Heart hurry : a clinical study / by Edward Blake.

  • Blake, Edward T. (Edward Thomas), 1842-1905.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Heart hurry : a clinical study / by Edward Blake. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/36 (page 17)
    hunted in vain for suppuration in the middle ear, in the sinuses and in the antra, seen that the nasopharynx is patulous and removed all carious teeth. When we have forbidden liquids in the morning, more especially tea ; when we have removed the nicely-fitting corset, which, by the way, is never “ tight,” carefully sought for spinal caries or curvature, cured all pelvic and abdominal disease and seen that the feet are in order; when we have examined for dilated stomach by Chomel’s “ splash sign” and sought for scybala; then we begin to look for heterotoxic factors, as lead in the drinking water, arsenic in the dress, the wall-paper or in the art-fabrics, or else for sewer gas from some waste-pipe imperfectly trapped or not disconnected. When we have done all this, then the far reaching pos¬ sibilities, involved in the question, will have been con¬ siderably narrowed down, but yet the reply may not lie precisely at one’s elbow ! I should like to speak here of the very great importance of keeping the highly anaemic subject in a horizontal posture. The mildest case should lie at least one hour in the middle of the day, to prevent the great strain on a badly nourished heart involved in the vertical position. This danger is shown by the oedema of the feet so often present. The best remedy for the case with leg dropsy is certainly apis mellifica. I use it very largely, I have seen it work wonders. My chief indications are “ symptoms worse in early morning,” especially “itching skin” and “deltoid myalgia” ; thirst, glazed throat, diarrhoea, scanty urine and albu¬ minuria are additional suggestions for its use. Sulphur I am very partial to. Pulsatilla I use when pain over one eye and urticaria suggest the existence of dilated stomach; when of course dry morning meals are insisted on. Conium maculatum is called for in lymphadenoma, sleep¬ lessness, leg torpor and confusion of mind. Plumbum is useful in constipation and pain on the left side of the navel, combined with albuminuria, but it must be given with caution and very freely diluted.