There is no ill to which flesh is heir that is the source of a greater degree of discomfort to the human race than headache. The farmer, housewife, banker, merchant and laborer seem to be equally prone to the affliction and all who suffer have a great number of days rendered uncomfortable and unhappy by the presence of this most unpleasant affection. Pain is the warning finger of disease—the threatening indication of coming trouble. In headache, we have an indication that the system is subjected to some strain or injurious impression. It may be that the eyes have been overworked or the brain unnaturally taxed; or that the nervous and physical systems have not been properly refreshed by sufficient sleep, and have used up the residue of reserve power. Many suffer from headache only after they have been subjected to sudden changes of temperature and have taken cold; others only when the bowels have become inactive, the liver torpid and the blood vitiated with retained poisons.
All appreciate the discomfort that results from this malady and earnestly seek for permanent relief.
Headaches may be divided in two classes: (1) those due to the presence of poisons in the blood, and (2) those due to irritation of various organs, as of the eyes, stomach, liver, and intestines.
Of the first form, or variety, of headache, influenza, or grip, and acute "cold in the head," are the most common causes. These give rise to most excruciating pain. There is congestion, followed by inflammation in the nasal passages and cavities communicating therewith. The membranes of these passages throw out a thin, watery, irritating discharge, which gradually thickens and becomes pus-like and offensive in character, if the disease continues.
Poisonous matters are absorbed from the affected surfaces into the blood. These poisons, circulating in the blood, produce great irritation of the nerve cells, so much so, that the severity of the attack is felt in the nervous centres, the brain and spinal cord, with pain varying from the most acute and sharp, to a dull, numb ache. The temples, eyes, neck and small of the back, are in their order, the usual locations of greatest pain. Such attacks vary in frequency and severity. One attack is usually followed by an early recurrence, which may be more or less severe, while the period of active pain varies from a few hours to several days. Such attacks leave an exhausted state of the nerve centres and general weakness of the system that often lasts for weeks and may permanently impair the system, except such results be prevented by appropriate treatment. Every recurrence of the attack leaves the system in a worse condition, until profound nervous prostration; ensues.
Malarial headache, sometimes termed "brow ague," is a common form of the malady with those residing in malarial regions. The pain rapidly develops, usually over one eye. It lasts from five to ten hours, and is often of frightful intensity.
Other forms are rheumatic and gouty headache; usually a heavy aching pain appearing on the approach of storms, but at times almost continuous, made worse by improper diet.
Uræmic headache is due to kidney disease, and alcoholic to direct irritation of the brain membranes from the use of alcoholic beverages. The latter is accompanied with much irritation of the stomach and intestines.
Headaches of a similar character result from the presence in the blood of an excess of the active principles of coffee and tea.
Overindulgence in these agents, as with alcohol, affects the nerve cells and membranes, often causing severe attacks of headache.
Nervous headache is another common affliction. This seems to arise from several causes, such as impoverished blood and exhaustion from overwork of the brain. Hysterical headache is not uncommon. There is a severe kind of headache, the attacks of which appear first at early puberty and continue at intervals more or less frequent in women up to the change of life and in men to about the fortieth year.
The periodical headache is usually preceded by yawning, chilliness, languid, exhausted feelings, in others by peculiar emotional or mental activity. This is followed by unusual drowsiness, in which the night's rest is broken by dreams, and from which the patient awakes tired. Gradually, during the day, the headache develops, beginning in the eyes or bones over them. It gets more and more severe, shooting into the jaws and neck or extending to the back of the head and spine. As the pains get most severe, nausea or vomiting, often repeated, follow, in which the contents of the stomach, with mucus and bile, is ejected. The whole paroxysm lasts from five hours to two or even three days.
Neuralgic headacheis a common variety; often the pain is not confined to the head, in fact neuralgia may affect almost any part of the system.
Neuralgia is an affection of the nerves, of which the chief symptom is pain. This is of variable intensity and character. It follows the course of the affected nerve and its branches, and occurs in paroxysms, of agonizing pain with periods of intermission during which the pain may be very slight, and cause but little discomfort.
