Glycosuria in connection with appendicitis, diabetes mellitus : a clinical lecture delivered at the Philadelphia Polyclinic, February 16, 1894 / by Solomon Solis-Cohen.

  • Solis-Cohen, Solomon, 1857-1948.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Glycosuria in connection with appendicitis, diabetes mellitus : a clinical lecture delivered at the Philadelphia Polyclinic, February 16, 1894 / by Solomon Solis-Cohen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tients to become constipated, because constipation is often the precursor of coma, perhaps through the production of toxaemia, even a cause of coma, and coma is the great danger that threatens these patients. You will find that sodium phosphate in drachm doses, thrice daily, is one of the best remedies to guard against constipation. The dose and fre- quency are to be gradually lessened. Mrs. McB. now finds that by taking a full dose only once a day the bowels are opened three or four times. We will therefore reduce the dose to half a drachm before breakfast. In hepatic cases I find this drug useful, quite apart from its laxative effect; and in cases of temporary glycosuria due to hepatic disturb- ance in stout persons, sodium phosphate sometimes brings about an entire disappearance of sugar from the urine. In ases presenting the characteristics of Mrs. McB.’s—cases which sometimes run on for twenty years or more—we do not aim to secure the disappearance of sugar. In fact, pa- tients usually feel better when they are passing a little sugar; and we must look out for squalls if sugar is entirely absent. The prognosis as to life, in these cases, is very favorable, as you perhaps gather from what I have said. The prognosis as to comfort is likewise good, provided the physician is not too anxious to experiment upon the patient with new drugs. In such cases the duty of the physician is to watch the patient, guard the diet, not give too much medicine, but to carefully look out against the accidents that might occur in the course of the disease.