The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English Part 35

For example, let us change the scene, and introduce a patient with head and shoulders elevated, who prefers to sit up, and who places his hands behind him and leans back, or leans forward resting his arms and head upon a chair. The next week he is worse, and no longer tries to lie in bed, but sits up all the time; note the anxious expression of countenance, the difficult or hurried breathing, the dry and hacking cough, and observe that the least exertion increases the difficulty of respiration and causes palpitation of the heart. These plain symptoms signify thoracic effusion, the collection of water about the lungs.

THE COUNTENANCE displays diagnostic symptoms of disease. In simple, acute fevers, the eyes and face are red and the respiration is hurried; but in acute, sympathetic fever, these signs are wanting. We cannot forget the pale, sharp, contracted, and pinched features of those patients whose nostrils contract and expand alternately with the acts of respiration. How hard it was for them to breathe. The contraction and expansion of the nostrils indicate active congestion of the lungs.

As a general rule, chronic inflammation of the stomach, duodenum, liver, and adjacent organs, imparts a gloomy expression to the countenance, at the same time the eye is dull, the skin dusky or yellow, and the motions are slow. But in lung diseases, the spirits are buoyant, the skin is fair, and the cheeks flushed with fever and distinctly circ.u.mscribed with white, for delicacy and contrast, almost exceed the hues of health in beauty. Note, too, the pearly l.u.s.tre and sparkling light of the eye, the quivering motion of the lips and chin, all signs of pulmonary disease.

THE STORY OF s.e.xUAL ABUSE is plainly told by the downcast countenance, the inability to look a person fairly in the face, the peculiar lifting of the upper lip and the furtive glance of the eye. The state of the mind and of the nervous system corroborates this evidence, for there seems to be a desire to escape from conversation and to elude society.

The mind seems engrossed and abstracted, the individual appears absorbed in a constant meditation, he is forgetful and loses nearly all interest in the ordinary affairs of life. The whole appearance of a patient, suffering from spermatorrhea, is perfectly understood by the experienced physician, for the facial expressions, state of mind, and movements of the body, all unconsciously betray, and unitedly proclaim his condition.

TONGUE. Much may be learned from the appearance, color, and form of the tongue, and the manner of its protrusion. If pale, moist, and coated white, it indicates a mild, febrile condition of the system. If coated in the center, and the sides look raw, it indicates gastric irritation.

If red and raw, or dry and cracked, it is a sign of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach. If the inflammation is in the large intestine, the tip of the tongue presents a deep red color, while the middle is loaded with a dark brown coating. When the tongue is elongated and pointed, quickly protruded and withdrawn, it indicates irritation of the nerve-centers, as well as of the stomach and bowels. If tremulous, it denotes congestion and lack of functional ability; this may be observed in congestive fevers.

PULSE. Usually the pulse beats four times during one respiration, but both in health and disease its frequency may be accelerated or r.e.t.a.r.ded.

In adults, there are from sixty-five to seventy-five beats in a minute, and yet in a few instances we have found, in health, only forty pulsations per minute. But when the heart beats from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty times a minute, there is reason to apprehend danger, and the case should receive the careful attention of a physician.

Irregularity of the pulse may be caused by disease of the brain, heart, stomach, or liver; by the disordered condition of the nervous system; by lack of muscular nutrition, as in gout, rheumatism, or convulsions; by deficiency of the heart's effective power, when the pulse-wave does not reach the wrist, or when it intermits and then becomes more rapid in consequence of septic changes of the blood, as in diphtheria, erysipelas, and eruptive fevers.

