Diseases of the nervous system. No. Iv. On recovery from Graves' disease (exophthalmic goitre) : note on the non-liability to recurrences of the disease and on the great importance of change of climate in its treatment.

  • Hutchinson, Jonathan, Sir, 1828-1913.
Date:
[between 1890 and 1899?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the nervous system. No. Iv. On recovery from Graves' disease (exophthalmic goitre) : note on the non-liability to recurrences of the disease and on the great importance of change of climate in its treatment. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    DISEASES OF THE NEEVOUS SYSTEM. No. IV.—On Becovery from Graves' Disease (Ex- ophthalmic Goitre). Note on the non-liability to recurrences of the disease and on the great im- portance of change of climate in its Treatment. One of the most remarkable features in the clinical history of Graves' disease is its spontaneous tendency to recovery, and the patient's freedom from all risk of relapse when once recovery is established. It may, indeed, be conveniently taken as a type-example of a certain class of nervous disorders which are essentially transitory if the patient survives the violence of the first attack. In this feature they differ from another group in which central disorganiza- tion occurs, and the disease, however slow, and even when susceptible of temporary relief, is almost invariably aggressive to the end. Of the latter locomotor ataxy is a good type. I cannot better illustrate what I have said above than by detailing a narrative which has just been given me by a very intelligent lady. I had nothing to do with the treatment of her case, but I could mention several others from my own ex- perience exactly like it. Mrs. Z is now a healthy-look- ing woman of 40; her eyes are decidedly full, but there is nothing that a stranger would notice, nor is there any appre- ciable bronchocele. Her history is, that ten years ago she all but died of Graves' disease. She was reduced to a skeleton, had constant diarrhoea, and was so weak that she was lifted from bed to couch and never allowed to sit up. Often she was not expected to live the night through, and she probably owes her life to the sedulous attention of her family surgeon, who from time to time succeeded in combating complications which threatened to prove fatal.