The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English Part 53

CHRONIC BRONCHITIS.

This is a subacute or chronic form of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bronchial tubes, of a very persistent character and variable intensity. There are few diseases which manifest a greater variety of modifications than this.

SYMPTOMS. The symptoms of this disease vary greatly with its violence and progress. Cough is always present, and is very often the first symptom to attract the patient's attention. It is usually increased by every slight cold, and with each fresh accession becomes more and more severe, and is arrested with greater difficulty. The cough is always persistent, sometimes short and hacking, at other times deep, prolonged, and harsh. Sometimes it is spasmodic and irritating and particularly so when it is a.s.sociated with affections of the larynx, or with asthma, involving irritation of the branches or the filaments of the pneumogastric nerve.

When the chronic follows the acute form of the disease, or follows inflammation of the lungs, the expectoration may be profuse from the first, and of a yellowish color and tenacious character. When the disease arises from other causes, the expectoration is generally slight at first, and the cough dry or hacking. This may continue some time before much expectoration occurs. The expectorated matter is at first whitish, opaque, and tenacious, mixed sometimes with a frothy mucus, requiring considerable coughing to loosen it and throw it off. As the disease progresses, it becomes thicker, more sticky, of a yellowish or greenish color, mixed with pus, and sometimes streaked with blood. In the latter stages, it becomes profuse and fetid, and severe hemorrhage may occur. Sometimes the cough and expectoration disappear when the weather becomes warm, to appear again with the return of winter, which has gained for it the appellation of _winter cough_. The sufferers feel as if something was bound tightly round them, rendering inhalation difficult. Soreness throughout the chest is often a persistent symptom, especially when the cough is dry and hard. Behind the breast-bone there is experienced a sense of uneasiness, in some cases amounting to pain, more or less severe.

As the disease progresses, the loss of strength is more and more marked, the patient can no longer follow his usual employment, his spirits are depressed, and he gradually sinks, or tubercular matter is deposited in the lungs, and consumption is developed.

TREATMENT. Thorough attention to hygiene, with the avoidance of the causes concerned in the production and perpetuation of the disease, is necessary. The patient must be protected from the vicissitudes of the weather by plenty of clothing; flannel should be worn next to the skin, with a pad of flannel or buckskin over the chest, and the feet should be kept warm and dry. Exercise in the open air is essential. When the weather is so cold as to excite coughing, something should be worn over the mouth, as a thin cloth, handkerchief, m.u.f.fler, or anything which will modify the temperature of the atmosphere before it comes into contact with the mucous lining of the lungs. Good ventilation of sleeping-rooms is all-important; not that the air should be cold, but that it should be as pure as possible.

The diet must be nutritious, cabonaceous, and of sufficient quant.i.ty.

Beef, milk, rich cream, plenty of good b.u.t.ter, eggs, fish, wheat bread from unbolted flour, supply the appropriate alimentary substances for perfect nutrition and the maintenance of animal heat.

To overcome the modified form of inflammation in the bronchial tubes, all sources of irritation should be avoided, as the inhalation of dust, or excessively cold air. It is in the cure of severe and obstinate cases of this disease that Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery has achieved unparalleled success, and won the highest praise from those who have used it. Its value will generally be enhanced in treating this complaint by adding one-half a teaspoonful of the fluid extract of _Veratrum Viride_ to each bottle. This can be added by any respectable druggist.

Especially should it be thus modified if the pulse be accelerated so as to beat ninety or a hundred times in a minute. The "Golden Medical Discovery" should be taken in teaspoonful doses, repeated every two hours. When the cough is dry and hard, with no expectoration, it arises from irritation of some of the branches of the pneumogastric nerve, which this remedy will relieve. It may, however, be aided by inhaling the hot vapor of vinegar and water, or vapor from a decoction of hops, to which vinegar has been added.

