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Page 41
Miss P., �t. 29, weight one hundred and eleven pounds, height five feet
four inches, dark-skinned, sallow, and covered with the acne of
bromidism, had had one attack which was considered to have been
epileptic, and which was probably hysterical, but on this matter she
dwelt with incessant terror, which was fostered by the tender care of a
near relative, who left her neither by night nor by day. Vague neuralgic
aches in the limbs, with constant weariness, asthenopia, an�mia, loss of
appetite, and loss of flesh, followed. Then came spinal pain and
irregular menstruation, a long course of local cauterizations of the
womb, spinal braces, and endless tonics and narcotics.
I broke up the association which had nearly been fatal to both women,
and, confidently promising a cure, carried out my treatment in full In
three months she went home well and happy, greatly improved in looks,
her skin clear, her functions regular, and weighing one hundred and
thirty-six pounds.
It is vain to repeat the relation of such cases, and impossible to put
on paper the means for deciding--what is so large a part of success in
treatment--the moral methods of obtaining confidence and insuring a
childlike acquiescence in every needed measure.
Another class of cases will, however, bear some further illustration. We
meet with women who are healthy in mind, but who have some chronic pain
or some definite malady which does not get well, either because the
usual tonics fail, or because their occupations in life keep them always
in a state of exhaustion. If by rest we slow the machinery, and by
massage and electricity deprive rest of its evils, we can often obtain
cures which are to be had in no other way. This is true of many uterine
and of some other disorders.
Miss B., �t. 37, height five feet five inches, weight one hundred and
fifteen pounds, a schoolteacher, without any notable organic disease,
had a severe fall, owing to an accident while driving. A slight swelling
in the hurt lumbar region was followed by pain, which became intense
when she walked any distance. Loss of color, flesh, and appetite ensued,
and, after much treatment, she consulted me. I could find nothing beyond
soreness on deep pressure, and she was anything but hysterical or
emotional.
Two months' rest with the usual treatment brought her weight up to one
hundred and thirty-eight pounds, and she has been able ever since to do
her usual work, and to walk when and where and as far as she wished.
Several years ago I treated with some reluctance a lady who had
extensive bronchitis and a slight albuminuria. This woman was a mere
skeleton, with every function out of order. I undertook her case with
the utmost distrust, but I had the pleasure to find her fattening and
reddening like others. Her cough left her, the albumen disappeared, and
she became well enough to walk and drive; when a sudden congestion of
the kidneys destroyed her in forty-eight hours.
The following case of extreme an�mia, with striking resemblance to the
pernicious type in some of its features, is especially interesting for
the ease and rapidity of improvement under rest and massage without
electricity or excessive amounts of food.
Mrs. T., �t. 40, the mother of several children, had been unwell for
years, and almost totally incapacitated for exertion for two years
before admission, in January, 1894. She complained of extreme
feebleness, distaste for and inability to digest food, a great and
constant difficulty in swallowing, shortness of breath, dropsy of the
ankles if she walked or stood, hemorrhoids from which some bleeding
often occurred, extreme constipation, constant chilliness, and frequent
violent headaches. Her appearance was that of a person with pernicious
an�mia, a very yellow muddy skin, dry and harsh to the touch, and the
hands and feet cold, almost to the point of pain.
On examination the spleen was decidedly large; the lower border of the
stomach reached to the level of the umbilicus. Two cardiac murmurs were
present, the one a sharp and well-defined mitral regurgitant sound,
confirmed by the dyspnoea and dropsy as organic, the other a loud
musical murmur of h�mic origin. The trouble in deglutition proved to be
due to an oesophageal narrowing. The blood examination bore out the
suggestion of probable pernicious an�mia, the red cells being only
1,500,000, h�moglobin 18 per cent.: the microscope showed microcytes,
megaloblasts, nucleated red cells, and a large increase in white
corpuscles. In order to study the effect of massage alone upon the blood
no other treatment was used, though of course the patient was kept at
"absolute rest." No drugs were given, electricity was not used, and
extra food was omitted, as the irritability of the oesophagus made her
unwilling to attempt the exertion and annoyance of frequent feeding. The
general chilliness was at once helped by massage, and in a few days only
felt in the small hours of the night, and the patient gained weight from
the first. After one week of treatment a blood count was made: red cells
were 3,800,000, more than double the former figure; h�moglobin, 35 per
cent., almost double its original value. On the same day, one hour after
the completion of an hour's massage, the corpuscular count had attained
5,400,000, the h�moglobin remaining 35 per cent.
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