In the interval of the menses, take active exercise, with a tepid hip bath three nights in the week, injecting some of the water high up in the vagina. Keep the bowels open by a pill of aloes and myrrh, and take a small teaspoonful of the volatile tincture of guiacum three times a day, in water. On the approach of the period, take the following at night:
| Calomel, | Three grains; |
| Opium, | One grain. |
In the morning a dose of caster oil, and on the appearance of the menses, the Dover's Powder and mixture as before. Repeat this treatment, in each interval, until permanently relieved.
The following is recommended by an eminent physician, to be taken a few days before the period:
| Acetous tincture of colchicum, | Three drams; |
| Magnesia, | One dram; |
| Sulphate of magnesia, | Three drams; |
| Distilled mint or cinnamon water, | Four ounces. |
Mix. Dose: A small wineglassful every two or three hours until it operates. This should be preceded the night before by a small dose of blue pill.
SUPPRESSION OF THE MENSES—AMENORRHŒA.
By suppression is meant a disappearance of the menses after they have become established, and may be either acute or chronic. It is caused by cold caught during the flow, by exposure to night air or by wetting the feet; fear, shocks, violent mental emotions, anxiety, fevers and other acute diseases. Chronic suppression may be either a consequence of the acute, or caused by delicate health; also, from diseases of the ovaries or womb. It may also be occasioned by an imperforate hymen, in which case it must be cut open by a physician.
TREATMENT.
When the suppression is caused by some disease in the system, that disease must be cured before the menses will return. For sudden suppression, use the warm sitting-bath or foot bath. Apply cloths wet in warm water to the lower part of the abdomen, and drink freely of warm water. If the suppression is chronic and the patient is delicate, in the interval between the menses use the shower or the full bath of cold or tepid water, rubbing the body briskly with a coarse towel, especially around the abdomen, loins, and genital organs.