The use of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery should be _persisted_ in, taking it in frequent doses, every two or three hours, and keeping up its use until the disease yields and is perfectly stamped out. Do not expect a formidable disease of perhaps weeks' or months' duration to be _speedily_ cured. Chronic diseases are generally slow in their inception and development and can only be cured by gradual stages. Perseverance in treatment is required. Many invalids do not possess the strength of purpose--the will power--to continue the use of the "Golden Medical Discovery" long enough to receive its full benefits. It is worse than useless for such to commence its use, for without persistency it cannot be expected to cure such obstinate maladies as chronic bronchitis.

ASTHMA.

PHTHISIC.

One of the most distressing ailments with which the human family is afflicted is asthma. Its symptoms are not to be mistaken. Suddenly and without apparent provocation the patient experiences the greatest difficulty in breathing. When warning is given, there is usually a sense of fullness in the stomach, flatulence, languor, and general nervous irritability. The countenance is a picture of anxiety and horror. The difficulty of breathing increases and the struggle for air commences.

Windows and doors are thrown open, fans used, and, utterly regardless of consequences, the sufferer pa.s.ses the whole night in exposure and torture, even though the temperature be below zero. Fearing suffocation, the patient dare not lie down; he rushes to the window for air, rests his head upon a table or chair, or upon his hands, with the elbows upon the knees, jumps up suddenly and gasps and struggles for air. The eyes are prominent and the veins of the forehead distended with blood; sometimes the bowels are relaxed. The urine is colorless and is pa.s.sed in copious quant.i.ties. This symptom indicates great excitement of the nervous system. The voice is hoa.r.s.e, articulation difficult, breathing limited, noisy and wheezy. The _wheezing_ is pathognomonic of the disease. It can only be confounded with croup, and then only in the young. In croup there is pain and difficulty in swallowing, fever and cough, which are usually absent in asthma. A severe paroxysm of asthma is very distressing to witness, and one unused to it might well suppose the sufferer to be in his last agonies. No definite limit can be a.s.signed to the duration of the attack or of the disease. It may last but a few minutes, may endure for hours, or with slight remission continue for days. The condition of the patient may be for years as changeable as the pointings of the weather-vane. In fact, the atmosphere has much to do with the disease. With every approaching storm, with every cloud of dust, even the dust from sweeping a room, with every foul odor, and, in some more sensitive organizations, with even the perfume of flowers, a paroxysm is provoked. Truly he is a "child of circ.u.mstances," a veritable football upon the toes of every atmospheric disturbance.

UNPARALLELED SUCCESS.

Persons affected with asthma or phthisic are numerous. With such an amount of suffering in our midst is it not a marvel, if not a disgrace, that the medical profession of to-day endorse the opinions of a half century ago and p.r.o.nounce it incurable, rather than make stupendous and laudable efforts to discover plans of medication that will result in certain and permanent cure? Almost single handed we undertook this field of investigation, and we take pleasure in reporting that our labors have been crowned with success. The large experience furnished us has led to the discovery of remedies for this distressing malady of more than ordinary efficacy. Through the agency of these means we have been enabled to cure hundreds, who had suffered untold tortures for twelve, fifteen, or twenty-five years. Some whom we have been successful in curing had suffered from childhood to middle and even old age. The treatment of asthma, or phthisic, still continues to be a prominent specialty at the Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Inst.i.tute.

NATURE OF THE DISEASE.

As to the exact pathological condition in this malady, opinions differ.

Some physicians consider it a disease of the nervous system, others, of the blood, others, of the bronchial tubes, while not a few believe it to be dependent upon some disease of the stomach, heart, liver, kidneys, or due to urinary affections, or "female weakness." Respecting all these diseases of special organs, it is evident that any complication, and particularly one that is debilitating or causes irritation of the nervous system will increase its severity. This important fact we keep constantly in view in our treatment, and prescribe remedies to remove all complications.

