A dictionary of treatment, or, Therapeutic index : including medical and surgical therapeutics / by William Whitla.

  • Whitla, William, 1851-1933.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of treatment, or, Therapeutic index : including medical and surgical therapeutics / by William Whitla. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ALBUMINUBIA. combated by irou and arsenic. Vomiting should be treated with o-astric sedatives like bismuth, and loss of appetite with tomes. agge suo-o-ested iodine both internally and externally. It appears to the author that as in all probability there must be a serious implication of the ganglia and branches of the sympathetic interfering with their inhibitory function, benefit might be obtained by the assiduous appli- cation of a strong, constant current to the region of the supra-renal bodies. ^ , In hospital or private practice he has never seen any beneht trom any drug which he has used, and chloride of gold, nitrate and oxide of silver, arsenic, antipyrine, and many other substances were pre- scribed without effect. Assiduous and even forced feeding seems to check the progress ot the disease for a time till the stomach gives up. ALBUMINURIA. Since this condition will be found in more than 50 per cent, of the cases to be dependent upon Bright's disease, its treatment will be men- tioned under that head. In those cases where albumin appears in the urine, independent of renal disease, it may (speaking generally) be said to be in such small amount as not to call for any special treatment. Where, however, more than a trace is pretty constantly detected, the physician should determine the cause and treat it. If, as is common, the albumin appears as the result of defective assimilation of albu- minoids, attention should be at once directed to the state of the digestive organs, and especially the liver; and there is no more potent remedy in such cases than a strictly milk diet, with or without pepsin. Home-made koumiss, prepared by mixing J pint of water, i pint of buttermilk and 4 pints of fresh milk and 1 ounce of loaf-sugar, leaving in a warm place and shaking occasionally for thirty-six hours, will make a palatable draught, very suitable in many cases of disease, especially in Bright's disease. Albuminuria occurring during febrile attacks, zymotic diseases, inflammatory affections, etc., will yield to the remedies suitable for the primary disorder. When depending upon obstruction to the circulation, as in valvular affections or cirrhosis, the albumin will disappear upon the removal of the cause when possible. Cardiac tonics and diuretics, by strengthening the heart muscle and stimulating the renal bloodvessels, may cause its disappearance. The wet pack is very serviceable in such cases. Areenic and iron, separately or combined, are of great value in the treatment of chronic albuminuria, especially when the drain of albu- min has produced a marked effect upon the blood. Iron affords the best results in albuminuria, depending upon a morbid state of the blood, as in scurvy, pyseraia, and hospital gangrene. The albuminuria of adolescence, or so-called intermittent or functional albuminuria, generally yields readily to rest in bed and a strict milk diet. It is