Treatment. In the mild forms of acute catarrh, or coryza, only simple treatment is required. A hot foot-bath on retiring at night, with a full dose of Dr. Pierce's Compound Extract of Smart-weed, to produce free perspiration will generally break up the attack. Should the discharge from the nostrils continue, Dr. Sage's Catarrh Remedy should be freely used four to six times each day, until the symptoms are controlled. In case the bowels do not act, a full dose of Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets may he taken at bed-time. Avoidance of exposure to cold, and light vegetable diet, are advisable. In the more severe attacks, especially when complicated by laryngeal or bronchial symptoms, the most decisive measures should be employed. The Compound Extract of Smart-weed should be taken freely, together with hot drinks, or a hot general bath. The patient should be warmly covered in bed to encourage a continued perspiration, to equalize the circulation, and subdue the inflammation. Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery should be taken in teaspoonful doses four times each day in all cases that are complicated or protracted.
Individuals suffering from frequent colds will do wisely to fortify their systems by taking a few bottles of the "Golden Medical Discovery" to improve nutrition, purify the blood, and thus aid nature in overcoming such inherited tendency or required weakness as may be their misfortune to possess. Remember frequent attacks of Acute Catarrh prepare fertile soil for the chronic form which oftentimes is so loathsome and destructive.
CHRONIC NASAL CATARRH.
OZÆNA.
In consequence of repeated attacks of acute catarrh, or "cold in the head," as it is usually termed, the mucous membranes of the nose and the air-passages of the head become permanently thickened, the mucous follicles or glands diseased, and their functions either destroyed or very much deranged. Although chronic catarrh is most commonly brought on in the manner above stated, it sometimes makes its appearance as a sequel of typhoid fever, scarlet fever, measles, or other eruptive fevers, or shows itself as a local manifestation of scrofulous or syphilitic taints in the system.
Injury to the nose may result in a displacement of one or more of the bony structures, setting up a chronic inflammation with catarrh at that point. In the early stages of the disease, the patient may be annoyed with "only a slight dropping into the throat," as many express it, the amount of the discharges from the air-passages of the head at this stage of the disease being only slightly in excess of health. In some cases the discharge is thick, ropy, and tough, requiring frequent and strong efforts in the way of blowing and spitting, to remove it from the throat, in which it frequently lodges. In other cases, or in other stages of the same case, the discharge is thin, watery, acrid, irritating, and profuse. The nose may be "stopped up" from the swollen and thickened condition of the lining mucous membrane, so as to necessitate respiration through the mouth, giving to the voice a disagreeable nasal twang. From the nature of the obstruction in this condition, it is useless for the sufferer to endeavor to clear the passage by blowing the nose; this only tends to render a bad matter worse, by increasing the irritation and swelling of the already thickened lining membrane. The swelling of the mucous membrane does not in all cases become so great as to cause obstruction to respiration through the affected passages. In some cases, the patient suffers from head ache a great portion of the time, or experiences a dull, heavy, disagreeable fullness or pressure in the head, with a confusion of his ideas, which renders him quite unfit for business, especially such as requires deep thought and mental labor. Memory may be more or less affected, and the disposition of those who are otherwise amiable is often rendered irritable or morose and despondent. The mental faculties suffer to such an extent in some cases as to result in insanity. The sense of smell is in many cases impaired, and sometimes entirely lost, and the senses of taste and hearing are not unfrequently more or less affected.
Ozæna. The ulcerous or more aggravated stage of the disease, from the offensive odor that frequently attends it, is denominated Ozæna.
The secretion which is thrown out in the more advanced stages of chronic catarrh becomes so acrid, unhealthy, and poisonous, that it produces severe irritation and inflammation, which are followed by excoriation and ulceration of the delicate membrane which lines the air-passages in the head. Although commencing in this membrane, the ulceration is not confined to it, but gradually extends in depth, until it frequently involves all the component structures of the nose—cartilage and bone, as well as fibrous tissues. As the ulceration extends up among the small bones, the discharge generally becomes profuse and often excessively fetid, requires the frequent use of the handkerchief, and renders the poor sufferer disagreeable to both himself and those with whom he associates. Thick, tough, brownish incrustations, or hardened lumps, are many times formed in the head, by the evaporation of the watery portion of the discharge. These lumps are sometimes so large and tough that it is with great difficulty that they can be removed. They are usually discharged every second, fourth, or fifth day, but only to be succeeded by another crop. Portions of cartilage and bone, or even entire bones, often die, slough away, and are discharged, either in large flakes, or blackened, half-decayed, and crumbly pieces; or, as is much more commonly the case, in the form of numerous minute particles, that escape with the discharge and are unobserved. It is painfully unpleasant to witness the ravages of this terrible disease, and observe the extent to which it sometimes progresses. Holes are eaten through the roof of the mouth, and great cavities excavated into the solid bones of the face; in such cases only the best and most through treatment will check the progress and fatal termination of the disease.
COMPLICATIONS.
Catarrh, or Ozæna, is liable to be complicated, not only by the system, blood, and fluids, suffering from scrofulous or other taints, as has already been pointed out, but also by an extension of the diseased conditions to other parts beyond the air-passages of the head.