The severe pain is described as lancinating, cutting, tearing, burning, boring and pressing. Patients use different words in describing the attacks, and there is probably a difference in the character of the pain, though in a severe paroxysm one is scarcely able to make a very nice distinction. We have known cases in which the pain occurred suddenly and overwhelmed the patient's fortitude by its severity and unexpectedonset. Between the paroxysms there may be less severe pain, which is then more frequently of an aching, burning or pricking character. In some, paroxysm after paroxysm succeed each other with almost lightening-like rapidity, and even in the intervals the pain is very intense. At another time there is only one sharp sting of pain, which attacks recur several times an hour or day, or may be absent for days or months. An extended freedom from all pain is rare in a patient very much affected. The first attacks in all forms of neuralgia are often comparatively light, and the severity of the pain gradually increases as the attacks multiply. We have frequently had patients unacquainted with anatomy, map out the distribution of a nerve very perfectly, simply describing the portion of the body in which the pain was experienced. For convenience, the neuralgia has been named with reference to the nerve most seriously attacked; lumbago to the spasms of pain affecting the small of the back; tic-douloureux is a term applied to neuralgia of the fifth nerve, that supplying the side of the face, with branches to the eyes, jaw, and teeth. Neuralgia of the testicles, ovaries, stomach, heart, are frequently met with. That affecting the large nerve supplying the thigh and leg is termed sciatica. These nerve affections often prove a most grave disorder, rendering the life of the sufferer a burden.
Treatment. Contrary to opinions frequently expressed by members of the medical profession, we find that most cases present some removable, or remediable, cause for attacks of headache and neuralgia. The temporary relief that is obtained by the use of "headache powders," various bromide combinations, caffeine and other anodyne and narcotic medicines, is sometimes necessary in order that the excruciating sufferings may be borne for the time, but as a rule such remedies only react unfavorably by interfering still further with the natural restoration of the affected organs, or protract the removal of the cause of the disease. Hence, the next attack is usually earlier in its appearance and more severe and lasting when such agents are employed.
The great majority of headaches and neuralgias are due to the presence of poisons in the blood. This may be due to affections of the blood-making, or blood-purifying organs.
For the correction of inactive blood-making glands, or a lack of purification of the blood, due to such cause, the use of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery is particularly beneficial. It has no equal in its direct effect upon the liver, the great purifying organ of the body. Through this natural gateway, it removes from the system poisonous materials which are the waste from the nerve cells. The accumulation of these waste materials irritates the cells and causes them to cry out with pain. The blood, being properly purified by the use of "Golden Medical Discovery" supplies to the nerves, and to the nerve cells, what they crave—a healthy and rich blood that furnishesproper nourishment. Hence the headache disappears, and the neuralgic pains are overcome.
When the liver is engorged and torpid, the intestines become overloaded with fecal matters that putrefy and give rise to gases and consequent distention. Deleterious poisons are formed and absorbed by the blood from such hardened and irritating lumps in the intestines. When the bowels are thus constipated, Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets are necessary as an adjunct to the "Golden Medical Discovery." The "Pellets" remove from the intestinal canal all irritating materials and thus enhance the alterative, or blood-cleansing, action of the "Golden Medical Discovery."
In women, when there is a nervous affection, dependent upon some unnatural state of the ovaries or uterus, and complicated with an imperfect or unnatural circulation in those parts, we have noted that most satisfactory results invariably follow the use of Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription. This agent improves the tone of the nervous system, and by its direct restorative tonic effects, lessens, or overcomes, any congestion of the womb or its appendages, regulates menstruation and promotes a condition of health and vigor.
In a vast experience, our specialists have thoroughly tested a great many specific remedies which we prescribe for home-treatment, sending the necessary remedies to our patients by express or mail, carefully adapting them to each individual case. Many sufferers have been, by a brief course of our home-treatment, relieved permanently from excruciating sufferings that had been a source of annoyance and loss of time for many years prior to the use of our remedies.
Our treatment is intended to effect permanent cures. We do not use those narcotics and compounds of antipyrine and other similar agents which are very depressing in their effects, and, like morphine and other preparations of opium, give only temporary relief, and interfere with the action of the heart, but we use treatment that builds up the system, removes the cause of the difficulty and restores the nervous system and all the organs of the body to a normal and healthful condition.
In some cases we advise treatment in our Institution, where we have every facility in the way of electrical appliances and many other aids that can only be employed by the personal attention of a skillful physician. These aids are more fully described under the head of nervous exhaustion and a reference is also suggested to what we have to say under the heads of paralysis and locomotor ataxia.
Headaches or neuralgic pains, due to local irritations, as uterine disease, stricture, neurotic or nerve tumors, pressure of trusses, eye strain from weakened eye muscles, or lenses that need the help of proper spectacles, require for a permanent cure the removal of the cause. Sciatic neuralgia, one of the most common and painful forms of nerve irritation, is particularly amenable to treatment by the modern means of cure used in our practice at the Invalids' Hotel.
We find, as a rule, that severe headaches and neuralgias are but the forerunners of more serious conditions, and are therefore deserving of special attention. They should be corrected as early as possible, before any organic changes have occurred.
Paralysis is an affection characterized by loss of muscular power or by the sense of touch, taste, sight or smell becoming impaired from injury to a nerve by accident or disease.
