his land confiscated to be given to an English family (he came back with my grandfather's siblings and burned the place to the ground, then buggered off to Virginia). My maternal grandfather was a shameless alcoholic who did nothing to take care of my grandmother who was bedridden with tuberculosis. To get by she had to sell large parcels of land because her worthless husband spent any money that could be used to hire farmhands.

200 years ago I'd have been the next best thing to nobility. 50 years ago I'd have been a beggar.

Probably not. I had a severe reaction to a smallpox vaccine test as a baby, so bad that if I ever have a smallpox vaccination, it will likely kill me, so I'd imagine that doesn't bode well for my ability to fight off the disease. Factor in childhood asthma and weak eyesight and that I came from the lower economic classes, and I'd say I'd have been toast pretty early on.

But you'd have stood a good chance of contracting cow pox which is pretty harmless and makes you immune to small pox.

But do you know what your families economic situation was 200 years ago?

I was born to a migrant construction worker and a woman who dropped out of school at 13 to work in a handkerchief factory.

A few generations ago both sides of my family were very well off, owning large estates in Ireland. My paternal great grandfather had his land confiscated to be given to an English family (he came back with my grandfather's siblings and burned the place to the ground, then buggered off to Virginia). My maternal grandfather was a shameless alcoholic who did nothing to take care of my grandmother who was bedridden with tuberculosis. To get by she had to sell large parcels of land because her worthless husband spent any money that could be used to hire farmhands.

200 years ago I'd have been the next best thing to nobility. 50 years ago I'd have been a beggar.
On my dad's side, I don't know much except that we came from Ireland around 1870 or so, and certainly not as wealthy landowners. My mom's side is a little hazier, as my mom never knew her biological father, so there's no telling. But based on the little I do know, I'd say we'd be working class at best, with peasanthood a distinct possibility.

If I had been born in even the Middle Ages I would have survivid as I have a good immune, overcame a 105 fever without any meds, never got sick when I was younger, and I come from nobility.:p

Yes, I'd still be alive.

If I had been born in even the Middle Ages I would have survivid as I have a good immune, overcame a 105 fever without any meds, never got sick when I was younger, and I come from nobility.:p

I'm Polish, German, and Russian. If I survived, I'd either be working for you in the fields, fighting for you as a mercenary, or trading on your behalf for silk and spices from Asia.

Damned nobles...

The how did the species propagate long enough for modern medical science to come along?

with a much higher mortality rate. As long as the birth:death ratio remains positive the species will grow.

Medical science has made that ration considerably larger.

I'm Polish, German, and Russian. If I survived, I'd either be working for you in the fields, fighting for you as a mercenary, or trading on your behalf for silk and spices from Asia.

Damned nobles...Oh no one of the serfs has discovered movable type and the internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp7Zz3j5VbI

If it makes you feel worse I am Norwegian, 88.5%, so I would have ruled over your Russian ancestors as one of the Rus. *Laughs in an evil tone*

Did they cure a gash *Which required stiches* right above the eye back then?

Did they cure a gash *Which required stiches* right above the eye back then?Well, yeah, but no stiches, except for tests which are forced on them, for the peasents and lower classes.

It is hard to know. I might have caught Polio or something that you can't predict for example. But I'd say I would still be alive, as I've never suffered anything life-threatening to my knowledge. The closest was when I had bad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup (Croup) one night. After reading the wiki page it might not even have been actual croup, but whatever. I'd still be here. :)

200 years ago? I'd be fine.

I assume I'd still be alive, though I probably would have a screwed up toe joint and a popped ear drum. But I've been having weird symptoms lately, and I'm going to the doctor on monday to see if modern medicine can fix me. Maybe I'll have a different answer then...:confused:

It is hard to know. I might have caught Polio or something that you can't predict for example. But I'd say I would still be alive, as I've never suffered anything life-threatening to my knowledge. The closest was when I had bad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup (Croup) one night. After reading the wiki page it might not even have been actual croup, but whatever. I'd still be here. :)Yeah, you wold be one of the beggers whom pulled themselves around with weights,;)

Yeah, you wold be one of the beggers whom pulled themselves around with weights,;)

Uh... I don't get it. How did you come to that conclusion?

Probably have died at age 21 when I got stabbed ... before that I probably would have lived with a massive limp and missing part of a finger but I think I would have more likley then not lived

Probably have died at age 21 when I got stabbed ... before that I probably would have lived with a massive limp and missing part of a finger but I think I would have more likley then not lived

You got stabbed? Care to expand?

Well it's very strange that i dont have allergies or an mental illness or illnesses passed through by family I rarely get sick and when i say that i mean rarely(once a year at most).I would say 100 or over for me.

But you'd have stood a good chance of contracting cow pox which is pretty harmless and makes you immune to small pox.
Only if you spent much of your life around cattle.

I'd definitely not be here. I needed a caesarean, plus artificial respiration for the first few days.

It's impossible to say. Everyone has had a fever and that could easily have killed you 200 years ago.

meh, 200 years ago or not, i've been my own worst threat all my life. twice as a child I tried to jump off cliffs, to be caught -literally- in midair by my father. once i tried to run into a smoking (not burning) apartment because i thought superman would save us anyways. and once i fell into quicksand, to be saved again by my father.

if, 200 years ago, fathers paid less attention to their children at any given instant, i would like as not have died young.

