The treatment of these disorders should be less local than constitutional. The whole system must have the best conditions for health, giving nature a chance to restore harmony in organic powers.
The tepid sitz-bath will be found invaluable in both inflammation and ulceration of the womb. It should be taken in most cases as often as every other day, preceded by exercise, and followed by friction and rest. Half the value of this bath is lost if one fails to lie down after it. The best time for the bath is in the forenoon, but if, on account of daily duties, this time is unavailable, there is no special objection to taking it just before retiring. It is very quieting, and prevents sleeplessness.
The thermal bath ([page 118]) is especially desirable if the circulation seems sluggish, the skin inert, and the patient sensitive to cold. Take it twice a week.
Hot vaginal injections are found invaluable for these affections. They should be taken with a fountain syringe, using a large quantity of water as hot as can be borne. If practicable the patient may recline over a bed pan. Not having this, she should stand over a vessel, elevated upon a chair. If the discharge from the womb is offensive, use carbolic soap in the water.
Glycerine diluted one-third with water and applied by inserting absorbent cotton or oakum, is excellent to reduce inflammation and induration. This at first increases the discharge. In severe cases it can be applied daily, but ordinarily every other day is sufficient. Some mild remedies like hydrastis or calendula are useful in stimulating healthy action, and can be used under the direction of the physician.
Exercise is one of the most valuable therapeutic measures for uterine affections. If one is quite feeble, applied motion in the form of Swedish movements, massage or muscle-beating is most desirable. Women suffering from uterine diseases are unable to take needful exercise in an erect position. Walking, riding, housework, etc., aggravate the symptoms, increasing the local irritation and inflammation.
In most women the muscles of the trunk or the abdomen, and the involuntary muscles of respiration, from lack of proper use, are weak and atrophied. “They have not been trained to life’s occasions.” The following exercises, taken in a reclining posture, will serve the purpose of producing attrition and vigor of muscles, accelerating the circulation of the blood, and developing the involuntary muscles used in respiration; at the same time they increase the action of all the digestive organs, and by a derivative effect remove local inflammation, besides mechanically correcting mal-positions:
1. Reclining on back, holding knees and shoulders firm, move hips from side to side ten times.
2. Same position, on spring bed, move hips up and down fifteen times. This exercise can be taken by one that is weak, as the springs aid the motion.
3. Flex knees, same as [No. 1], twenty times.