Another case of severe Tic came under my notice, that resisted all treatment. The paroxysm was only allayed by very long tepid baths 62°, and great friction.
Obstinate case of Tic in the Thigh.—This case is given to shew the way in which Priessnitz meets extraordinary circumstances.
H. from Berlin, aged 54, had a settled pain down one of his thighs; he was treated for it seven years ago at Gräfenberg. In a few months he thought himself cured. For seven years he felt no inconvenience, and lived as he had formerly done. At the expiration of that period, pain returned; not wishing to devote so much time to the cure as he knew it would require at Gräfenberg, he went to Carlsbad, where the pain became insupportable. In this state he again had recourse to Priessnitz. He has now been there four months, undergoing a vigorous treatment of packing-sheets, baths, rubbing-sheets, and sitz-baths, varied in an infinity of ways, without experiencing much benefit; his sleep, which has been disturbed the last eighteen months, still continues so.
Nearly all the sleep he obtains is in the packing-sheet. In this he lies from his arm-pits down to his thighs, from 9 to 11 o’clock at night, and again from 2 to 4 o’clock in the morning. At 6 o’clock he commences his usual treatment. The last fortnight before I left Gräfenberg, pain had ceased, but his sleeping was as disturbed as usual.
XXXVII.—Affection of the Throat and Pain at the Chest.
A delicate lady, aged twenty-five: morning, packing-sheet until warm and tepid bath; noon, rubbing-sheet and sitz-bath; afternoon, rubbing-sheet.
After a few days’ treatment, catamenia came on, notwithstanding which, as patient experienced no inconvenience, the treatment was continued as before. In two days, pain in the abdomen and hips was felt. All the previous treatment was now discontinued, and three rubbing-sheets a day were prescribed, until pain ceased, when it was again resumed.
Throat, and pain at the chest, were cured in six weeks, and patient had gained eight pounds in weight.
This lady thought she had an affection of the heart. Priessnitz enquired if she felt pain there: she answered no. “Then,” said he, “the heart is sound.” Three years ago, catamenia lasted only five days, but latterly it extended to seven. Priessnitz said, with her it ought only to last three or four days. This was effected. Her husband, who had occasional attacks of bile, gained nine pounds in six weeks. I attended the weighing of these parties, and can vouch for the fact.