PAIN. The import of pain depends on its seat, intensity, nature, and duration. An acute, intense pain usually indicates inflammation of a nerve as well as the adjacent parts. Sharp, shooting, lancinating pains occur in inflammation of the serous tissues, as in pleurisy. A smarting, stinging pain attends inflammation of the mucous membrane. Acute pain is generally remittent and not fixed to one spot. Dull, heavy pain is more persistent, and is present in congestions, or when the substance of an organ is inflamed, and it often precedes hemorrhage. Burning pain characterizes violent inflammations involving the skin and subjacent cellular tissue, as in case of boils and carbuncles. Deep, perforating pain accompanies inflammation of the bones, or of their enveloping membranes. Gnawing, biting, lancinating pain attends cancers.

The location of pain is not always at the seat of the disease. In hip-disease, the pain is not first felt in the hip, but in the knee-joint. In chronic inflammation of the liver, the pain is generally most severe in the right shoulder and arm. Disease of the kidneys occasionally produces numbness of the thigh and drawing up of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e, and commonly causes colicky pains. Inflammation of the meninges of the brain is often indicated by nausea and vomiting before attention is directed to the head. These ill.u.s.trations are sufficient to show that pain often takes place in some part remote from the disease.

In chronic, abdominal affections, rheumatic fevers, gout, and syphilis, the entire system is thrown into a morbid state, the nervous system is disturbed, and wandering pains manifest themselves in different parts of the body. Fixed pain, which is increased by pressure, indicates inflammation. If it be due only to irritation, pressure will not increase it. Some rheumatic affections and neuralgia not only bear pressure, but the pain diminishes under it. Permanent pain shows that the structures of an organ are inflamed, while intermittent pain is a sign of neuralgia, gout, or rheumatism. Absence of pain in any disease, where ordinarily it should be present, is an unfavorable sign. Internal pain, after a favorable crisis, is a bad omen. Or, if pains cease suddenly without the other symptoms abating, the import is bad. If, however, pain and fever remit simultaneously and the secretions continue, it is a favorable sign.

A dull pain in the head indicates fullness of the blood-vessels from weakness, low blood, or general debility. It may be caused by taking cold, thus producing pa.s.sive congestion of the brain. It may proceed from gastric disturbance, constipation of the bowels, or derangement of the liver. Heaviness of the head sometimes precedes inflammation of the brain, or chronic disease of its membranes. A dull, oppressive pain in the head indicates softening of the brain, and is generally accompanied by slowness of the pulse and of the speech. A pulsating pain of the head occurs in heart disease, hysteria, and frequently accompanies some forms of insanity.

THE EYE indicates morbid changes and furnishes unmistakable signs of disease. Sinking of the eye indicates waste, as in consumption, diarrhea, and cholera. In fevers it is regarded as a fatal symptom. A dark or leaden circle around the eye, seen after hard work, indicates fatigue and overdoing. If the mucous covering of the inner surface of the lids and the ball of the eye is congested and inflamed, it exhibits redness, and may indicate congestion or even inflammation of the brain.

A dilated pupil is often observed in catarrhal consumption, congestion of the brain, low fevers, and chlorosis.

The pupil contracts in inflammation of the meninges, when there is increased sensibility and intolerance of light, also in spinal complaints. In some diseases the l.u.s.tre of the eye increases, as in consumption. But if it decreases with the attack of violent disease, it indicates great debility and prostration.

EXAMINATION OF THE URINE. All medical authors and physicians of education, freely admit and even insist upon the importance of critically examining the patient's urine, in all cases in which there is reason to suspect disease of the kidneys or bladder. In chronic affections it is particularly serviceable, especially in derangements of the liver, blood, kidneys, bladder, prostate gland, and nervous system.

Many scholarly physicians have sadly neglected the proper inspection of the urine, because they were afraid of being cla.s.sed with the illiterate "uroscopian" doctors, or fanatical enthusiasts, who ignorantly pretend to diagnose correctly _all_ diseases in this manner, thus subjecting themselves and their claims to ridicule. Nothing should deter one from giving to this excretion the attention it deserves.

