The change of life in health and disease : a practical treatise on the nervous and other affections incidental to women at the decline of life / by Edward John Tilt.

  • Tilt, Edward John, 1815-1893.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The change of life in health and disease : a practical treatise on the nervous and other affections incidental to women at the decline of life / by Edward John Tilt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    PRINCIPLES OF TREATMENT AT THE CHANGE OF LIFE. The natural history of the reproductive function has enabled me to state in the preceding chapters what complaints are to be expected at the change of life, and will also point out the principles that should govern their treatment. If nature bled, in different ways, 208 women out of 500, it evidently shows that this spontaneous effort of a hidden force to relieve the system may deserve imitation. If 326 out of 500 suffered from sinking at the pit of the stomach, from fainting, debility, and chlorosis, it shows that stimulants and strengthening treatment must be as indispensable at the change of life as at puberty. If 75 out of 500 had frequent diarrhoea or constipation at this period, it shows that pur- gatives may often be of great service. If 285 out of 500 had unusual perspirations or sweating, it is a positive proof of the utility of sudorifics at this epoch. If 134 out of 500 suffered continually from biliousness, jaundice, waterbrash, vomiting, and dyspepsia, it is clear that alkalies will be often useful. If in 217 out of 500 the nervous system was actually steeped in a more or less intense state of stupor, it suggests the great utility of sedatives. If, in many, the organ most prone to disease through life suffered most at this period, does it not show the necessity of discovering this weak organ from the patient's previous history, so as to give it protection ? If some form of disease of the reproductive organs frequently prevents the change of life taking place after the healthy pattern that I have described, does this not explain that the cure of any such disease is the first step to the recovery of health at the change of life ? In all cases the main indications are: 1. To cure local disease. 2. To restrain abnormal dis-