Every Man His Own Doctor / The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and Cattle

by R. T. Claridge

XXXVI.—Tic-Doloureux.

This is another of those complaints that baffle medical skill, and upon which medical men are at issue as to the cause; some alleging it to be a derangement of the nervous system, others think it is in the humours of the body, which contain an acrimony irritating to the nerves.

The result of my observation is, that if under the Water cure, it is not cured in three months, it is extremely doubtful if it will succumb to that treatment. Dr. Munde doubted if purely nervous Tic-doloureux was curable by any process; but speaks more positively as to that which arises from acrimonious humour. He says, “I speak with a perfect knowledge of this disease, having suffered for three years, and having made observations upon several others who suffered severely from this complaint. Eight months’ treatment cured me after trying all other remedies in vain.”

I knew a patient who had laboured under Tic in his head for fourteen or fifteen years, perfectly cured in three months. His treatment was the same as for Rheumatism.

Another patient put a bandage to her face at night, whilst under a paroxysm of Tic; this increased the pain, the reason of which was, her not having prepared the system first. Next day she underwent the sweating process, and could then wear the bandage with great advantage.

A person, whom I knew, suffering from Tic in his legs, made no progress because of the injudicious use of the Douche. The Douche was abandoned, and the packing-sheet and tepid bath twice a day substituted with great advantage.

Another case of severe Tic came under my notice, that resisted all treatment. The paroxysm was only allayed by very long tepid baths 62°, and great friction.

Obstinate case of Tic in the Thigh.—This case is given to shew the way in which Priessnitz meets extraordinary circumstances.

H. from Berlin, aged 54, had a settled pain down one of his thighs; he was treated for it seven years ago at Gräfenberg. In a few months he thought himself cured. For seven years he felt no inconvenience, and lived as he had formerly done. At the expiration of that period, pain returned; not wishing to devote so much time to the cure as he knew it would require at Gräfenberg, he went to Carlsbad, where the pain became insupportable. In this state he again had recourse to Priessnitz. He has now been there four months, undergoing a vigorous treatment of packing-sheets, baths, rubbing-sheets, and sitz-baths, varied in an infinity of ways, without experiencing much benefit; his sleep, which has been disturbed the last eighteen months, still continues so.

Nearly all the sleep he obtains is in the packing-sheet. In this he lies from his arm-pits down to his thighs, from 9 to 11 o’clock at night, and again from 2 to 4 o’clock in the morning. At 6 o’clock he commences his usual treatment. The last fortnight before I left Gräfenberg, pain had ceased, but his sleeping was as disturbed as usual.