The disease is sometimes due to simple lack of nerve force or power. This may come from interference with the blood supply of the nerve centres, as in hysterical palsy and reflex paralysis. Frequently the power of speech is affected in this way, ability to remember and difficulty in pronunciation of certain words being the most common. Certain affections of the womb and its appendages, in women, and, in men, stricture of the urethra, adherent prepuce, or foreskin, with wounds and injuries, many times of nerves and organs remote from the paralyzed points, cause the loss of power.
The Causes of Paralysisare very numerous. Whatever destroys, or impairs the natural structure of nervous matter, or whatever interferes materially with the conducting power of nerve-fibre, or the generating power of the nerve-centres, will produce a paralysis, the extent of which will depend upon the amount of nervous matter affected. Thus paralysis may be due to disease of the brain arising from apoplexy; to abscess, softening, syphilitic or other tumors, or epilepsy; to disease of the spinal cord, or marrow; to disease of the structures which surround the spinal cord, producing pressure upon it; to injury or compression of a nerve, by which its conducting power it impaired; to the effects of diphtheria, hysteria, or rheumatism. It may also be due to poisoning of nervous matter with opium, lead, arsenic, or mercury; or to the retention of poisonous substances which are generated in the living body and which should pass off through the excretory organs, as the elements of the urine and bile.
Members of consumptive families are very prone to paralysis.
We also find that the disease is often the result of some nervous strain, or over excitement The over indulgence of the passions is particularly a fruitful source of injury to the brain and spinal centres. An angry man or woman uses up more nerve energy in a few minutes than would be sufficient to serve the muscles with stimulus through hours of toil.
The young, in unnatural indulgence of the sexual passions, waste thevigor and energy of maturity. Sexual excesses must be put down as among the most prolific causes of this terrible malady. Ignorance shields no one from the consequences of violations of the laws of health.
The passion for wealth with its ceaseless toil, continuous strain, and rapid exhaustion of the nerve forces, usually brings its devotee into the same condition of discord as does the abuse of a stimulant. For a time the system will repair and bolster up the weakness, but the longer the day of reckoning is postponed, the more serious and terrible is the collapse.
Such individuals need only an exposure to cold, or an over indulgence of some kind, to suddenly precipitate a paralysis.
General Paralysis. This term is applied to paralysis affecting the arms and legs. In this form of paralysis there is generally more loss of motion than of sensation, and the mind is usually more or less affected.
Hemiplegia, or paralysis of one side of the body, is generally spoken of as a "stroke of palsy." Sometimes only one extremity, the arm, is affected. Only occasionally is the face involved. In the majority of cases the mind is affected, the memory being poor, the sufferer becoming melancholy, peevish, and fretful.
In paralysis of the right side, there is sometimes a curious forgetfulness or misplacement of language, the patient being unable to think of words to express his thoughts. This condition is calledaphasia. It is usually the result of some injury or disease of the brain, almost invariably the side of the brain opposite the affected half of the body. In some cases it is due to a wasting, or softening, of the brain substance, on account of insufficient nourishment, a deficient supply of blood; whilst in others, it is due to just the opposite condition, an excess of blood, producing rupture of some blood-vessel, transudations, and pressure.
Paraplegia, or paralysis of the lower half of the body, is the result of disease of the spinal marrow. The paralysis may occur suddenly, but, in the majority of cases, it comes on slowly and insidiously, with weakness and numbness of the feet and legs, or with tingling and a sensation resembling that produced by ants creeping on the surface of the skin. By degrees the weakness increases, until there is complete loss of both motion and sensation in the feet and legs. The lower bowel and bladder are generally involved, and as a result, the patient suffers from constipation, and retention and dribbling of urine. Although completely paralyzed, the patient is often tormented with involuntary movements and cramps in the affected muscles.
Paraplegia may be caused by various injuries of the spinal cord; by congestion, degeneration, or hemorrhage; by pressure from thickening of the sheath of the cord, or from tumors, or from disease of the bones and cartilages of the spinal column. Paraplegia may also be produced through reflex action, by an irritation, or injury to some organ or partof the body distant from the spinal cord; thus, irritation of the skin, or of the bowels from the presence of worms, or disease of the bladder or of the womb, may produce paraplegia.
