The book of health; a compendium of domestic medicine / deduced from the experience of the most eminent modern practitioners. [Anon].

Date:
1840
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The book of health; a compendium of domestic medicine / deduced from the experience of the most eminent modern practitioners. [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    74/124 (page 74)
    If possible, the patient should quit the crowded city for the advantage of rural scenery and the breathing of a pure atmosphere. The diet ought to be nourishing and easy of digestion, and every thing relaxing should be rejected. “ Indeed, (remarks Dr. Armstrong,) general nervousness is best removed by exercise in the open air, the use of a tepid shower bath, by a light nutritious diet, a very moderate allowance of wine, and the occasional exhibition of a gentle purgative.” NIGHTMARE. This is evidently a nervous affection, which comes on during sleep, with a severe pressure on the chest. The sensation is frequently pre- ceded by some dreadful dream, the person making many efforts to speak and move without effect, until, after much moaning, he awakes greatly frightened, and feels a considerable palpitation at the heart, with tremors, anxiety, and lassi- tude. Persons of an irritable disposition, and of a weakly constitution, are the most frequent subjects of this affection ; but it often arises from fatigue of body or mind, indigestible food, and long continued disorder of the stomach and bowels. It is sometimes occasioned by a heavy supper. Treatment.—The treatment is similar to that just directed for “ Nervousness.” Meat suppers must be particularly avoided. PALPITATION OF THE HEART. The causes of this disease are various, and amongst others, may be reckoned—violent emo- tions of the mind; large evacuations of any kind taking place suddenly ; getting suddenly into the erect posture, after the body has been long recumbent; abstraction of the usual stimulus of food and drink ; and several others, which cannot be always satisfactorily ascertained.— The symptoms are obvious, and easily under- stood: failure of pulse, paleness, and coldness of the body, a death-like countenance, and total insensibility. So violent is the action of the heart, at times, that it can not only be felt with the hand, but distinctly seen, and may even be heard. Treatment,—The immediate danger of palpi- tation, is best obviated by placing the patient in an horizontal posture, as most favourable to the passage of blood towards the head; for in this posture, the slightest degree of action in the heart will atford the necessary supply of blood to the brain, to enable it to resume its functions. But, as the treatment of this disease depends entirely on the cause which gave rise to it, and as that is frequently attended with great diffi- culty, even to the most experienced, early ap- plication should be made to a physician. PALSY. This disease may be considered under three divisions; first, as arising from an affection of the brain ; secondly, from an affection of the spinal cord; and thirdly, from an affection of some particular nerve. It may arise in conse- quence of an apoplectic attack ; and may be oc- casioned by every thing that prevents the flow of the nervous power from the brain into the organs of motion. Corpulence, an inordinate indulgence in wines and heavy fermented li- quors,* excessive heat, bruises, poisonous fumes from minerals, &c. are among the causes pre- disposing to this disease. Palsy usually comes on with a sudden and immediate loss of motion and sensibility of the parts; but, in some in- stances, it is preceded by numbness and a sense of coldness, and at other times, by slight con- vulsive twitches. When the head is much af- fected, the eye and mouth are drawn on one side, the memory and judgment are impaired, and the speech is indistinct and incoherent. The pro- gress of the disease is very uncertain ; if there be no chronic debility, or diseased condition of the brain, the patient will frequently recover in a week ; but if the system be in an infirm state, he recovers only imperfectly. The bowels are at first always costive ; but, ultimately, the mo- tions pass off involuntarily. Treatment,—The treatment for this disease will greatly depend on the age and constitution of the patient. If the subject be young, the con- stitution full, the disease come on suddenly, and the head appear to be much affected, bleeding and purging are advisable. From fourteen to sixteen ounces of blood should be taken ; and the following purgative administered, so as to act freely on the bowels:— Take of compound infusion of senna, an ounce and a half; cinnamon water, two drachms j man- na, a drachm, Epsom salt, one or two drachms : —mix. After which, the patient should be kept as quiet as possible; and but little plain food taken. In old age, bleeding should not be practised ; but the purgative already prescribed may be taken and repeated once or twice a day, for four or five days. In some cases, warm bathing, fomenta- tions, or blisters, will prove beneficial; and others have been cured or greatly benefited by the use of electricity or galvanism. Dr. Fouquier and other French physicians, recommend the use of nux vomica : four grains may be tal<.en three or four times a day. Dr. Alderson has employed leopard’s-bane with success ; he began with half a grain of the powdered leaves three times a day, and gradually increased to five or six grains, or till he found a sense of tingling produced in the paralytic part: the n7ix voynica and leopard’s- bane are both active medicines, and should be used with great caution. Some practitioners re- commend, as an effectual remedy, a large issue * Dr Armstrong observes that “ Paralytic afiections from the brain, are far more common among those Avho take wine and ardent spirits, than among those who drink nothing but water ■, but I admit that mental ex- citement is connected with many other remote causes.”