Woman / Her Sex and Love Life

by William J. Robinson

Chapter Twenty-three[ToC]

GONORRHEA

Source of Gonorrhea—Mucous Membrane of Genital Organs and of Eye Principal Seats of Disease—Symptoms in Men and in Women—Vagina Seldom Attacked in Adults—Nobody Inherits Gonorrhea—Ophthalmia Neonatorum—Differences of Course of Disease in Men and Women—Gonorrhea Less Painful in Women—Symptoms not Suspected by Woman—Necessity for the Woman Consulting a Physician—Self-treatment When Woman Cannot Consult Physician—Formulæ for Injections.

The subject of gonorrhea and syphilis is treated pretty fully, from a layman's point of view, in the author's Sex Knowledge for Men. I do not intend to devote much space to a discussion of the details of these two diseases here, because the subject is not of such direct interest to women. Respectable girls and women do not indulge in illicit relations the same as respectable men and boys do, and their danger of contracting a venereal disease is insignificant as compared with men's liability. I will, therefore, touch upon only a few points, particularly insofar as the diseases differ in their course from the course pursued in men. Those, however, who are interested may read the chapters on the subject in the author's Sex Knowledge for Men, and if they want still fuller details, they may study the author's Treatment of Gonorrhea and Its Complications in Men and Women.

Gonorrheal Germs.

Gonorrhea is an inflammation caused by a germ called the gonococcus, discovered by Dr. A. Neisser, of Breslau, Germany, in 1879. Any mucous membrane may be the seat of gonorrhea, but it attacks by preference the mucous membrane of the genital organs, and of one other organ—the eye. Its principal symptoms are: inflammation, pain, burning and discharge. In men, it attacks the urethra; in women it attacks the cervix—the neck of the womb—the urethra, and the vulva. The vagina is seldom attacked in adult women, because the mucous membrane of the adult vagina is rather tough and does not offer a good soil for the development of the gonococcus germ. The discharge that a woman has when she has gonorrhea comes principally or exclusively from the neck of the womb. In little girls, however, in whom the lining of the vagina is tender, gonorrhea of the vagina and the vulva is common. (See chapter [Vulvovaginitis in Little Girls.]) Gonorrhea is a local disease. While in some cases, after the disease has lasted for some time, a certain poison is generated by the germs which circulates in the blood, and while the germs may occasionally wander into distant organs, still in 98 per cent. of all cases gonorrhea is a local disease, and if taken in time is cured without leaving any traces on the general organism.

Gonorrhea Not Hereditary. Then, gonorrhea is not a hereditary disease. Nobody ever inherits gonorrhea. A child may be born with a gonorrheal inflammation of the eyes (ophthalmia neonatorum), but this inflammation is not inherited; it can only be acquired if the mother is suffering with gonorrhea while the child is being born: some of the pus in the mother's birth canal gets into the child's eyes while it passes through the uterus and vagina. This is not heredity; this is simple infection, and can be avoided by keeping the mother's birth canal clean by antiseptic douches before childbirth. In short, I repeat gonorrhea is essentially a local and not a constitutional disease, and is not hereditary. In which two respects it differs from syphilis, which is the most constitutional and most hereditary of all diseases.

Course of Gonorrhea in Men and Women. Gonorrhea runs an entirely different course in women than it does in men. When a man has gonorrhea he knows it immediately; first, because the discharge tells him that there is something the matter with him, for a man is not used to having any discharge from the urethra unless there is something the matter with him. Second, the urine becomes at once burning and painful. In women the urethra is a separate canal from the vagina, and the urethra is very frequently not affected in gonorrhea. The infection generally starts in the cervix, and the disease may last for considerable time before the woman becomes aware of it. In general, gonorrhea is a less painful disease in woman, and this is a bad thing, because she thus neglects treatment and loses valuable time, permitting the disease to develop. Even when the urethra is affected in women, it does not give as severe symptoms as inflammation of the urethra in men. If the woman does have pains she often pays no attention to them, because woman is used to pains; as we have seen before, fifty per cent. of all women suffer more or less with dysmenorrhea. Many of them have a leucorrheal discharge of greater or lesser degree, and therefore if there is an increase in the pains, or an increase in the discharge, little attention is paid to the matter. In fact, a woman may have a chronic gonorrhea for months or years without being aware that there is anything the matter with her. It is important to teach women to seek medical aid as soon as they notice any increase in the amount of the discharge, or change in color, particularly if it becomes greenish, or if the odor becomes offensive, or if there is chafing, burning, or irritation around the genitals, and particularly if there is an increase in the frequency or urgency of urination, or if there is a burning, scalding, or cutting sensation during the act of urination. Also whenever the sexual act becomes painful. If women consulted a physician as soon as they noticed any of the symptoms referred to above, they would save months and years of suffering and expense, because the disease would often be taken in hand while still limited to the cervix, and not, as is now often the case, after the inflammation has extended into the uterus and Fallopian tubes.