A Newly Discovered System of Electrical Medication Part 6

1. _Acute._ If the urinary secretion be _reddish_ and _scant_, with or without sedimentary deposit, let the inflammation be regarded as _acute_; and use upon it the B D current of good medium strength, or a little more, if the patient can bear it. The pain from the current will probably subside somewhat, and perhaps altogether, under treatment.

Place N. P. at the coccyx, and manipulate over the inflamed and sore parts with P. P. Treat five to eight minutes, twice a day, if the case be recent, or once a day, if it be of some weeks standing.

2. _Chronic._ If it be an old case, and attended with a brownish or a brickdust-like sediment in the urine, it may be considered _chronic_, and should be treated with a moderate A D current, once in two days.

Place P. P. at the coccyx, and treat with N. P. over the affected kidneys. There may be no sense of soreness or swelling, but _dull_ pain.

Treat six to ten minutes. But if the inflammation should rise to an active or acute state, _reverse the poles_.

RENAL CALCULI. (_Gravel in the Kidneys._)

Take the A C current, of considerable force. Place N. P. low upon the bladder, and treat with P. P. upon the inflamed and painful point five to eight minutes, once or twice a day. If treating twice a day, continue not more than five minutes at a time.

DIABETES. (_A Kidney Disease._)

This disease occurs in two forms--_diabetes insipidus_ and _diabetes mellitus_. In the first named form, the disease is readily cured. In the latter, it is very formidable, and is rarely, if ever, cured by medicines; especially when of long standing. In this latter variety of the disease, the urea is absent from the urine, and in its place is found more or less of sugar--often large quant.i.ties: Dunglison says 2-1/2 oz. in a pint.

The electrical state of the disease, in both of these forms, is negative in excess.

1. _D. insipidus._ Use the B D current, of moderate force. Place P. P.

at the coccyx or on the upper dorsal vertebra, or on both in alternation, which is better, and treat over the kidneys with N. P.

five to eight minutes, once a day for three or four days. If this should fail to cure, (as it seldom will), go on with the same treatment three times a week.

2. _D. mellitus._ Take the A D current, of _mild_ force. Place P. P. as in _d. insipidus_, and treat the kidneys with N. P. about five to eight minutes, three times a week; supplementing this with _general tonic treatment_, once or twice a week.

_Be patient and persevering._ In bad cases, months will be required to effect a cure; but persistent effort, as above prescribed, will rarely if ever fail, unless the vital force is nearly expended.

DYSPEPSIA.

This is one of the most difficult of diseases to control by any of the ordinary modes of medical practice; and yet, under judicious electrical treatment, it is one of the surest to yield. The disease a.s.sumes various phases in different persons, and at different times in the same person, requiring varied treatment.

The pain, after eating, is severe; exhalations of air, apparently from the inner surfaces of the stomach and bowels, or of gas from their decomposing contents, are large--often enormous. The stomach is much of the time acid, and, in some cases, sensibly cold, ejecting often a cold mucus. The bowels are habitually constipated. The patient is nervous, irritable, and subject to great depression of spirits. In this stage or phase of the disease, there is a negative condition of the digestive apparatus generally. Treat with the A D current, in mild force, and expect the case to require considerable time. But, since there is no approach to uniformity among patients, no approximation to definite time can be stated. Give _general tonic treatment_, (page 95), three times a week, and close each sitting with local treatment, having P. P. at the coccyx, and manipulating some five minutes with N. P. over the entire front parts of the abdomen and thorax, and over the liver.

It is sometimes found, in old cases, that there is no sensible acidity of stomach; but a _pyrosis_--a burning sensation in the stomach, or a little above, in what is usually termed "the pit of the stomach." Treat this about three minutes with the P. P., strong force; moving N. P., _long cord_, over the lower dorsal vertebrae.

ACUTE DIARRHA.

Take B D current. Place N. P., _long cord_, upon the lumbar vertebrae and sacrum, moving it often along the spine, from a position opposite to the umbilicus down to the coccyx; and treat with P. P. over the abdomen, and more especially wherever pain or sensations of uneasiness appear. In severe cases, treat several times in a day--once in two to three hours, if need require, three to five minutes at a time. Use current of full medium strength, if the patient can bear it.

CHRONIC DIARRHA.

Take A D current, of _very mild_ force. Place P. P. at the feet, and treat with N. P. over the lower limbs _briefly_; then over the bowels and stomach, both front and rear, some three to five minutes; then pa.s.s up with N. P. over the anterior parts of the chest, two or three minutes; and, next, place N. P. low on the back of neck, with P. P.

still at feet, two or three minutes. Treat in this manner once daily.

