This form of the disease calls for much care and patience on the part of the sufferer. The legs should be strapped, from ankle to knee, with strips of adhesive plaster, and over this a muslin or cotton bandage must be applied with a moderate degree of tightness, and kept wet with goulard water. In conjunction with these local appliances, it is sometimes wise to lose a few ounces of blood from the arm, and always necessary to take every other night a gentle aperient, to live upon a spare diet, and for some days to keep the horizontal posture. An elastic laced stocking made for the purpose may be afterward worn, and will be found at once a sufficient support to the limb, and a source of great comfort to the wearer.
Swelling of the Feet and Legs.
In the course of pregnancy, during the latter months particularly, the feet and legs frequently become much enlarged. It is partly owing to the pressure of the womb, but sometimes apparently independent of it. It is first observed towards night, about the ankles; by degrees the swelling rises higher, and the legs may become of a very large size. The female suffering from this complaint, always goes to bed with legs much swollen, but towards morning her face swells, and the enlargement of the legs disappears to a greater or less extent, returning, however, as the day advances.
Sometimes this disease is very trifling in its character, and in ordinary cases, except aperients, no medicine is necessary, and support may be given by a well-applied flannel roller; but when the swelling is extensive and permanent, remaining in the same degree after the patient has been for several hours in bed, and connected with uncomfortable sensations in the head, an accelerated pulse, &c., a medical man ought to be consulted, for the consequences might otherwise be dangerous.
Palpitation of the Heart.
If this affection occur for the first time during pregnancy, it is rarely connected with disease of the heart itself; it is therefore without danger, although very distressing. Occasionally there is connected with it throbbing of the vessels in the temples, as also in the abdomen; the latter not unfrequently mistaken by the patient for the beatings of the heart itself.
It will make its attack repeatedly in the course of a day, particularly after a meal; and very frequently at night, on first lying down in bed; and it may be brought on at any time by the slightest agitation of mind.
Treatment for an attack.—When it comes on it is to be relieved by putting the hands and arms up to the elbows in water, as warm as can be borne—friction with the warm hand applied to the feet—absolute rest—and taking the following draught: Compound spirits of ammonia, half a teaspoonful; Camphor mixture, a wine-glass. It may be repeated again in an hour or so, if necessary. It will be well to keep a bottle of this mixture in the bedroom; a resource will always be then at hand, and the dread which attends anticipation in a great measure removed. This is the more necessary, as an attack, if it comes on in the night, is always very distressing. The patient awakes, perhaps, out of a frightful dream, with a sense of fluttering in the region of the heart—calls out for breath—begs to have the curtains of the bed withdrawn, the door of the room opened—and will tell you she feels as if she was dying;—wine, brandy, any stimulant that is at hand is resorted to, for the husband or friend of the patient is naturally much excited, and in his alarm scarcely knows how to act. Now there is no occasion for alarm; the sufferer must be assured of this; her mind must be soothed and quieted; the means just pointed out for the relief of a paroxysm must be used; the palpitation will after a little time cease, and the patient will drop off into a quiet and tranquil sleep.
These attacks may be prevented by taking for ten days or a fortnight a teaspoonful of the following electuary three times a day:—Carbonate of iron, one ounce and a half; syrup of ginger, one ounce and a half. The bowels must be carefully regulated; a tablespoonful of Elixir Prop. is the best aperient, provided there are no piles. Fatigue and all exertion must be avoided, and the mind kept perfectly tranquil.