I would probably have died at childbirth and my mother with me. I came out in a C-section. My mother still had not gone into labor between 10 and 11 months and it was induced, but I still did not come out.

The only time I got really sick I was hit with a violent case of the flu. The doctors thought it was a new strain and everything. I had cameras and survellance 24/7; it was cool except for the feeling like I was going to die from pneumonia/ my head melting from the fever.

I would have died because of an attack of measles at about 12 months of age. Then I also had 3 attacks of pneumonia between age 9 and 17.

Then again, since the risk of measles and lung diseases are often increased from living in crowded, highly polluted environments, maybe I woulnd't have developed them. Beats me. I'm happy to live now instead than 200 years ago, anyway, and in a civilised country with a free national healthcare system.

I would have been death, if it was not for the life-saving surgery at age eleven, it would have been because healthcare is not that old...

A group of friends and I recently realised that none of us would be alive it weren't for modern medicine.
I was wondering how this trend is reflected generally.
I most likely would have died at birth, since my umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck and I was a bit blue around the edges. A very good midwife might have been able to save my life, though, and if she had then I probably would have survived childhood.

well it's a roll of the dice of course. a thousand years ago anyone surviving to the age i am now would have been looked upon somewhat as we do anyone who makes it past 100. and the odds wouldn't have been that good even a couple of hundred years ago.

i am however, somewhat more adoptable then i prefer or feel entirely comfortable with being, and thus suspect i would likely have survived to somewhere in the neighborhood of the average age at that time for doing so.

even then, the age i am now might have been pushing it a bit.

=^^=
.../\...

I would of starved to death at about age 3 months. When I was born I had a mass of abdominal muscles that didn't allow food to go past the stomach. So I was starving until I had surgery at about six weeks old.

I likely would be alive still, my biggest hospital trips have all been to get sewn shut again, and none of those required a transfusion so, I'd be good. :)

I probably would have died at birth. I was almost born a few months premature.

Then again that was probably because of my mom's car crash years before- so who knows?

If it weren't for that I might have still been alive. Or maybe not because I don't know what vaccinations and eradicated diseases would have done.

Wow, I never thought about that before.

*gulp*

I guess I would in all likelihood have died of the mystery disease I had when I was three years old.

If I would have survived that, however, I'd have been safe up to my current age, assuming that dog bite I got as a kid wouldn't have gotten infected and killed me. :p

I would have died at 12.

Modern medicine saved my, and my mother's life, on the day I was born. I would have died at birth.

I would be alive, but my whole family would be dead.

my mum had preeclampsia/hypertension during pregancy, and they had to induce labor 4 or 5 weeks early and ended up doing a caesarean to get me out as i was at high risk of brain damage.

had it not been for modern medicine, both in diagnosis and modern pharmaceuticals and surigical advancements, both my mum and i would have died then.

I would be alive, but my whole family would be dead.
:confused: :eek: you kill them!!!!

I would have died at the age of eight from appendicitis. My oldest brother probably wouldn't have survived his series of ear infections as a toddler and my youngest brother wouldn't have survived his two bouts of pneumonia at age two without antibiotics.

:confused: :eek: you kill them!!!!

No.

My brother's appendix exploded when he was 4. He damn near died.

My mom never had chicken pox as a child. She came down with it as an adult. It turned into pnemonia and she was on a respirator for a month. Things were really touch and go for awhile. She was in the hospital for two months total, I think. This was 12 years ago.

And that's the extent of my family.

I lost my grandma to cancer. I am losing my grandad to cancer. My dad is a loser who decided he wanted to leave my mom when she was pregnant with me and go start a new family. My aunt is evil (truley). And that's it.

there were significant complications with my birth that meant i nearly died. apparently this makes me 'extra special' and is my mother's excuse for favouring me over my sister. she won't tell me what the complications were though.

I would have probably lived to my teenage years, but not too far beyond that. 200 years go, much of the Irish had to pay taxes to landlords that many couldn't pay, so many of the Irish were homeless.

I would've survived.
Biggest disease I've ever had is bronchitis.
If I survived that(which shouldn't be too hard), I'd still be alive.
EDIT: And according to wiki, you usually treat bronchitis by leaving it alone, so I'd be fine.

I developed Cluster Headache Syndrome in my teens. It's not really understood, and is incurable.

Modern analgesics can neutralize a headache as it develops. If I don't take them, the pain builds until I pass out from the pain. I'm at a low point in my cluster cycle right now, so I get maybe one a week. At a high point I can get three or four a day. Without analgesics, I'm non-functional.

200 years ago I'd've been unable to hold a job, complete an apprenticeship or work a farm. Unless my family kept me as a charity case, I'd've starved to death in my teens.

A group of friends and I recently realised that none of us would be alive it weren't for modern medicine.
I was wondering how this trend is reflected generally.I would have been dead within weeks of being born. I had a problem with my digestive system that did not allow food into my intestine.

I would of starved to death at about age 3 months. When I was born I had a mass of abdominal muscles that didn't allow food to go past the stomach. So I was starving until I had surgery at about six weeks old.Khadgar, your situation sounds remarkably like mine! How interesting.

It's a good thing I am around now instead of then, because now I have NS. If not for that I probably would die a horrible death anyway. :D