The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English Part 48

TREATMENT. We have obtained wonderful results by a new method of treatment, which consists in the employment of electrolysis in conjunction with other therapeutic means. There is scarcely a case in which this treatment, properly carried out, will not effect a radical cure. It is attended with no danger whatever.

Those who are afflicted with this disease and unable to avail themselves of special treatment, cannot do better than to take Dr. Pierce's Alterative Extract, or Golden Medical Discovery, and apply to the skin over and around the tumor, night and morning the following solution which may be prepared at any drug store: iodine, one drachm; iodide of pota.s.sium, four drachms; dissolve in three ounces of soft water. Apply to the tumor twice a day, with a feather or hair pencil.

MUMPS. (PAROt.i.tIS.)

This is an inflammation of the parotid glands and generally occurs in childhood. It is often epidemic, and is manifestly contagious. It usually, though not always, appears on both sides of the neck at the same time.

SYMPTOMS. An external, movable swelling, just below and in front of the ear, near the angle of the jaw, is the prominent symptom. The enlargement is not circ.u.mscribed, but hard and painful, and attended with more or less fever, derangement of the secretions, and difficulty in swallowing. The swelling increases until the fourth and fifth day, when it gradually diminishes, and by the eighth or tenth is entirely gone. Sometimes the disease is accompanied by swelling of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s in the female, or the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es in the male.

TREATMENT. Usually but little treatment is necessary. Exposure to cold should be avoided. If severe or painful, with febrile symptoms, a hot foot-bath and small doses of the "Compound Extract of Smart-Weed," in some diaph.o.r.etic infusion, to induce sweating, together with small doses of aconite, will produce good results. If swelling of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es threatens (which seldom happens except on taking cold), resort should be had to mild cathartics, the spirit vapor-bath, stimulating liniments to the neck, and warm fomentations to the part attacked If delirium occurs, a physician should be summoned.

INFLUENZA, OR LA GRIPPE.

This is an infectious disease, characterized by depression, and usually a.s.sociated with a catarrhal condition of the mucous membrane. It may affect the respiratory organs or the intestinal ca.n.a.l. There is a marked liability to serious complications, of which pneumonia is the most dangerous. The disease is evidently due to a specific virus of great infectiveness, and is more active and contagious at certain seasons and under certain conditions of the atmosphere. By some it has been supposed that it is due to a miasma in the air, but the character of its infection indicates that the true virus is of a germinal nature.

Uncomplicated cases recover, but in the aged and in the delicate we may see fatal results, due usually to the profound depression or the high temperature to which the individual is subjected. There is much redness and swelling of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat--a bronchitis--and a catarrhal state of the stomach and intestines. These may all be present, or the disease may center upon one particular portion of the animal economy, and manifest its ravages there alone.

SYMPTOMS. The attack usually resembles an ordinary catarrh of cold. In some cases the nasal catarrh is absent, or very mild, and the infection invades the general system, with much fever. A very striking manifestation of the disease is the severe nervous troubles which are present at the outset, consisting of headache, pain in the back and legs, and a general soreness of the muscles and bones as if bruised or beaten. The pulse is usually feeble and small--intermittent. The disease may center in the brain, producing delirium. Mental disorders are not uncommon, and there is usually following the disease more or less inapt.i.tude for mental work and a tendency to depression of spirits. In many cases there is a severe diarrhea, and the individual suffers much from pain and discomfort in the abdomen. This is a gastro-intestinal irritation, and apparently favors an early recovery, and usually there are less severe sequels in such cases.

The most dangerous complication is pneumonia. These cases may follow bronchitis, or the grip may begin with well-characterized symptoms of this disease, for which see the chapters upon this trouble. The sputa may not be rusty until after several days. The crisis is usually slow, and a considerable proportion recover, the disease frequently showing a sudden change for the better, and the patient being up and around in a few days. Cases complicated with pneumonia are the most indefinite in their symptoms, and require the closest attention.

TREATMENT. In every case the disease must be regarded as a dangerous one, and the patient be confined to bed and indoors until all fever has disappeared, otherwise sudden and serious manifestations are liable to appear at any time. The patient must be well fed and nourished from the outset. The bowels should be acted upon by mild laxatives, such as castor oil or Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets, using from one to three. It is also of advantage afterward to move them twice each day, by the injection of warm water, to which has been added a teaspoonful of table salt to each pint. This injected into the r.e.c.t.u.m, using the water slightly tepid, or cool if the patient is feverish, will tend to soften the actions from the bowels and favor the escape of poisonous matter.

