Case 2. Mrs. J. H., a white woman, aged forty-six, wife of a well-to-do farmer. Until within the last year or two had enjoyed the best of health, and was inclined to stoutness in consequence. Dyspeptic symptoms had troubled her more or less during the time mentioned, and of late had increased in severity so much that she asserted, at the time she consulted me, that if she dared to eat any thing at all she suffered the greatest agony in consequence. A neighboring physician had treated her for some weeks previous to her visit to my office, and, as I afterward learned, had given her the regulation treatment with pepsin, bismuth, hydrochloric acid, etc., with results so discouraging that she had lost all hope of receiving any benefit from “doctor’s medicine,” as she called it, and it was only at the urgent solicitation of husband and friends that she came to me for treatment, being careful to inform me that she had no idea I could help her in the least.
Her case was diagnosed “amylaceous dyspepsia,” and she was given Taka-Diastase in eight-grain doses, half of which was to be taken before eating and the remainder during or after, with tr. nux vom. and hydrochloric acid, in moderate doses, ter in die.
Despite her determination not to be benefited by “doctor’s medicine,” the improvement was prompt and continuous, and so manifestly due to the treatment that she soon forgot or overcame her antipathy, and with characteristic inconsistency now asserts that it is impossible to get along without it. She eats three meals regularly every day, and suffers no inconvenience whatever in consequence.
Case 3. W., a white male, aged forty, had never had any serious illness, and digestion had been especially good until about four weeks before consulting me. At that time he, in company with some friends, ate quite heartily of watermelon. He had always eaten watermelon freely and with impunity prior to that occasion. It did not agree with him so well that time, and in a few hours he was seized with an acute gastralgia of the most severe character, and from that time to the present he has had more or less trouble of that kind, even a very small quantity of food, especially if it be of a starchy nature, giving rise to the most distressing symptoms.
The diagnosis of amylaceous dyspepsia was also made in this case, and he was at once put upon the Taka-Diastase in doses of five grains given with the meals, and temporarily excluding starchy foods from his diet as much as possible without too great inconvenience. There was also great torpidity of the liver, and for that he was given sod. phosphate in teaspoonful doses every morning before breakfast, taken in a gobletful of hot water. Under this treatment improvement was satisfactory and rapid, and with the addition of bitter tonics later on he was ultimately restored to complete health.
Remarks. Case 1 was an example of that class with which, prior to the introduction of Taka-Diastase, the general practitioner was too often compelled to acknowledge his inability to cope successfully. In them there is difficulty in the digestion of both amylaceous and proteid substances, and the remedies usually recommended were efficacious only so far as digestion of the latter was concerned, and did not reach the former at all. The cure was incomplete, and must have remained so until the substance we have been considering, or something analogous to it, was furnished the physician with which to complete it.
Cases 2 and 3 were examples of the first class mentioned above, viz., amylaceous dyspepsia, and while under treatment with pepsin, etc., they were considered the most intractable of all; under Taka-Diastase they yield rapidly, and are cured in a surprisingly short time.
Livermore, Ky.