A full and accurate account of the new method of curing dyspepsia : discovered and practised by O. Halsted : with some observations on diseases of the digestive organs.

  • Halsted, O. (Oliver)
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A full and accurate account of the new method of curing dyspepsia : discovered and practised by O. Halsted : with some observations on diseases of the digestive organs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    During the long period of my Bufferings, I of course, sought relief from the various remedies usu- ally resorted to, in this malady ; and had consulted several physicians of eminence upon my case. Scarcely any thing,however, afforded ine relief, or seemed to make any impression upon the disease : and when at length, I was told by my family physi- cian, that I must not expect permanent relief from any thing which he or any other physician could do forme, I was ready to despair. Frequently, while labouring under great depression of spirits—wasted in flesh, reduced in strength, and deprived of all enjoyment of the common comforts of life, have I been tempted to the belief that death itself would be preferable to such a painful state of existence. My thoughts, as may readily be supposed, during these sufferings, were constantly intent upon my de- plorable condition, and employed in ascertaining the nature of my complaint, and in devising means of relief. This was more particularly the case after 1 had given up all hopes of aid from physicians. Medicine had proved unavailing; every variety of diet had been tried without effect; and exercise, so far from affording relief, seemed, on the contrary to aggravate my sufferings. As far back as nine years ago, my attention was directed to the extreme hardness, and rigidity of my abdomen, which I was satisfied was unnatural: and I was conscious, during the paroxysms of the disease, of an increased tension or spasm of the mus- cles, which, if I may use the expression, seemed to be drawn up, and contracted in such a manner, as if they would squeeze me to death. I felt convinced that a great deal of my distress was somehow or other connected with this state of the abdomen, but in what manner I could not tell; and it was not until