Locomotor ataxia, or creeping palsy, is also called progressive paralysis. This affection consists of a disease of the nervous matter in the posterior columns of the spinal cord. It usually affects first the lower part of the cord, and those portions of the nerve matter that supply the muscles of the legs. In other cases it first affects the portions of the spinal cord that supply the arms. In most cases of this disease there is an early stage in which the patient suffers from "lightning pains," as they are called. These are of a severe, stabbing, boring character, very sudden in their onset, and at times so serious as to have induced suicide. These paroxysms, in the milder form of the disease, are not so severe, and are readily controlled by anodynes. They may affect the stomach, and be mistaken for dyspepsia, or the rectum, and be taken for fissure or piles. At times they affect the bladder, when the symptoms are not unlike those of stone or cancer. In many cases we find the patient has been treated for a long period of years for rheumatism, sciatica, or neuralgia, when the real disease has been this progressive paralysis in its earlier stage. Sometimes the disease takes the form of spermatorrhea or impotency; in other cases it is manifested in weak eyes, disturbances of vision, or cross-eyes. Sooner or later, there appears the peculiar paralysis of the disease, which consists of more or less numbness of the feet and legs, and, in the later stages, of the hands and arms, sometimes of the face. As a rule, however, the patient finds difficulty in properly maintaining his balance, and in walking his movements are tottering, like a man partially intoxicated. It is difficult for him to maintain his balance and walk with his eyes closed. If the arms are affected, their movements are uncertain. In guiding a needle or in buttoning or unbuttoning the clothing, there is an inability to move the hand with rapidity and certainty, or to any portion of the face or body if the eyes be closed. The eyes and attention must be constantly directed to the motion that is about to be performed, or it is imperfectly done. The brain centres in this case supply the weakened action of the spinal cord, and the stimulus to the muscles is directed by the intelligence instead of being automatic, as in health, and due to spinal action. Still later, the voluntary movements become spasmodic or jerking. The neuralgic pains often become very distressing; there is often a sense of constriction around the limbs or body, as if they were encircled with tight cords. In extreme cases locomotion becomes impossible, the patient is unable to bring the hand to the mouth, and the speech may become impaired, articulation being difficult and imperfect. In all cases there is more or less loss of sensation in the lower limbs, the patient generally being usable to distinguish between two points and one, even when thetwo, are a considerable distance apart. The inability to feel the contact of the ground or floor with the feet occasions the difficulty in walking.The causesof this disease are somewhat obscure, but unquestionably exposure to cold and dampness, and over-mental work, are largely instrumental in its production. Scrofula and syphilis favor its development, while abuse of the nervous system, such as results from over-indulgence of the animal and reproductive instincts, are frequent sources of the nervous changes that lead to ataxia.
Shaking Palsy, or Paralysis Agitans, is an affection dependent upon degenerative changes in the nervous centres. It is characterized by a tremulous agitation, or continual shaking, beginning in the hands, arms or head, and gradually extending itself over the entire body. The disease progresses slowly, but when far advanced the agitation is violent, and the patient swallows and masticates his food with great difficulty. In an advanced stage of the disease, the body becomes bent forward, and the chin almost touches the breast-bone. The tremor, which early in the disease only occurred during the time the patient was awake, now continues during sleep, and not infrequently the agitation becomes so violent as to waken the sufferer.
The indications of treatment for the various forms of paralysis are to remove the causes, if these can be determined, and rouse the functions of the paralyzed parts. Measures should be adopted to remedy the morbid conditions upon which this affection depends. Keep the skin clean and healthy, promote the circulation of the blood, especially in the paralyzed limbs, and encourage healthy nutrition. These ends may be best attained by the daily employment of stimulating baths and frictions upon the surface. As much regular exercise as the patient can bear without fatigue should be taken in order to favor the preservation of the appetite and strength. Care should also be taken that the bowels are evacuated regularly every day. The circulation through, and consequently the nutrition of, the palsied muscles may be aided by having a strong healthy person knead and manipulate them. These manual movements upon the surface of the body will often excite muscular sensibility, similar to that awakened by a weak Faradic current. The internal medicines should be such as to regulate the general functions of the system. The use of these remedies must be directed by the skill and experience of those who are professionally qualified to administer hem.
When the patient has been able to be under our personal care at the Invalids' Hotel, we have found the employment of mechanical movements and manipulations, applied by means of a variety of machinery,employed in this Institution, together with the use of the equalizer, or large dry cupping, or vacuum apparatus, to be of the greatest benefit. These several machines and apparatus furnish a perfect system of physical training, thus rendering valuable aid in the cure of many forms of obstinate chronic diseases. A few of these machines are shown in Figs. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14; also see page 32 of Appendix.
Illustration: Fig. 9. Manipulator Extended.Fig. 9. Manipulator Extended.
Illustration: Fig. 10. Manipulator Folded.Fig. 10. Manipulator Folded.