In heart disease there is often dyspnoea, or difficult breathing, but this is not of the nature of asthma, or phthisic. The condition of the lungs is readily understood. There being an obstruction to the free pa.s.sage of the blood through the heart, any excessive muscular exertion, or anything, in fact, which increases the action of the heart, is very apt to produce congestion of the lungs, and then the blood becomes surcharged with carbonic acid, which causes increased efforts to take more air into the lungs.

A NERVOUS DISEASE. A sudden fright, unfavorable news, grief, loss of property, etc., circ.u.mstances which affect the mind and nervous system, almost invariably throw the phthisical into a paroxysm. Nervines are demanded, particularly if the case be a chronic one, and we see that they are carefully and properly prepared and supplied, and in such a form as to be exactly fitted to the temperament and const.i.tution.

POPULAR REMEDIES USED FOR SELF-TREATMENT OF ASTHMA.

There are numerous remedies that may be used to _relieve paroxysms_ of asthma. Among them we will notice a few that are most frequently employed by the profession. They can be easily and inexpensively prepared by any patient or druggist:

1. Equal parts of the tinctures of lobalis capsic.u.m and skunk cabbage root. _Dose_.--Take a half teaspoonful in a little water every ten or fifteen minutes until relieved.

NOTE.--This is an antispasmodic and relaxant. In considerable quant.i.ties it will produce sickness at the stomach and perhaps vomiting. It should not be used when there is disease of the heart.

2. Chloroform. _Dose_.--A small quant.i.ty (say thirty drops), may be poured upon a handkerchief or napkin, held about one inch from the nostrils and the vapor inhaled. It is quite unnecessary to use this until insensibility follows; in fact, such an effect would be hazardous to life in the hands of the inexperienced.

3. Sulphuric ether. _Dose_.--The same as No. 2, and with the same precaution. Either of them should be used promptly upon the beginning of the paroxysm.

4. Take four ounces of stramonium leaves and strip from the stems, rubbing between the hands to partly pulverize. To this add one ounce of saltpetre, finely powdered. _Dose_.--Place a half teaspoonful upon a very hot shovel. Inhale the rising smoke. If the first few inspirations cause coughing, the smoke should not be evaded as the coughing incites deeper inspiration.

5. Stramonium and saltpetre as in No. 4. Dampen with water and make into b.a.l.l.s or cones. These are more easily handled and are fired in the same way as the powder and used in the same way.

6. Take of sunflower leaves, stramonium leaves, mullein leaves, one ounce each; of lobelia leaves, half an ounce; of powdered nitre, one ounce; and benzoic acid, two drams. Mix thoroughly. _Dose_.--A pipeful, to be smoked the same as tobacco.

7. A cup of hot coffee or several of hot water. This is especially effective in cases arising from checked perspiration, from rheumatism, etc.

These recipes are given to the public as being the princ.i.p.al agents employed by the medical profession throughout the world. It must be distinctly understood that they are not _curative_ but merely _palliative_, and used to relieve paroxysms. We object to them wholly and unqualifiedly because they contain NARCOTICS. It is a fundamental principle in our treatment not to use this cla.s.s of remedies. They stupefy the brain, debilitate the nervous system, and have, in not a few instances, formed an unfortunate appet.i.te and habit, most difficult to overcome. We are of the opinion that one of the chief reasons why this malady has been considered incurable is the fact that physicians have almost universally relied upon narcotic drugs. With such medication a cure is the exception. A cure can only be effected under such circ.u.mstances when the _powers of nature are sufficient to overcome both the_ NARCOTIC _and the_ DISEASE. That they will _relieve_ we do not deny, but _they will never cure_. It reminds us of an old country doctor who advised a lady to smoke tobacco to cure acid dyspepsia. She followed the prescription for over thirty years and at last accounts was not cured yet. In all seriousness we ask would any other remedy except a narcotic or stimulant be used with such persistency for anything like this length of time? Is it not apparent that such agents form a habit which is often worse than the disease, and yet fail to effect a cure? We appreciate the necessity for relief, and do not blame sufferers for availing themselves of any means for this purpose. But they should not be satisfied with relief only, but should look about for such a system of medication as will rid them of the disease completely and permanently. If a week's or a month's exemption is a "foretaste of heaven," how incomparable are the comforts and happiness to be derived from a life-time immunity?

