There may be gastric crises that recall those of tabes, and there may be vesical and rectal crises of a similar nature. I have seen a patient complain of every symptom of stone in the kidney. At the beginning the pains were vague, but after she had been to several physicians and had been asked certain questions intended to elicit pathognomonic signs of stone these questions were answered in the affirmative. Her attacks became strikingly like renal colic. After a consultation, at which two physicians and a surgeon were present, she was operated upon for stone in the left kidney. No trace of it was found. But after this she was well nearly a year. Then she had another crisis of pain in the early morning hours, a time when her painful condition always came on, apparently because it attracted more attention and caused more disturbance at this time, and now all the symptoms pointed to the right kidney. She was treated on the principle that it was a neurosis, was made to gain some fifteen pounds in weight, has since then had no attacks, has not passed any stones, and there seems no doubt but that the whole case was merely neurotic. During her attacks instead of having suppression of urine, she had a free flow of urine and no blood. It is not unlikely that the physical basis of the attacks was that condition of the kidney which allows urine to flow through very freely during neurotic conditions and which somehow got into the sphere of her consciousness and being over-attended to became extremely painful.
Secretory Neuroses.—Lying between the pain and motor neuroses and dependent on psychic elements to some extent at least, there is a series of neuroses that have as their principal symptoms an increase or decrease of secretion. Occasionally, of course, they are complicated by motor neuroses, especially in connection with the viscera. There are various stomach affections, represented by an increase or decrease in stomach secretion, and accompanied by pain, discomfort, and decrease or increase of peristalsis. There are biliary neuroses accompanied by increase or inhibition of biliary secretions. There are gastric neuroses associated with vomiting, often very intractable, in which there seems to be sometimes a hypersecretion of gastric juice and sometimes a lessened secretion. All of these occur, as is said, spontaneously, but there will usually be found a history of some exhaustive work or worry during the weeks or months just before. Apparently nervous control is lost and then the secretory neurosis manifests itself sometimes in conjunction with painful or motor affections.
Neurotic Vomiting.—Persistent vomiting occurs in these cases but is not [{587}] so serious as it seems and patients do not lose weight, as might be expected. There is sometimes even a probability that some of the food ingested finds its way through the pylorus and is used for nutrition, though the vomiting may come on not long after ingestion. Practically always nature asserts herself and stops the vomiting when serious conditions seem about to develop. The solicitude of relatives may be calmed by this assurance, and just as soon, as a rule, as they show less anxiety about the patient, the first symptoms of improvement will be noted. The fasting girls exploited in the newspapers, in connection with these neurotic conditions are often frauds and investigation has shown on a number of occasions that they were obtaining food surreptitiously. It must not be forgotten, however, that, even though these cases have been discredited, we have a number of cases on record of men and women who have taken absolutely nothing nutritious and only water for from ten to forty or even fifty days. Until at least ten days have passed in one of these gastric neuroses, then, there is no need for urgent solicitude, and this of itself, when properly explained, makes an excellent favorable suggestion for these patients, and, above all, for their friends.
Simulant Appendicitis.—Some of these abdominal psycho-neuroses may simulate serious pathological conditions that, in recent years, have come to be looked upon as surgical. I have seen a number of cases, especially in women who have been constipated for some time, in which there was considerable discomfort in the right lower abdominal segment and occasionally surgeons thought that an operation should be performed. Usually in these cases there is no localized tenderness and no mass of any kind to be felt in this region. Sometimes tenderness is complained of, though when the patient's attention is diverted even deep pressure may be made without their wincing. Whenever there is no history of an acute attack, no temperature and no increase in pulse rate, unless there are very definitely localized symptoms, the question of operation is always to be answered in the negative. Disturbances of the pulse may mean little. The history must guide. I have seen these cases operated on, improved for a while, but relapse afterwards just as soon as there was a resumption of their constipation. As a rule, when the appendix has been removed, either because its function has something to do with the inhibition of putrefactive processes in the lower bowel, or because as the result of the operation and consequent adhesions, the colon was not so active in its peristalsis, the constipation seemed to be worse than before, unless special care was exercised. If there is relapse after an operation the patients' attacks are almost sure to be more frequent than before and their discomfort likely to be more pronounced.
