SYMPTOMS.——We shall only mention some of the most general symptoms of these disorders, as it would be both an useless and an endless task to enumerate the whole. They generally begin with windy inflations or distentions of the stomach and intestines; the appetite and digestion are usually bad; yet sometimes there is an uncommon craving for food, and a quick digestion. The food often turns sour on the stomach; and the patient is troubled with vomiting of clear water, tough phlegm, or a blackish-coloured liquor resembling the grounds of coffee. Excruciating pains are often felt about the navel, attended with a rumbling or murmuring noise in the bowels. The body is sometimes loose, but more commonly bound, which occasions a retention of wind and great uneasiness.
The urine is sometimes in small quantity, at other times very copious and quite clear. There is a great straitness of the breast, with difficulty of breathing; violent palpitations of the heart; sudden flushings of heat in various parts of the body; at other times a sense of cold, as if water were poured on them; flying pains in the arms and limbs; pains in the back and belly, resembling those occasioned by gravel; the pulse very variable, sometimes uncommonly slow, and at other times very quick; yawning, the hiccup, frequent sighing, and a sense of suffocation, as if from a ball or lump in the throat; alternate fits of crying and convulsive laughing; the sleep is unsound and seldom refreshing; and the patient is often troubled with the night-mare.
As the disease increases, the patient is molested with head-achs, cramps, and fixed pains in various parts of the body; the eyes are clouded, and often affected with pain and dryness; there is a noise in the ears, and often a dulness of hearing; in short, the whole animal functions are impaired. The mind is disturbed on the most trivial occasions, and is hurried into the most perverse commotions, inquietudes, terror, sadness, anger, diffidence, &c. The patient is apt to entertain wild imaginations and extravagant fancies; the memory becomes weak, and the judgment fails.
Nothing is more characteristic of this disease than a constant dread of death. This renders those unhappy persons who labour under it peevish, fickle, impatient, and apt to run from one physician to another; which is one reason why they seldom reap any benefit from medicine, as they have not sufficient resolution to persist in any one course till it has time to produce its proper effects. They are likewise apt to imagine that they labour under diseases from which they are quite free; and are very angry if any one attempts to set them right, or laugh them out of their ridiculous notions.
REGIMEN.——Persons afflicted with nervous diseases ought never to fast long. Their food should be solid and nourishing, but of easy digestion. Fat meats and heavy sauces are hurtful. All excess should be carefully avoided. They ought never to eat more at a time than they can easily digest; but if they feel themselves weak and faint between meals, they ought to eat a bit of bread, and drink a glass of wine. Heavy suppers are to be avoided. Though wine in excess enfeebles the body, and impairs the faculties of the mind, yet taken in moderation, it strengthens the stomach, and promotes digestion. Wine and water is a very proper drink at meals; but if wine sours on the stomach, or the patient is much troubled with wind, brandy and water will answer better. Every thing that is windy or hard of digestion must be avoided. All weak and warm liquors are hurtful, as tea, coffee, punch, &c. People may find a temporary relief in the use of these, but they always increase the malady, as they weaken the stomach and hurt digestion. Above all things, drams are to be avoided. Whatever immediate ease the patient may feel from the use of ardent spirits, they are sure to aggravate the malady, and prove certain poisons at last. These cautions are the more necessary, as most nervous people are peculiarly fond of tea and ardent spirits; to the use of which many of them fall victims.
Exercise in nervous disorders is superior to all medicines. Riding on horseback is generally esteemed the best, as it gives motion to the whole body, without fatiguing it. I have known some patients, however, with whom walking agreed better, and others who were most benefited by riding in a carriage. Every one ought to use that which he finds most beneficial. Long sea-voyages have an excellent effect; and to those who have sufficient resolution, we would by all means recommend this course. Even change of place, and the sight of new objects, by diverting the mind, have a great tendency to remove these complaints. For this reason a long journey, or a voyage, is of much more advantage than riding short journeys near home.
A cool and dry air is proper, as it braces, and invigorates the whole body. Few things tend more to relax and enervate than hot air, especially that which is rendered so by great fires, or stoves in small apartments. But when the stomach or bowels are weak, the body ought to be well guarded against cold, especially in winter, by wearing a thin flannel waistcoat next the skin. This will keep up an equal perspiration, and defend the alimentary canal from many impressions to which it would otherwise be subject, upon every sudden change from warm to cold weather. Rubbing the body frequently with a flesh-brush, or a coarse linen cloth, is likewise beneficial, as it promotes the circulation, perspiration, &c. Persons who have weak nerves ought to rise early, and take exercise before breakfast, as lying too long a-bed cannot fail to relax the solids. They ought likewise to be diverted, and to be kept as easy and cheerful as possible. There is not any thing which hurts the nervous system, or weakens the digestive powers, more than fear, grief, or anxiety.
MEDICINES.——Though nervous diseases are seldom radically cured, yet their symptoms may sometimes be alleviated, and the patient’s life rendered at least more comfortable by proper medicines.
When the patient is costive, he ought to take a little rhubarb, or some other mild purgative, and should never suffer his body to be long bound. All strong and violent purgatives are however to be avoided, as aloes, jalap, &c. I have generally seen an infusion of senna and rhubarb in brandy answer very well. This may be made of any strength, and taken in such quantity as the patient finds necessary. When digestion is bad, or the stomach relaxed and weak, the following infusion of Peruvian bark and other bitters may be used with advantage:
Take of Peruvian bark an ounce, gentian root, orange-peel, and coriander-seed, of each half an ounce; let these ingredients be all bruised in a mortar, and infused in a bottle of brandy or whiskey, for the space of five or six days. A table-spoonful of the strained liquor may be taken in half a glass of water, an hour before breakfast, dinner, and supper.