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

are annually spent upon the advice of physicians, in traveling expenses, and hotel bills, by sufferers from asthma, or phthisic, in seeking a change of climate that will be advantageous. It is the last expedient of the doctor who is annoyed by the continued complaint of his unrelieved patient, and can only be made available by the wealthy. In some instances the change is beneficial, but to be effectually so a permanent change of residence is required. Most patients are unable or unwilling to do this. In some cases change only affords temporary relief, the attacks returning after a few months. Even the wealthy dislike to take such chances. The less opulent cannot think of such methods, and hence are compelled to bear their sufferings as best they can. In the majority of instances the "change of climate" is only an illusion, or only temporarily beneficial at best. We can tell them a better way, and if they are wise they will follow it.

HAY ASTHMA, OR HAY FEVER.

This affection, known also as Hay Catarrh, Hay Fever, or Rose Cold differs but little in its manifestations, from coryza, or cold in the head, save in its _inciting cause_, and in its element of periodicity.

In this lat.i.tude there are persons who, during summer or early fall, are invariably attacked with acute congestion or inflammation of the upper air-pa.s.sages, giving rise to sneezing, watery discharges from the nose and eyes, difficult respiration, fever, and general prostration. These symptoms are supposed to be induced by the inhalation of pollen or odors from gra.s.ses or flowers, which at that time are supposed to give off certain exhalations of an Irritating character. Unless arrested by medical treatment, the disease lasts until cool weather, or the occurrence of a hard frost rids the atmosphere of the exciting influence.

Some feather beds give off an odor which excites all the aggravated symptoms of this disease. Thus it appears that certain emanations have the power of inciting these inflammatory conditions in certain sensitive const.i.tutions. In all individuals suffering from this disease there is an over sensitiveness of the nervous system which admits of the appearance of such sudden and severe manifestations. Many cases suffering only mild symptoms for the first few seasons, annually become aggravated until severe spasmodic asthma is a regular, and sometimes continuous complication. A case or two are on record in which the odor from the body of a horse so induced these symptoms that the individual could never ride or drive him.

TREATMENT. In mild cases, or when the attack first appears, the daily use of Dr. Sage's Catarrh Remedy fluid will neutralize and wash away the poisonous particles which have found lodgment in the nasal pa.s.sages. The Remedy is best applied with Dr. Pierce's Nasal Douche. When the disease has existed the previous season it is necessary that the patient begin both const.i.tutional and local treatment four or six weeks prior to an expected return of the disease. The nervous system should be strengthened, and the resistance of the patient to the irritating influence of these pollens and odors so increased, that even though he may be exposed, no severe symptoms will follow.

Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery will be found invaluable as an alterative, blood purifier, and nerve tonic, and should be taken regularly while Dr. Sage's Catarrh Remedy is being used locally for its antiseptic and curative properties. The action of the "Discovery" is especially desired in cases that are so far advanced as to be attended with asthmatic symptoms, such as difficult breathing, headache, and a feeling of la.s.situde and prostration.

In very obstinate or distressing cases our specialists have been able to prescribe and send, by mail or express, special courses of treatment which have proven so effective as to cure the disease _permanently_, so that it has not reappeared the following season. The treatment seems to have produced such an impression upon the system as to have fortified the individual against a return of the disease.

In rare cases morbid growths in the upper air-pa.s.sages are of such a nature as in themselves to be a source of sufficient excitement to unbalance the nervous equilibrium so that the individual is thus rendered more susceptible to this disease. In such, or exceedingly obstinate cases a personal examination by our specialist is desirable, and often results in the use of such measures as give permanent relief.