LETTER XXXVIII.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
Hysteria—Its Prevention and Cure—Leucorrhea, or Whites—Falling of the Womb.
There are two or three topics connected with the diseases of the sex, respecting which volumes might be written, concerning which I will here make some practical remarks.
HYSTERIA.
This affection takes its name from hyster, the womb. It appears under such a variety of forms, imitates so many other diseases, and is attended with such a variety of symptoms, which denote the animal and vital functions to be considerably disordered, that it is difficult to give any thing like a rational description of it.
Hysteria attacks usually in paroxysms or fits. “These are sometimes preceded by dejection of spirits, anxiety of mind, effusion of tears, difficulty of breathing, sickness at the stomach, and palpitation at the heart; but it more usually happens that a pain is felt on the left side, about the flexure of the colon, with a sense of distention, advancing upward till it gets into the stomach, and, removing from thence into the throat, it occasions, by its pressure, a sensation as if a ball were lodged there, which is called globus hystericus.” At this time the patient feels as if she were actually in danger of suffocation, grows faint, is affected, perhaps, with stupor and insensibility, while at the same time the body is turned to and fro, the limbs are thrown into motion, and wild and irregular actions take place, with alternations of laughter, crying, and screaming. There is also frothing at the mouth, eructations of wind from the stomach, hiccough not unfrequently, and in some cases a transient delirium is experienced. The limbs may also become so rigid that it is not possible for the patient to bend them.
Treatment.—If the paroxysm be only a slight one, it is as well to leave the patient quite to herself; but if the fit be a severe one, the shallow-bath, in a wash-tub, for instance, or the dashing of cold water, and rubbing the surface well with hands wet in cold water, will be highly serviceable. If the patient can drink a sufficiency of warm water to make her vomit, she will experience great relief. The clyster, freely administered, is also a valuable help.
In regard to the prevention of this disease, all that I have said or can say concerning the means of fortifying and invigorating the general health, would be as appropriate in this as in any other place. May I not hope that when you consider, each and any one of you, how troublesome this disease is, and how bad a state of things it indicates, that you will use your best influence upon those around you—that by a correct, systematic course of living, its attacks may be warded off. It is far easier, as well as more desirable, to prevent hysteria than to cure it.
LEUCORRHEA, OR WHITES.
This is a very common affection among females, few arriving at full womanhood without experiencing it. It consists in a puriform discharge from the vagina, varying in color in different cases, but more commonly it is of a yellowish white. It always denotes a deteriorated state of the health, and if allowed to proceed too far, is apt to end in some worse malady.