The general practitioner often endeavors to overcome the inertia of the nerve-centers and nerves by means of specific irritants, with the view of exciting the power-producing function, of compelling the weakened and disabled centers to evolve more power. By such stimulation and forcing, he places a burden on the weakest parts. The compulsory and ineffectual endeavor of the weak parts to act in response to such stimulation is very liable to make undue drafts upon the capacity to act, which only end in exhaustion of the little remaining power instead of its re-enforcement. Cases which were previously curable by direct and appropriate means, are thus forever placed beyond the reach of remedies. No powerful stimulating or depressing medicines are indicated in any of the various forms of the affection. In paralysis it should be our aim to improve local and general nutrition, to relieve local congestions and inflammations, to produce absorption of deposited matters, and to force an abundance of blood through palsied muscles, from which they may derive a proper supply of nutriment, and to which they may give up the products of waste. All this can be accomplished by massage, mechanical movements, regulation of the atmospheric pressure on the body, baths, and proper physical culture.
In paralysis, there is a diminution or total loss of the contractile property of the muscles to which the affected nerve fibers are distributed; consequently the capillaries and small veins are not compressed, as in health, and the blood is not forced on through them towards the heart; hence there is a backing-up of the circulation, passive congestion, and all the evils incident to that condition ensue.
Illustration: Fig. 11. Oscillating the Arms and Chest.Fig. 11. Oscillating the Arms and Chest.
Mechanical movementsproperly applied to the affected limbs, or parts of the body, accomplish the same results as contraction of the muscles. They compress the capillaries and veins and thus force the blood on through these vessels towards the heart. There is a constant pressure in the arteries, hence the flow of blood in the capillaries is always towards the veins, and, when it gets into the veins, it is prevented from flowing back by the valves in those vessels.
A proper circulation of the blood through the disordered parts is thus effected, and, as the result, they receive an abundance of nutriment, and their waste products are promptly carried away to the excretory organs, by which they are separated from the body; the deposits of fatty matter between the muscular fibers are absorbed, and the agglutinated fibers are separated.
Illustration: Fig. 12. Rubbing the Legs.Fig. 12. Rubbing the Legs.
As proof of these statements, it has been found by experiment and observation that there is an increase of temperature in the parts subjected to this action, whichmustbe due mainly to an increase in the chemico-vital changes that are superinduced by the nutritious elements of the arterial blood, particularly that element which is supplied to it by the inspired air, oxygen. All the products of waste are increased. The skin becomes more soft and moist, showing that the amount of matter eliminated by it is increased. The urine becomes more abundant, and the relative amount of urea, its most important constituent, becomes greatly increased. The amount of carbonic acid gas exhaled is increased, and further evidence in the same direction is furnished bythe very marked increase in the inspiratory acts, necessitated by the increased demands for oxygen.
Illustration: Fig. 13. Oscillating the Legs.Fig. 13. Oscillating the Legs.
The local increase of the circulation incident to properly applied mechanical movements, must produce a corresponding diminution of blood in other, even in remote, regions of the body. Thus this treatment, by its revulsive effects, is capable of relieving various disorders of the head, chest, digestive organs, and pelvis. Nowhere, however, is the effect more satisfactory than in affections of the brain and spinal cord, whether characterized by loss of power, of sensation, or by neuralgic pain. Any portion of these nerve centres suffering from congestion, will find prompt relief in mechanical vibratory movements.
The Movement Curewhich we advocate is not a "Swedish Movement Cure," nor anything akin to it. It is the application of remedial forces by complex structures, which combine a variety of mechanical powers. The inventions are solely American.
Illustration: Fig. 14. Apparatus for Rubbing in a Recumbent Position.Fig. 14. Apparatus for Rubbing in a Recumbent Position.
By means of this machinery, which is driven by steam power with great velocity, we are able to applysoft, pleasant, rapid vibrating movementsover the surface of the body, and thereby increase the circulation of blood through the parts, raise the temperature, and excite pleasant sensations. The movements can be applied by our ingeniously-devised machinery to any part of the body through the clothing andwithout the least exposure of the person.They can be administered in a great variety of ways, by light, quiet persuasions, by gentle frictions, by rubbing,by oscillations, by kneadings, by circular movements, in fact, by an almostendless varietyof reciprocating and alternating motions, which, if described, would convey to the mind of the reader but a faint conception of their remedial value.
Vibratory Motionnot only establishes activity of the circulation through the skin and muscles, but it also affects profoundly the circulation in the important and vital organs of the body; it is thus capable of overcoming torpidity or congestion of the liver, spleen, and other deep-seated organs, without the depressing effects which sometimes follow the administration of powerful medicines.