If at any time the bowels should become unusually flatulent, and evacuations should increase in frequency, change the treatment. Place N. P. at back of neck, as before, and treat about five minutes with P.

P. (force increased to _moderate_ current) over the abdomen, daily, from one to three days, as may be necessary. After this, resume treatment as first above prescribed.

COLIC--_of whatever kind_.

Use A D current, pretty strong force. In severe cases, introduce the r.e.c.t.u.m instrument N. P., _long cord_, or in mild cases, place sponge-roll N. P., _long cord_, at coccyx, and treat with P. P. over all the abdomen, three to five minutes. It may be repeated, if necessary, in thirty minutes.

CHOLERA MORBUS.

Keep the patient still as possible on his back. Use A D current, strong force. Place N. P., _long cord_, at coccyx, and treat with P. P. over abdomen, five to ten minutes, and repeat, if necessary, in thirty to sixty minutes. If there be cramps, touch the contracted muscles with the P. P., for a few moments, without disturbing N. P.

CHOLERA.--(_Malignant._)

As in cholera morbus, keep the patient on his back, still as can be. Use A D current, _full medium strength_.

In the early stage, or during the "_rice-water_" discharges, and down to the time of collapse, treat the abdomen and thorax with P. P., having N.

P., _long cord_, on back of neck--not too near the head. After treating so a few moments--say four to six minutes--remove P. P. to the back, and pa.s.s it along close upon each side of the spinous processes from the lower lumbar up to about the middle of the dorsal vertebrae. Continue this about three or four minutes.

If _cramping_ accompany the vomiting and purging, carry the P. P. a part of the time to the muscles in spasm, leaving N. P. still at the back of neck, with _long cord_.

Repeat the above processes as often as once an hour until symptoms improve. Then reduce their frequency as the case will admit of.

_In the state of collapse_, place P. P., _long cord_, at the coccyx, and manipulate with N. P. over the entire trunk and arms; bestowing a larger share of treatment along up the spine than elsewhere. Then remove P.

P., _long cord_, to feet, and work with N. P. all over the lower limbs and hips. Treat in this stage of the disease some six or eight minutes at a time, and repeat it as the case seems to demand--once in thirty minutes to once in two, four or six hours, until improvement or death shall ensue. (See page 81.)

DYSENTERY.

Treat exactly as in _acute diarrha_, except that P. P. should be moved more over the _colon_ and _r.e.c.t.u.m_ than in diarrha.

CONSTIPATION OF BOWELS.

This disease may proceed from either a _negative_ condition--a state of _atony_ from lack of nutrition, or a _partial paralysis_ of the bowels--or from a _positive_ condition--a state of _relaxation_ and consequent weakness of the muscular tissues of the bowels. In either of these cases, the peristaltic action of the intestines becomes enfeebled, and constipation ensues.

In either case, use the A D current, of medium force. In the first-mentioned case, place P. P. at back of neck, or in the mouth with tongue instrument, and treat with N. P. over liver, stomach and bowels; or place N. P. at the a.n.u.s. Treat so five to eight minutes.

In the second-specified case, place N. P. at back of neck or on the dorsal vertebrae, and treat with P. P. over the bowels five to eight minutes.

In both cases, repeat the treatment daily until relief is afforded. Or, if the case be _chronic_, treat daily for three or four days, and, after that, three times a week. It is well also to give _general tonic treatment_ as often as once a week. The patient should be urged to retire and _invite_ an evacuation regularly, about the same hour daily, whether success attend it or not.

HaeMORRHOIDS. (_Piles._)

If the case be recent, take the B D current; if old, take A D. Place the patient in a rec.u.mbent position, and let the r.e.c.t.u.m instrument, P. P., be introduced, _wet_. Manipulate with N. P. along the spine upon the dorsal vertebrae. Where there is _prolapsus ani_, the sponge-roll, placed at the a.n.u.s, may be used instead of the r.e.c.t.u.m instrument, particularly for the first few treatments.

RHEUMATISM. (_Acute Inflammatory._)

First ascertain if the kidneys be morbidly positive--urine scant and too highly colored. If so, as is commonly the case, begin with the B D current, good medium force. Place N. P. at the pelvis, and treat over the kidneys with P. P. some three or four minutes. Let this be the commencement of every treatment until _this_ difficulty is corrected.