The urine which is voided when the system is deranged or diseased is altered in its color and composition, showing that its ingredients vary greatly. So important an aid do examinations of the urine furnish in diagnosing many chronic ailments, that at the Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Inst.i.tute, where many thousands of cases are annually treated, a chemical laboratory has been fitted up, and a skillful chemist is employed, who makes a specialty of examining the urine, both chemically and microscopically, and reporting the result to the attending physicians. His extended experience renders his services invaluable.

With his a.s.sistance, maladies which had hitherto baffled all efforts put forth to determine their true character, have frequently been quickly and unmistakably disclosed.

MICROSCOPICAL EXAMINATION. This method of examination affords a quicker and more correct idea of a deposit or deposits than any other method.

The expert, by simply looking at a specimen, can determine the character of the urine, whether blood, mucus, pus, uric acid, etc., are present or not. But when no deposit is present, then it is necessary to apply chemical tests, and in many cases the quant.i.ty of the suspected ingredient must be determined by a.n.a.lysis. As a detailed account, of the various modifications which the urine undergoes in different diseases, would be of no practical use to the ma.s.ses, since they could not avail themselves of the advantages which it would afford for correct diagnosis, except by the employment of a physician who does not ignore this aid in examining his patients, we shall omit all further details upon the subject. For the same reason we shall not often, in treating of the different diseases in which examinations of the urine furnish such valuable aid in forming a diagnosis, make mention of the changes which are likely to have occurred.

INFLAMMATION.

The term _Inflammation_ signifies a state in which the infected part is hotter, redder, more congested, and more painful than is natural.

Inflammation is limited to certain parts, while fever influences the system generally. Inflammation gives rise to new formations, morbid products, and lesions, or alterations of structure. The morbid products of fever, and its modification of fluids are carried away by the secretions and excretions.

The susceptibility of the body to inflammation maybe _natural_ or _acquired_. It is natural when it is const.i.tutional; that is, when there is an original tendency of the animal economy to manifest itself in some form of inflammation. We may notice that some children are far more subject to boils, croups, and erysipelatous diseases than others. This susceptibility, when innate, may be lessened by careful medication, although it may never be wholly eradicated. When acquired, it is the result of the influence of habits of life, climate, and the state of mind over the const.i.tution

Phlegmonous inflammation is the active inflammation of the cellular membrane, one ill.u.s.tration of which is a common boil. The four princ.i.p.al symptoms are redness, swelling, heat, and pain; and then appears a conical, hard, circ.u.mscribed tumor, having its seat in the dermoid texture. At the end of an indefinite period, it becomes pointed, white or yellow, and discharges pus mixed with blood. When it breaks, a small, grayish, fibrous ma.s.s sometimes appears, which consists of dead, cellular tissue, and which is called the _core_.

There are certain morbid states of the const.i.tution which lead to local inflammation, subsequent upon slight injury; or, in some cases, without any such provocation, as in gout, rheumatism, and scrofula. One of the first results of the inflammation, in such cases, is a weakening of the forces which distribute the blood to the surface and extremities of the body. It is generally admitted that in scrofulous persons the vascular system is weak, the vessels are small, and because nutrition is faulty, the blood is _imperfectly organized_. The result is failure in the system, for if nutrition fails, there may be lacking earthy matter for the bones, or the unctious secretions of the skin; the sebaceous secretion is alb.u.minous and liable to become dry, producing inflammation of the parts which it ought to protect.

Disorder of the alimentary ca.n.a.l and other mucous surfaces are sometimes reflected upon the skin. We have occasionally observed cutaneous eruptions and erysipelas, when evidently they were distinct signs of internal disorder.

Inflammation may be internal as well as external, as inflammation of the brain, lungs, or stomach, and it is frequently the result of what is called a _cold_. No matter how the body is chilled, the blood retreats from the surface, which becomes pale and shrunken, there is also nervous uneasiness, and frequently a rigor, accompanied with chattering of the teeth. After the cold stage, reaction takes place and fever follows. The sudden change from a dry and heated room to a cool and moist atmosphere is liable to induce a cold. Riding in a carriage until the body is s.h.i.+vering, or sitting in a draft of air when one has been previously heated, or breathing a very cold air during the night when the body is warm, especially when not accustomed to doing so, or exposing the body to a low temperature when insufficiently clothed, are all different ways of producing inflammation.