The cool water has also a soothing effect upon the fever and nervous system. If the fever is high, and there is delirium, small doses of aconite, with water, should be used every half hour or hour, but all depressing agents of this kind must be used with caution, as profound prostration sometimes develops. Warm baths, repeated frequently, and followed by hot lemonade, are of the greatest benefit in reducing the feverish condition and quieting the patient. The bed should be warmed after these are administered and the patient given hot lemonade to bring on free action of the skin, kidneys, and bowels. Where the pulse is weak, the free use of stimulants, as wine, coffee, tea, and brandy or whiskey, are required, as the great danger of the disease is a depression of the heart. In severe bronchitis, pneumonia, and other complications, appropriate treatment should be applied.

ACUTE NASAL CATARRH.

Acute Nasal Catarrh, or cold in the head, is an acute inflammation of the mucous membrane lining the nasal pa.s.sage which may confine itself to these parts or extend to the pharynx, larynx, and air-pa.s.sages below, or affect the auxiliary sinuses or cavities communicating with the nasal pa.s.sages.

The most frequent cause of cold in the head is exposure to sudden changes in temperature, or draughts of cool air, without taking proper precaution to protect the body so as to prevent the rapid radiation of animal heat. In most cases there is an inherited tendency or acquired weakness, which frequently may be a.s.sociated with a scrofulous condition of the whole system, that render these points less resistant, and consequently invite the morbid changes which result from exposure and cold. Acute Catarrh also occurs during the initial stage of such eruptive diseases as measles, typhus, typhoid, erysipelas, etc.

Seldom do we meet with an otherwise healthy individual, who is subjected to a frequent cold in the head. Impure blood, inherited scrofulous taints, enfeebled circulation, debility, either general or nervous, are all advance agents, inviting catarrhal disease, and preventing rapid recovery from an acute attack, so that a low grade of Chronic Catarrh is generally the sequence.

SYMPTOMS. The attack is visually ushered in by a chill, or chilly sensation, feeling of la.s.situde, followed by a slight fever. These symptoms are not as distressing as the sense of fullness about the eyes and frontal region, and p.r.i.c.kling dry heat, with more or less obstruction in the nostrils. A few hours later follows a copious, acrid watery discharge, which gradually becomes thick and yellow. Often the inflammatory action may extend to the orifice of the eustachian tube, causing obstruction with temporary deafness, or ringing in the ears.

Severe facial neuralgia may be caused by the pressure from the swollen parts upon the branches of sensitive nerves.

TREATMENT. In the mild forms of acute catarrh, or coryza, only simple treatment is required. A hot foot-bath on retiring at night, with a full dose of Dr. Pierce's Compound Extract of Smart-weed, to produce free perspiration will generally break up the attack. Should the discharge from the nostrils continue, Dr. Sage's Catarrh Remedy should be freely used four to six times each day, until the symptoms are controlled. In case the bowels do not act, a full dose of Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets may he taken at bed-time. Avoidance of exposure to cold, and light vegetable diet, are advisable. In the more severe attacks, especially when complicated by laryngeal or bronchial symptoms, the most decisive measures should be employed. The Compound Extract of Smart-weed should be taken freely, together with hot drinks, or a hot general bath. The patient should be warmly covered in bed to encourage a continued perspiration, to equalize the circulation, and subdue the inflammation.

Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery should be taken in teaspoonful doses four times each day in all cases that are complicated or protracted.

Individuals suffering from frequent colds will do wisely to fortify their systems by taking a few bottles of the "Golden Medical Discovery"

to improve nutrition, purify the blood, and thus aid nature in overcoming such inherited tendency or required weakness as may be their misfortune to possess. Remember frequent attacks of Acute Catarrh prepare fertile soil for the chronic form which oftentimes is so loathsome and destructive.

CHRONIC NASAL CATARRH.

OZAENA.

In consequence of repeated attacks of acute catarrh, or "cold in the head," as it is usually termed, the mucous membranes of the nose and the air-pa.s.sages of the head become permanently thickened, the mucous follicles or glands diseased, and their functions either destroyed or very much deranged. Although chronic catarrh is most commonly brought on in the manner above stated, it sometimes makes its appearance as a sequel of typhoid fever, scarlet fever, measles, or other eruptive fevers, or shows itself as a local manifestation of scrofulous or syphilitic taints in the system.

