Women's Suffering
Certain ailments peculiar to the female organism have become almost
universal among civilized races. Probably the majority of surgical
operations are performed for so-called women's diseases. That women
suffer untold agonies during menstruation, in childbirth and at the
climacteric is looked upon as unavoidable and a matter of course.
The fact that the native women of Africa, of the Sandwich Islands,
the South American bush and our western plains are practically
exempt from these ailments indicates that the cause of female
troubles must lie in artificial habits of living and in the
unnatural treatment of diseases.
Many are beginning to recognize these truths. For them is dawning a
new era, when knowledge will free Woman from physical suffering as
it has freed her from other bondage.
Instances like the following are of common occurrence in our free
clinics for Diagnosis from the Eye:
A lady tells us that she has been suffering for many years from a
complication of female troubles. Her eyes show a heavy scurf rim,
indicating an inactive, atrophied skin, poor surface circulation
and, as a result of this condition, defective elimination through
the skin and accumulation of waste matter and systemic poisons in
the system. The areas of stomach and intestines reveal the signs of
chronic catarrhal affection and atrophy of the membranous linings
and glandular structures. This, of course, means indigestion,
fermentation of foods, gas formation, constipation and a multitude
of resulting disturbances.
The signs in the iris also indicate an atonic, relaxed and prolapsed
condition of stomach, bowels and other abdominal organs. This is
likely to cause sagging of the genital organs, relaxation of the
bands and ligaments which hold them in place and, as a result of
this relaxation, misplacement of the womb.
We tell the patient of our findings in her eyes and she admits all
the conditions and symptoms which we describe, but she is not
satisfied because our diagnosis does not agree with that of the
great specialists and professors of medicine whom she has consulted.
Every one of them has told her that all her troubles are due to the
fact that her uterus is flexed and retroverted, that it presses on
the rectum (this being the cause of her chronic constipation and of
the obstructed menstrual flow, the congestion, pain, etc.), and that
the womb must be placed in its normal position by a surgical
operation.
In this and many similar cases that have come to us for treatment,
it was the relaxed and prolapsed condition of the stomach and
intestines that caused the sinking (prolapsus) of the uterus with
the attending distressing symptoms. In some instances the womb and
with it the bladder had fallen so low that they protruded from the
vagina. In all of these cases, as the patients without exception
told us, the professors and specialists assured them that surgical
treatment, shortening of the ligaments, the insertion of pessaries,
the cutting loose and raising of the womb, etc., were the only
possible means of curing these ailments.
So we explain to the lady that the relaxed and prolapsed condition
of the genital organs, the misplacement of the womb, etc., are not
causes of disease, but only the effects of the weakened and relaxed
condition of the digestive organs, and that this, in turn, is due to
indigestion, malnutrition, defective elimination through skin,
bowels and kidneys; that, therefore, the only possibility of cure
lies in correcting and overcoming these constitutional conditions
through an eliminative diet, blood-building remedies and other
natural methods; that the blood must be built up on a normal basis,
and that the digestive tract and the other abdominal organs must be
made more alive and active through hydropathic treatment, massage,
spinal manipulation, general and special exercises, air and sun
baths, etc.
In thousands of cases we have thus cured female troubles without
poisonous drugs or surgical operations, simply by improving the
digestion, purifying the blood and invigorating the abdominal organs
in a natural manner.
On the other hand, almost daily we meet with instances of untold
suffering as the direct consequence of operations, the use of
pessaries, etc., which only served to weaken the genital organs
still more and resulted in all sorts of complications,
inflammations, adhesions, etc., and in many cases in malignant
tumors.
In this connection I would warn especially against the use of
pessaries. They are at best only a mechanical contrivance, and do
not add anything to the improvement of the diseased condition. On
the other hand, they irritate the abdominal organs by excessive
pressure, which in many instances produces inflammation of the
neighboring tissues and abnormal growths.
Suppressing inflammation of the genital organs by poisonous
antiseptics, sprays, tampons or other local applications only tends
to aggravate the chronic conditions. Curetting (scraping) the womb
does not cure the catarrhal affection, but only serves to destroy
its delicate mucous lining and to suppress catarrhal elimination.