Inflammation may result in consequence of local injury, caused by a bruise, or by a sharp, cutting instrument, as a knife or an axe, or it may be caused by the puncture of a pin, pen-knife blade or a fork-tine, or from a lacerated wound, as from the bite of a dog, or from a very minute wound poisoned by the bite of a venomous reptile. Local inflammations may arise from scalds, burns, the application of caustics, a.r.s.enic, corrosive sublimate, cantharides, powerful acids, abrasions of the surface by injuries, and from the occurrence of accidents.

The _swelling_ of the part may be caused by an increase of the quant.i.ty of blood in the vessels, the effusion of serum and coagulating lymph, and the interruption of absorption by the injury, or by the altered condition of the inflamed part.

The character of the _pain_ depends upon the tissue involved, and upon the altered or unnatural state of the nerves. Ordinarily, tendon, ligament, cartilage, and bone are not very sensitive, but when inflamed they are exquisitely so.

The heat of the inflamed part is not so great, when measured by the thermometer, as might be supposed from the patient's sensations.

TERMINATION OF INFLAMMATION. Inflammation ends in one of six different ways. Inflammation may terminate in _resolution, i.e_., spontaneous recovery; by _suppuration_, in the formation of matter; by _effusion_, as the inflammation caused by a blister-plaster terminates by effusion of water; by _adhesion_, the part inflamed forming an attachment to some other part; by _induration_, hardening of the organ; or by _gangrene_, that is, death of the part.

Thus, inflammation of the lungs may terminate by recovery, that is, by resolution, by suppuration and raising of "matter," by hardening and solidification of the lung, or by gangrene. Inflammation of the endocardium, the lining membrane of the heart, may cause a thickening of it, and ossification of the valves of the heart, thus impairing its function. Inflammation of the pericardium may terminate in effusion, or dropsy, and inflammation of the liver may result in hardening and adhesion to adjacent parts.

SEVERAL PRINCIPLES FOR TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION.

Remove the exciting causes as far as practicable. If caused by a splinter or any foreign substance, it should be withdrawn, and if the injury is merely local, apply cold water to the parts to subdue the inflammation. If caused by a rabid animal, the wound should be enlarged and cupped, and the parts cleansed or destroyed by caustic. The patient should remain quiet and not be disturbed. The use of tincture of aconite internally, will be found excellent to prevent the rise of inflammation.

A purgative is also advised, and four or five of Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Purgative Pellets will be sufficient to act upon the bowels. If there is pain, an anodyne and diaph.o.r.etic is proper. Dr. Pierce's Compound Extract of Smart-weed will fulfill this indication. In local inflammation cold water is a good remedy, yet sometimes hot water, or cloths wrung out of it, will be found to be the appropriate application.

When the inflammation is located in an organ within a cavity, as the lungs, hot fomentations will be of great service. Bathing the surface with alkaline water must not be omitted. Whenever the inflammation is serious the family physician should be early summoned.

FEVER.

In fever all the functions are more or less deranged. In every considerable inflammation there is sympathetic fever, but in essential fevers there are generally fewer lesions of structure than in inflammation. Fever occasions great waste of the tissues of the body, and the refuse matter is carried away by the organs of secretion and excretion. The heat of the body in fever is generally diffused, the pulse is quicker, there is dullness, la.s.situde, chilliness, and disinclination to take food. We propose to give only a general outline of fevers, enough to indicate the principles which should be observed in domestic treatment.