It has not been our purpose to literally explain, in detail, the methods of applying vibratory motion in the treatment of paralysis for popular experiment, since to be successful one should become an expert, not only in this mechanical treatment, but also in the diagnosis of the various forms of paralysis, as well as familiar with their causes, pathology, and remedial requirements. Thus, to be successful in the treatment of paralysis and other nervous diseases, by the application of motor forces with our ingeniously-contrived machinery, the cost of which is beyond the means of most invalids, one must exercise great discretion.
Gratifying Success.Not only is vibratory motion as a remedial agent rational and philosophical, but our experience has fully demonstrated its marvelous effects in the treatment of paralysis in its various forms, and also in the cure of other chronic diseases. We have cured cases of infantile paralysis which had resisted the skill of the most renowned physicians in our country. We have treated those who could not stand or bear the weight of the body, but who have been so far restored as to be able to walk and run without assistance. Writer's and telegraph operator's paralysis, or cramp, we have cured in a few weeks' time. Club-feet, spinal curvature, and other deformities resulting from paralysis, have been successfully treated in our Institution. In short, our success has been most flattering in all curable cases of paralysis, and it is such experience that induces us to hold out encouragement to those who are afflicted with paralysis and other nervous affections.
Vibratory motion is a desideratum of priceless value to those who are afflicted with diseases of the nervous system, as well as to all others who need a gentle stimulus to call forth their latent energies and improve their physical condition.
Motion, properly transmitted to the human system by mechanical apparatus, is transformed into other forms of force identical with vital energy, by which the ordinary processes of the system are greatly promoted.
It increases animal heat and nervous and muscular power to the normal standard.
It removes engorgement or local impediments to the circulation.
The electrical induction produced, renders it a most efficacious remedy for paralysis of all kinds.
It removes interstitial fluids and causes rapid absorption and disappearance of solid and fluid accumulations.
It is a powerful alterative, or blood-purifier, increasing oxidation and stimulating excretion.
It diminishes chronic nervous irritability and promotes sleep.
It hardens the flesh by increasing muscular development and improves digestion and nutrition.
The use of animal, nerve and gland extracts has proven of surprising efficiency in the treatment of paralysis and locomotor ataxia. They furnish a pabulum in concentrated form for the nourishment and restoration of the weakened nerve cells and fibres.
In the vast majority of cases, we have been able, by the use of these recently discovered curative agents, when assisted by other means at our command at the Invalids' Hotel and Surgical Institute, to arrest the progress of these nervous affections, hitherto so generally considered incurable, and bring about restoration of the paralysed functions and a renewal of lost power.
These comparatively new remedial agents have been very thoroughly tested by us. Their merits are more fully considered in a preceding chapter of this treatise, under the head of treatment for Nervous Exhaustion, or Debility.
Epilepsy, or falling sickness, is a disease which is characterized by attacks of sudden loss of consciousness, together with convulsive movements of the muscles. The paroxysms occur at irregular intervals, the periods between them, in some cases, being only a few minutes or hours, while in others, several months elapse.
There are two classes of Epilepsy: 1st. The general form, with a convulsion that usually involves all the muscles of the body simultaneously. It begins suddenly with little or no warning, commonly with a cry or scream. The convulsion may last several minutes and is followed by a deep sleep for some hours.
2nd. The local or Jacksonian form in which the attack begins with a peculiar sensation in some particular region of the body, either in one extremity or one half of the face. This sensation is followed by a twitching of the muscles of the part. The sensation and spasm extend or advance gradually to other parts. Consciousness is not usually lost, though it may be when the spasms culminate in a general convulsion.
Great weakness generally follows in the parts convulsed, gradually passing away. When the attack begins on the right side of the face it is associated with an immediate inability to speak.
Symptoms. In the severe forms of the disease, the subject suddenly loses consciousness and falls; there is rigidity of the muscles, which causes a twitching of the face and limbs; the eyes are turned up, and there is foaming at the mouth. In the severe form of the disease, the respiration is arrested, while in the milder attacks, the breathing is difficult, slow, deep, and snoring. With the commencement of the spasm, the tongue is sometimes caught between the teeth and severely bitten. During the paroxysm, the countenance changes from a livid hue to dark purple. The convulsion continues from one to three minutes, and is followed by a deep, sighing inspiration; the subject then sinks into a deep sleep, which continues for half an hour or longer. When consciousness is first regained, the subject appears confused, stupid, and usually complains of headache. He has no recollection of what has occurred during the attack, he pronounces words indistinctly, and if he attempts to walk, he staggers like a drunken man. Sometimes, several attacks occur so closely together that there is no interval of consciousness between them.