Injury to the nose may result in a displacement of one or more of the bony structures, setting up a chronic inflammation with catarrh at that point. In the early stages of the disease, the patient may be annoyed with "only a slight dropping into the throat," as many express it, the amount of the discharges from the air-pa.s.sages of the head at this stage of the disease being only slightly in excess of health. In some cases the discharge is thick, ropy, and tough, requiring frequent and strong efforts in the way of blowing and spitting, to remove it from the throat, in which it frequently lodges. In other cases, or in other stages of the same case, the discharge is thin, watery, acrid, irritating, and profuse. The nose may be "stopped up" from the swollen and thickened condition of the lining mucous membrane, so as to necessitate respiration through the mouth, giving to the voice a disagreeable nasal tw.a.n.g. From the nature of the obstruction in this condition, it is useless for the sufferer to endeavor to clear the pa.s.sage by blowing the nose; this only tends to render a bad matter worse, by increasing the irritation and swelling of the already thickened lining membrane. The swelling of the mucous membrane does not in all cases become so great as to cause obstruction to respiration through the affected pa.s.sages. In some cases, the patient suffers from head ache a great portion of the time, or experiences a dull, heavy, disagreeable fullness or pressure in the head, with a confusion of his ideas, which renders him quite unfit for business, especially such as requires deep thought and mental labor. Memory may be more or less affected, and the disposition of those who are otherwise amiable is often rendered irritable or morose and despondent. The mental faculties suffer to such an extent in some cases as to result in insanity. The sense of smell is in many cases impaired, and sometimes entirely lost, and the senses of taste and hearing are not unfrequently more or less affected.

OZaeNA. The ulcerous or more aggravated stage of the disease, from the offensive odor that frequently attends it, is denominated _Ozaena_.

The secretion which is thrown out in the more advanced stages of chronic catarrh becomes so acrid, unhealthy, and poisonous, that it produces severe irritation and inflammation, which are followed by excoriation and ulceration of the delicate membrane which lines the air-pa.s.sages in the head. Although commencing in this membrane, the ulceration is not confined to it, but gradually extends in depth, until it frequently involves all the component structures of the nose--cartilage and bone, as well as fibrous tissues. As the ulceration extends up among the small bones, the discharge generally becomes profuse and often excessively fetid, requires the frequent use of the handkerchief, and renders the poor sufferer disagreeable to both himself and those with whom he a.s.sociates. Thick, tough, brownish incrustations, or hardened lumps, are many times formed in the head, by the evaporation of the watery portion of the discharge. These lumps are sometimes so large and tough that it is with great difficulty that they can be removed. They are usually discharged every second, fourth, or fifth day, but only to be succeeded by another crop. Portions of cartilage and bone, or even entire bones, often die, slough away, and are discharged, either in large flakes, or blackened, half-decayed, and crumbly pieces; or, as is much more commonly the case, in the form of numerous minute particles, that escape with the discharge and are un.o.bserved. It is painfully unpleasant to witness the ravages of this terrible disease, and observe the extent to which it sometimes progresses. Holes are eaten through the roof of the mouth, and great cavities excavated into the solid bones of the face; in such cases only the best and most through treatment will check the progress and fatal termination of the disease.

COMPLICATIONS.

Catarrh, or ozaena, is liable to be complicated, not only by the system, blood, and fluids, suffering from scrofulous or other taints, as has already been pointed out, but also by an extension of the diseased conditions to other parts beyond the air-pa.s.sages of the head.

Occasionally deformities of the septum or other internal structures also polypi or tumors, are sources of constant irritation and accelerate catarrhal disease.

DISEASE OF THE THROAT. The acrid, irritating and poisonous discharge, which, in some stages of disease, almost constantly runs down over the delicate lining membrane of the _pharynx_ (throat), is liable to produce in this sensitive membrane a diseased condition similar to that existing in the air-pa.s.sages of the head. The throat may feel dry, husky, and at times slightly sore or raw; or, from the muco-purulent discharge that is almost constantly dropping down over its surface, the patient may feel very little inconvenience from the disease of the throat until it is far advanced--the moistening and lubricating effect of the matter that drops on the surface tending to blunt the sensibility of the parts. (_See pharyngitis for symptoms and treatment_.)

THE EXTENSION OF THE DISEASE TO THE LARYNX. The larynx, situated directly below the pharynx (throat), is subjected to the influence of the same irritation from acrid and poisonous discharges dropping into the throat from the head. More or less of it is removed by hawking and spitting, but some remains and is drawn into the larynx, or still lower into the trachea (windpipe), with the inspired air. Thus the disease creeps along the continuous mucous surfaces of the air-pa.s.sages, the acrid poisonous discharge arousing in its track the irritation, inflammation, ulceration, and thickening of the lining membrane which characterize the disease in other portions of the air-pa.s.sages. The symptoms and treatment of laryngitis will be found under its appropriate cla.s.sification.

