The treatment of syphilis / by F.J. Lambkin.

  • Lambkin, F. J.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The treatment of syphilis / by F.J. Lambkin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    be necessary to stop it for a time and trust to general treat- ment with mild sweating in hgt air daily. Other cases may require the mercury to be increased, while a third class of case in which mercury has not been previously given at all will require the drug to be rapidly introduced into the system. Generally speaking, most cases will require mercury, and will very often do well by being given it at once in mild courses. As to dosage, the majority of cases will do best with small, I might even say minute, doses. For this purpose I give a weekly intramuscular injection of half a grain of metallic mercury as a maximum, never exceeding this, but am very often satisfied with one-quarter or one-eighth grain per week. Intramuscular injections of calomel will be necessary for those eases which require to be dealt with rapidly, such as phage- daenic syphilitic chancre, but extra caution must be taken with these, and the dose should not be greater than half a grain once a week until its physiological effects are apparent; when these occur metallic mercury must be substituted for calomel ; per- sonally I think that calomel ought in no case to be persisted in for more than four weeks running. How long to persist in specific treatment. My custom in treating these cases is, if all goes well, to give an injection, once a week for a month at a time, then to desist from all specific treatment for the next month. This system of a month’s active treatment alternating with one of rest can be continued for a considerable time, and seems particularly suited to this class of case ; I am of course speaking generally, as every case must be treated on its merits. During the period of active treatment, should symptoms, as they often do, show signs of exacerbation, the mercury must be stopped for a time, when they will probably improve; one can then resume specific treatment. These exacerbations must be carefully watched for ; their occurrence is no indication that specific treatment should be abandoned altogether, on the con- trary it should be persevered in. Next in importance to specific treatment comes the question