Lest it be thought that such cases are mainly confined to women or that the most striking cases occur only in women, I may say that the most interesting case of this kind I ever saw was in a young, vigorous German soldier. He was admitted to Koenig's clinic in Berlin with a story of abdominal tenderness and pain, the tenderness being located in the right iliac region. There seemed even to be some distention of the abdomen after a time and the development of greatly increased diffuse tenderness. The pulse was considerably disturbed, but there was only a slight rise in temperature, and for a time it was thought that this might be a case of appendicitis without fever. A surprising feature of the case was the presence in the right iliac region of [{588}] a scar which, on careful investigation, proved to be double. Apparently the patient had been opened twice before in this region. His history was carefully investigated. He had had a fall from a horse about two years before and afterwards had considerable abdominal discomfort. He was quite sure that something serious had happened within his abdominal cavity as the result of the fall and his attention was concentrated on his right iliac region. At the time of the accident his symptoms were considered to be a psycho-neurosis or perhaps an exaggeration of symptoms with malingering tendencies.
Shortly after his term of service expired, however, some acute symptoms developed and there was swelling, or at least tympanitic distention of the abdomen with disturbance of the pulse, and he was operated on in the hospital and his appendix removed. There proved to be nothing the matter with it and no pathological condition was found within his abdomen. He seemed to recover completely. After six months he was admitted to another hospital with the same symptoms. He seemed to have the habit of swallowing air which found its way beyond his pylorus, or else gas leaked from the blood vessels in the walls of his intestines, producing a symptom-complex not unlike the tympanitic distention consequent upon general peritonitis. Once more this was taken to mean very probably a ruptured appendix and another operation was done. This operator went through the old scar, but to his surprise found no appendix and found everything within the abdomen normal. The third time the patient came to Koenig's clinic and, owing to his military record, his hospital experience was available and a third operation was not done. Instead, according to the story current at the time, the patient was tattooed with the legend "no appendix here." The case is interesting as an example of the extent to which an abdominal psycho-neurosis may simulate a ruptured appendix.
Pseudo Biliary Colic.—A similar state of affairs to that with regard to the appendix has developed in all that concerns the gall bladder and the biliary tract generally. Any complaint of discomfort in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, if persisted in, is almost sure sooner or later to be diagnosed as due to a calculus. Now that operations for gallstones are more common than they used to be, it is probable that almost as many gall bladders are found without pathological conditions as appendices without justifiably operative lesions. In treating individuals who have a history of recurrent symptoms of intestinal reaction to various foods complicated by urticaria, it is important to remember that there may probably be lesions corresponding to those in the skin in portions of the intestinal tract which may functionally involve either the appendix or the biliary passages. Some of these cases are extremely difficult to handle because often there is pain, definite tenderness and some fever with the attacks, and very localized symptoms. The history, however, will be helpful. Operation will not relieve the patient from liability to recurrence. There are, however, other cases where the discomfort is much more vague, where there is no tenderness, no disturbance after jolting rides and where there has never been any severe pain. These should not be set down as biliary calculi without further developments. The possibility of a stone being present should not be hinted to the patient until some definite pathognomonic sign is discovered.
Other Simulated Conditions.—There are many painful conditions of the [{589}] head that are psycho-neurotic. Many forms of headache are due to sensations of pressure or tension or constriction, usually in the external integuments of the skull, which are dwelt on and then become painful achy conditions. This is particularly true of so-called headaches in the back of the head. As we emphasize in the chapter on [Headache], probably most of the headaches of patients who have not much to occupy themselves with, are due rather to queer feelings in the head emphasized by the concentration of attention on them than to real pains. Earache may occur in the same way. Nearly always when one has been out in the wind, there is likely to be an uncomfortable sensation in the ear. By attention to it this may readily be exaggerated into an earache. Occasionally the physical basis of an ache in the region of the ear seems to be an unconscious performance of Valsalva's experiment while blowing the nose when catarrhal conditions are present.
All sorts of painful conditions of the arms and legs may develop in the same way. Unusual tiredness, or some special exertion of the muscles, may produce a sense of fatigue readily exaggerated by attention to it, into severe pain. This condition is not a voluntary simulation, but is due to lack of diversion and a certain inborn tendency in these people to pay attention to anything that is the matter with them. Very seldom does the physical condition need much treatment, though nearly always something can be done for it with advantage, but the mental state needs alteration and, above all, the patient needs to be diverted from over-concentration of mind.
Motor Neuroses.—As has been said, beside painful conditions, various forms of motor trouble may develop. These usually consist of inability to move certain groups of muscles. They have sometimes been spoken of as hysterical palsies or paralyses. The word hysterical, by its derivation connected with the Greek word for womb, apparently indicates that these conditions are limited to women. It is well known now that they are extremely common among men and especially among young men and have absolutely nothing to do with the genital system. As with painful psycho-neurotic conditions, there is practically always a physical basis. This sometimes requires careful questioning to locate exactly. There is some injury of the muscles of a particular region, or some over-use of them, or some employment of them under bad mechanical conditions with over-fatigue, and then attention to this leads to incapacity to use the muscles or inability to co-ordinate them properly.