BRONCHITIS AND CONSUMPTION. We have already detailed the manner in which the throat, larynx, and trachea, in succession, become affected from catarrh, or ozaena. By the same process of extension, the bronchial tubes, and lastly, the _parenchyma_, or substance of the lungs, in their turn, become diseased, and bronchitis and consumption are firmly established. Tightness in the chest, with difficulty of breathing; soreness; darting, sharp, or dull, heavy pain, or a p.r.i.c.kly, distressing sensation, accompanied with more or less cough and expectoration--are evidences that the bronchial tubes have become affected, and they should admonish the sufferer _that he is now standing on the stepping-stone to_ CONSUMPTION, over which thousands annually tread, in their slow journey to the grave.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 8.

Internal and external ear. _1_, External ear.

_2_, Internal auditory meatus. _3_, Tympanum. _4_, Labyrinth.

_5_, Eustachian tube.]

DEAFNESS. By means of a small ca.n.a.l, called the _eustachian tube_, an air-pa.s.sage and communication between the throat and middle ear is formed. (See Fig. 8.) This pa.s.sage is lined by a continuation of the mucous membrane which covers the throat and nasal pa.s.sages. The catarrhal inflammatory process, by continuity of surface, follows the mucous membrane, thickening its structure, until the eustachian tube is closed, and the beautiful mechanism of the internal ear is rendered useless. While the thickening of the mucous membrane is going on, and the pa.s.sage is gradually becoming closed (and the process sometimes extends through several years), the patient will occasionally, while blowing the nose, experience a crackling in one or both ears, and hearing becomes dull, but returns suddenly, accompanied with a snapping sound. This may be repeated many times, until, finally, hearing does not return, but remains permanently injured. In other cases the hearing is lost so gradually that a considerable degree of deafness may exist before the person is really aware of the fact. Either condition is often accompanied with noises in the head of every conceivable description, increasing the distress of the sufferer. The delicate bones of the ear are sometimes detached from their articulations, the drum is ulcerated and perforated, and through the orifice thus made, the bones or small _spiculae_ may escape with the thick, purulent, and offensive discharge.

CLOSURE OF THE TEAR DUCT. The lachrymal duct, or pa.s.sage (tear duct), which, when in a healthy condition, serves to convey the tears from the eye into the nose, may be closed by the same inflammatory and thickening process which we have already explained. This condition is usually attended with watery and weak eyes, the tears escaping over the cheeks, and sometimes producing irritation and excoriation. The nasal branch of the ophthalmic nerve sometimes partic.i.p.ates in the ulceration going on in the head, so that the eyes are sympathetically affected. They sometimes become congested or inflamed, and sharp pain in the eyeb.a.l.l.s may be experienced.

INDIGESTION, DYSPEPSIA, ETC. A large portion of the acrid, poisonous, purulent discharge, which drops into the throat during sleep, is swallowed. This disturbs the functions of the stomach, causing weakness of that organ, and producing indigestion, dyspepsia, nausea, and loss of appet.i.te. Many sufferers complain of a very distressing "gnawing sensation" in the stomach, or an "all gone," or "faint feelings," as they often express it.

SYMPTOMS. Dull, heavy headaches through the temples and above the eyes; indisposition to exercise; difficulty of thinking or reasoning, or concentrating the mind upon any subject; la.s.situde; indifference respecting business, lack of ambition or energy; obstruction of nasal pa.s.sages; discharges voluntarily falling into the throat, sometimes profuse, watery, acrid, thick and tenacious, mucous, purulent, muco-purulent, b.l.o.o.d.y, concrete blood and pus, putrid, offensive, etc.

In others, a dryness of the nasal pa.s.sages: dry, watery, weak, or inflamed eyes; ringing in the ears, deafness, discharge from the ears, hawking and coughing to clear the throat, ulcerations, death and decay of bones, expectoration of putrid matter, _spiculae_ of bones, scabs from ulcers leaving surface raw, constant desire to clear the nose and throat, voice altered, nasal tw.a.n.g, offensive breath, impairment or total deprivation of the sense of smell and taste, dizziness, mental depression, loss of appet.i.te, nausea, indigestion, dyspepsia, enlarged tonsils, raw throat, tickling cough, difficulty in speaking plainly, general debility, idiocy, and insanity.

All the above symptoms, as well as some others which have been previously given, and which it is not necessary here to repeat, are common to this disease in some of its stages or complications; yet thousands of cases annually terminate in consumption or chronic bronchitis, and end in the grave, without ever having manifested one-half of the symptoms enumerated.