CHAPTER III
ICHTHYOL AND THE POINT IN THE NASO-PHARYNX THAT CONTROLS THE SYMPTOMS
While the use of rosin-weed was discovered by my father, the value of ichthyol in the treatment of hay fever and the point in the naso-pharynx that controls the symptoms are discoveries of my own or, at least, I fondly think so. In current medical literature, I find no reference to it. In Merck's History and Preparation of Ichthyol, a summary of its use to 1913, ichthyol is advised in hypertrophic and atrophic rhinitis, but hay fever is not mentioned. Reference to recent books, as Coakley, Ballenger, Ivins, Bosworth, Kyle, Grayson, show no knowledge of the use of ichthyol in hay fever nor of the spot in the naso-pharynx that controls the symptoms.
The point of the matter is this. In hay fever, the itching and redness of the eyes, nose, and throat are controlled from a sensitive point in the naso-pharynx. Local applications to this point will relieve almost instantly not only the itching of the throat but also the itching of the eyes and nose and all symptoms of the disease. In some cases such relief carried out for several seasons makes permanent cures.
My knowledge of it came about in this wise. At about the age of sixteen I developed a rose-cold that began in June and extended into September. A few years later it began in April and lasted until October. By one of those ironical tricks that fate plays on the great ones of the earth, rosin-weed, the family remedy that cured everybody else, gave me only partial relief. It is unnecessary to follow in detail the various experiments made. This was long before the days of Dunbar's pollantin, Holbrook Curtis' ambrosia, adrenalin, and the modern vaccines. I did not think cocaine a safe drug and never used it, preferring the hay fever to the cocaine habit. About this time ichthyol was introduced by Merck for the treatment of catarrh of all mucous membranes and I found that ichthyol, used in a certain manner, relieved the symptoms completely. On swabbing the naso-pharynx with pure ichthyol, there was a severe burning sensation for a minute or so, but, when the burning subsided, there was great relief, not only of the itching throat but also of the itching of the eyes and nose. That is, in the customary swabbing of the naso-pharynx, we touch a point that controls the whole group of symptoms of the eyes, nose, and throat.
In those days the laryngeal and pharyngeal tonsils were very much to the fore in medical discussions, and at first I thought that this point was probably the pharyngeal tonsil of Luschka. However, judging from the location of the most severe burning, the controlling point is rather on the upper surface of the soft palate. The exact location of this point is not of practical importance. If you swab each side of the naso-pharynx with plenty of ichthyol, the reflex contraction of the pharynx while the swab is in it will spread the ichthyol over the right territory.
CHAPTER IV
MENTHOL AND EUCALYPTOL
The ichthyol treatment described in the last Chapter is very effective, but it burns severely for a few minutes and, for this reason, some patients will not endure it. With children, it is impossible. Another disadvantage to the patient and, sometimes, to the doctor, too, is that it requires the patient to come to the doctor every day for the application, though Dr. Hollister tells me that he had one patient who learned to apply the ichthyol to her own naso-pharynx and, what is more wonderful still, kept up the treatment long enough to get well. In recent years I have hit on a treatment that is more comfortable than ichthyol and in many cases equally effective, though a little slower in giving relief. It can be carried out by the patient with little trouble and requires no skill in handling nasal swabs, an important matter with nervous patients and children.
I have found that the ordinary solution of menthol and eucalyptol and thymol in liquid albolene will relieve hay fever if applied to a certain spot a certain number of times a day. At this point I can see the reader's face assuming an expression of pained surprise. What is there wonderful about that? Is there not a bottle of this solution on the table of every doctor in the country and does not every modern textbook on the Nose and Throat advise inhaling vapor of such a solution to relieve hay fever? True. Note that I did not say that simply spraying this solution in the nose and throat will cure hay fever. I said that it must be applied to a certain spot a certain number of times a day. It is a case of the technique being more important than the remedy; for I have no doubt that there are other medicines than ichthyol and menthol that will relieve if put on the right spot. The reason that every doctor has not discovered for himself the full value of this commonly used solution is that he did not put it on the right spot and he did not use it often enough.