Most fevers are distinctly marked by four stages: 1st, the forming stage; 2d, the cold stage; 3d, the hot stage; 4th, the sweating or declining stage. During the first stage the individual is hardly conscious of being ill, for the attack is so slight that it is hardly perceptible. True, as it progresses, there is a feeling of languor, an indisposition to make any bodily or mental effort, and also a sense of soreness of the muscles, aching of the bones, chilliness, and a disposition to get near the fire. There is restlessness, disturbed sleep, bad dreams, lowness of spirits, all of which are characteristic of the formative stage of fever.

The next is the cold stage, when there is a decided manifestation of the disease, and the patient acknowledges that he is really sick. In typhus and typhoid fever the chills are slight; in other fevers they are more marked; while in ague they are often accompanied by uncontrollable shaking. When the chill is not so distinct the nails look blue and the skin appears shriveled, the eye is sunken and a dark circle circ.u.mscribes it, the lips are blue, and there is pain in the back. The pulse is frequent, small, and depressed, the capillary circulation feeble, the respiration increased, and there may be nausea and vomiting.

These symptoms vary in duration from a few minutes to more than an hour.

They gradually abate, reaction takes place, and the patient begins to throw off the bed-clothes.

Then follows the hot stage, for with the return of the circulation of the blood to the surface of the body, there is greater warmth, freer breathing, and a more comfortable and quiet condition of the system. The veins fill with blood, the countenance brightens, the cheeks are flushed, the intellect is more sprightly, and if the pulse is frequent, it is a good sign; if it sinks, it indicates feeble, vital force, and is not a good symptom. If there is considerable determination of blood to the head it becomes hot, the arteries of the neck pulsate strongly, and delirium may be expected. During the hot stage, if the fever runs high, the patient becomes restless, frequently changes his position, is wakeful, uneasy, and complains of pain in his limbs. In low grades, the sensibility is blunted, smell, taste, and hearing are impaired.

The patient in the hot stage is generally thirsty, and if he is allowed to drink much, it may result in nausea and vomiting. Moderate indulgence in water, however, is permissible. There is aversion to food, and if any is eaten, it remains undigested. The teeth are sometimes covered with dark _sordes_ (foul acc.u.mulations) early in the fever, and the appearance of the tongue varies, sometimes being coated a yellowish brown, sometimes red and dry, at other times thickly coated and white.

The condition of the bowels varies from constipation to diarrhea, although sometimes they are quite regular. The urine is generally diminished in quant.i.ty, but shows higher color.

The sweating stage in some fevers is very marked, while in others there is very little moisture, but an evident decline of the hot stage, the skin becoming more natural and soft. The pulse is more compressible and less frequent, the kidneys act freely, respiration is natural, the pains subside, although there remains languor, la.s.situde, and weariness, a preternatural sensibility to cold, an easily excited pulse, and a pale and sickly aspect of the countenance. The appet.i.te has failed and the powers of digestion are still impaired.

DOMESTIC MANAGEMENT OF FEVERS. It is proper to make a thorough study of the early, insidious symptoms of fever, in order to understand what ought to be done. If it arises in consequence of malaria, the treatment must be suited to the case. If from irritation of the bowels and improper articles of diet, then a mild cathartic is required. If there is much inflammation, a severe chill, and strong reaction, then the treatment should be active. If the fever is of the congestive variety and the const.i.tution is feeble, the reaction imperfect, a small, weak pulse, a tendency to fainting, a pale countenance, and great pain in the head, apply heat and administer diaph.o.r.etics, and procure the services of a good physician.

As a general rule, it is proper to administer a cathartic, unless in typhoid fever, and for this Dr. Pierce's Purgative Pellets answer the purpose, given in doses of from four to six, according to the state of the bowels. If these are not at hand, a tea of sage and senna may be drunk until it produces a purgative effect, or a dose of Roch.e.l.le salts taken. In nearly all fevers we have found that a weak, alkaline tea, made from the white ashes of hickory or maple wood, is useful, taken weak, three or four times daily, or if there be considerable thirst, more frequently. Some patients desire lemon juice, which enters the system as an alkali and answers all purposes.