In some cases, there are premonitory symptoms, such as giddiness, drowsiness, headache, and irritability of temper, which warn the subject of an approaching paroxysm. Occasionally, a wave of cold commencing at the feet and proceeding to the head, is experienced. This is called anaura. When it reaches the brain, the subject becomesunconscious, falls, and the convulsion commences. If the disease be allowed to proceed unchecked, it almost invariably leads to great impairment of mind, insanity, or paralysis.
Causes. Thepredisposing causesare an hereditary tendency to the disease, and everything which impairs the constitution and produces nervous prostration and irritability. Syphilis, phimosis, sexual abuses, uterine disease, and the use of alcoholic liquors are prominent predisposing causes. Many of the causes treated by us have been brought on by masturbation. Others are the results of injury to the head. Often fracture of the skull is followed by epileptic attacks.
The exciting causesinclude everything which disturbs the equilibrium of the nervous system. Indigestible articles of food, intestinal worms, loss of sleep, great exhaustion, grief, anger, constipation of the bowels, piles, and uterine irritation may be enumerated among such causes. Convulsions of an epileptic character may also be induced by a poisoned condition of the blood, from malaria and disease of the kidneys or liver.
Treatment. When the time of an expected paroxysm approaches, great care should be exercised that the patient be not suddenly attacked while carrying a lighted lamp, or that he does not fall in some dangerous place, strike upon a heated stove, or in some similar way inflict great injury. If there be warning symptoms before the attack, the subject should carry a vial of thenitrite of amylin the pocket, and, when the premonitory symptoms are felt, two or three drops should be poured on a handkerchief and held about an inch from the nose and inhaled, until flushing is produced, or a burning sensation is felt in the face.
During the paroxysm, the subject should be laid on the back, with the head slightly elevated, and the clothing about the neck and waist, if tight, should be loosened. If there be sufficient warning, a folded napkin, or a soft pine stick covered with a handkerchief or cloth, should be placed between the double teeth, to prevent the tongue from being bitten. During the fit, the head may be bathed with cold water.
A person who suffers from this disease should avoid everything which tends to excite the nervous system, or increase to any great extent the action of the heart. The sufferer should go to bed at regular hours, and take at least eight hours sleep. The sleeping-room should be large and well ventilated, and the patient should lie with the head elevated. All indigestible articles of food should be avoided and the diet should consist principally of bread, vegetables, milk, and fruits. Meat should be taken but once a day, and then in very small quantities. The use of alcoholic liquors and coffee should be avoided, and tea only taken in small quantities. The bowels should be regulated with Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets and injections, if necessary. A thorough bath should be taken once or twice a week. If the attacks occur at night, the body should be sponged before going to bed with tepidwater, to which should be added sufficient tincture or infusion of capsicum, or red-pepper, to render it stimulating to the skin.
The causes, if they can be determined, should be removed, and those remedies administered which relieve nervous irritability and cerebral congestion. If due to worms, the proper remedies should be given; if to phimosis, the subject should be circumcised; if to pressure on the brain, from fracture of the skull, trephining should be practiced, and the depressed bone raised. There are nospecificsfor this disease; each individual case must be treated according to the condition presented. The nostrums advertised extensively over the country as specifics for this disease, while they may, in some instances, prevent the attacks for a short time, irritate the stomach, impair digestion, lower vitality, and permanently injure the system, often rendering the disease incurable. They deceive the sufferer, leading him to think that his disease is being cured, until it progresses so far that he is beyond the reach of any treatment. As a rule, the longer the disease progresses, the more difficult it is to cure.
Epilepsy has by many physicians been regarded as incurable, but our extensive experience has convinced us that by an appropriate course of treatment, thevast majorityof cases can be cured. The animal extracts, or juices, herein more fully described under the head of treatment for Nervous Exhaustion, have proven curative in some cases that have resisted other remedies. This treatment requires the personal attention of a physician skilled in its employment. It is also of first importance that the extracts be properly made. We have discovered several new remedies, which undoubtedly exert a powerful curative influence over this disease, but it is necessary to vary the treatment so much in different cases, that it would be useless to enter further into details in this treatise.
Surgical Treatment. A considerable proportion of those cases of epilepsy, termed Jacksonian, have been found to be caused by new growth upon, or in, the substance of the brain. Sometimes cysts form as a result of small hemorrhages, or of spots of softening from clots in the cerebral arteries. Other cases are due to a small spot of hardened tissue or an inflamed centre of irritation in the outer gray matter of the brain.
The majority of these forms of disease can be exactly localized in a small area of the brain, and may usually be traced to a blow or fall on the head, or to fracture of the skull without depression. The discovery of the fact that such results of injury will produce localized spasm has naturally lead to the conclusion that similar products anywhere in the brain may give rise to epilepsy. In these cases trephining of the skull and the removal of irritation from the brain has been followed by the most successful results. It is seldom a serious or dangerous operation, but very few deaths having resulted in the practice of good surgeons in many hundreds of cases, and these were individualswho were not favorable for operation, and in whom it was undertaken as a last resort.
In these cases of epilepsy, due to injury, the operation is fairly safe, and in carefully selected cases that have not been allowed to run so long as to bring upon the brain a general epileptic tendency, the results of operation are good and the procedure warrantable.
See Testimonials from a few of the many cures effected by our Specialists.
This disease is an affection of the nervous system, which is characterized by spasmodic contractions of certain muscles. It may affect the entire body, although it is usually confined to the left side, or to a special group of muscles.
Symptoms. Twitchings of the muscles of the face are the most conspicuous symptoms. They are at first comparatively slight, but as the disease progresses, these spasms become more decided, and the face is twisted into various shapes and forms. The head, in some cases, is constantly jerking. It is with great difficulty that the tongue is thrust out of the mouth, and then, with a sudden jerk, it is quickly withdrawn.
These spasms or contortions, may affect the extremities in a similar manner, the hands and arms cannot be kept quiet, the gait may be unsteady, and one foot is merely dragged after the other. If one limb be forcibly held, to keep it quiet, some other limb will involuntarily move. Strange as it may appear, these contractions, which cannot be controlled by the will during wakefulness, are very much lessened or arrested by sleep.
Prior to the development of the spasmodic affection, there is usually a period in which the sufferer notes a want of appetite, languidness, with disinclination towards mental or bodily pursuits, headache, restlessness, pains in the limbs and joints, with irritable temper and weakness of memory. There are many other symptoms in special cases. As the disease develops, the patient gradually begins to exhibit an awkwardness of movement in the extremities, and objects frequently fall from the grasp. Children thus afflicted, spill their food while eating, and it becomes difficult for them to stand still. Attempts to write, sew, or draw are imperfectly performed. Such children are very often punished for supposed ill-behavior or careless habits. Later on the symptoms become more unmistakable, and the presence of the disease is readily recognized. The patient may become incapable of dressing, and the limbs and face are no longer under the control of the will. Uncontrollable movements of the fingers, hands, shrugging of the shoulders, dancing of the legs, grimaces of the face, and distortions of the body, become more or less constant. Speech and swallowing may be seriously embarrassed. Any unusual excitement of the mind orbody is apt to intensify the muscular twitchings. Severe mental application, the reading of exciting books, the witnessing of entertainments, and excessive indulgence in sports, have to be discontinued.
The most common causesseem to be exhaustion of the nerve centres, due to the appearance of the second teeth in children and the development common to the age of puberty. Other causes may be briefly mentioned as follows: rheumatic affections, constipation, a morbid state of the blood, suppression of the menstrual function, uterine difficulties, masturbation, or self-abuse, blows, injuries, or any cause which would give rise to nervous debility. Sometimes it is caused by obstruction in the alimentary canal, or by intestinal worms.
Treatment. The disease is one in which there is a debility of the nerve centres, complicated with a lack of assimilation and digestion. There is no affection more amenable to treatment in its early stages than this. We are daily in receipt of correspondence from sufferers, or their parents, or friends, in which the most gratifying relief and a cure has resulted from the use of Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription used in conjunction with Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery. These two remedies should be used alternately, the dose being suited to the age of the patient.
A large majority of the cases of chorea occur in females and at the period of life when the nervous system is subjected to unusual requirements. In these cases the "Favorite Prescription" effects a gradual restoration of nervous energy, and improvement in the tone of the nerve centres, and by its direct effect upon the circulation in the ovarian region, eliminates the most potent causes of debility. In young people, we usually advise a dose of three drops for each year of the age. For instance, children of eight years of age should take twenty-four drops; those of twelve, thirty-six drops; those of fifteen, forty-five drops, which is about two-thirds of a teaspoonful. A similar dose of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery should be administered, taking it before meals, and the "Prescription" after meals. Under their administration the patient will rapidly improve in health and strength; the circulation is materially bettered, the blood is purified, enriched, vitalized. The remedies effect a complete removal, from the blood, of the impurities that represent nerve waste, and as a consequence the nerve cells are properly nourished. The disease is gradually controlled, and when the favorable influences of quiet, nourishing food, with plenty of outdoor air, and not too active exercise is added, the progress is most gratifying. The patients, in a few weeks, are able to control much of the spasmodic movements, and gradually their restoration to a normal condition is accomplished.
In occasional cases, where there is some complication, as rheumatism or other severe affection, complicating and preventing their recovery, special treatment is required. We are always ready to advise in regard to such cases when consulted either by mail or in person.