Holding up the womb by means of a pessary in order to strengthen its
muscles and ligaments is about as reasonable and effective as to try
to strengthen a weak arm by carrying it in a sling. Replacing or
removing misplaced or affected organs by means of surgery does not
contribute anything toward correcting the causes of these abnormal
conditions, but in many instances makes a real cure impossible. How
can an organ be cured after it has been extirpated with the knife?
It is a fact known to every observing physician that from fifty to
seventy-five percent of all women have some kind of misplacement of
the genital organs and that only a comparatively small number of
these suffer from local disturbances, indicating that, in most
cases, misplacement alone will not create serious trouble.
It is ridiculous to assume that the small, flabby uterus of an
anemic woman can block the rectum and cause disease, but it is an
excellent talking point, as effective in bringing victims to the
operating table as appendicitis with its fairy tales of seeds and
foreign bodies lodging in the appendix vermiformis.
While studying Nature Cure in Germany, I took special courses in the
Thure-Brandt Massage. By means of this internal manipulative
treatment, weakness of ligaments and muscles, displacements,
adhesions, etc., can be corrected without the use of knife or drugs.
During my first years in practice, I frequently resorted to the
internal manual treatment with good results; but I found that in
most cases it was not at all necessary in order to produce perfect
cures.
I saw that chiropractic and osteopathic correction of spinal and
pelvic lesions and consequent removal of irritation and pressure on
the nerves, the cure of chronic constipation and malnutrition by
pure food diet and hydrotherapy, the strengthening of the pelvic
muscles and nerves by means of active and passive movements and
exercises, were fully sufficient to correct the local symptoms in a
natural manner. Thousands of cases cured by us by these methods
attest the truth of our statements; while those who failed to
understand the simple reasoning of the Nature Cure philosophy or
lacked will power to withstand the arguments of friends and
physicians followed the siren call of the operating table and have
been sorry for it ever since.
In case of operation for misplacement of the womb, it is necessary,
in order to keep the womb in its new position, to stitch it to the
frontal abdominal wall. Very frequently it will not stay there,
breaks loose, and relapses into an abnormal position. Granted that
it remains fixed, woe to the woman if she becomes pregnant. The womb
cannot assume the constantly changing positions of pregnancy, and
the result is either abortion or malformation of the fetus, together
with great and constant suffering to the woman.
The operation has done nothing to correct unnatural habits of living
or to purify the system of its scrofulous and psoriatic taints, of
drug and food poisons. Frequently these gather in the parts that
have been weakened and irritated by the antiseptics and by the
surgeon's knife, and set up new inflammations, ulcerations and only
too often malignant tumors. As a result, one operation follows
another.
We cannot cut in the genital organs without cutting in the brain.
The nervous system is a unit, and the brain is directly and
intimately connected with the complex and highly sensitive nerve
centers of the genital organs. Mutilation of the genital nerve
centers, therefore, invariably affects the brain, and thus the
intellectual and emotional life of a woman. It is almost axiomatic
that a woman whose uterus or ovaries have been removed or mutilated
is afterward mentally and emotionally more or less abnormal.
Nervousness, irritability and only too often nervous prostration and
insanity are the sequelae of operative treatment.
In medical colleges, among students and professors, these facts are
freely admitted and discussed, but the prospective patient hears a
different story. "Cut loose the womb, shorten the ligaments, put it
into the right position, and everything will be well." This sounds
plausible and seductive; but everyday experiences expose the
inadequacy and the destructive aftereffects of local symptomatic
treatment.
The Climacteric or Change of Life
Under our artificial methods of living, the ~climacteric~ or change
of life, has become the bugbear of womanhood. It seems to be
universally assumed that this period in a woman's life must be
fraught with manifold sufferings and dangers. It is taken as a
matter of course that during these changes in her organism a woman
is assailed by the most serious physical, mental, and psychic
ailments which may endanger her sanity and often her life.
Like rheumatism, neurasthenia, neuralgia and hundreds of other
medical terms, "change of life" is a convenient phrase to cover the
doctor's ignorance. No matter what ailments befall a woman during
the years from forty to fifty, may the causes be ever so obscure,
the diagnosis is easy. "You are in the climacteric, you are
suffering from the change of life," says the doctor, and the patient
is satisfied and resigns herself to the inevitable.
Frequently women come to us for consultation, and after reciting a
long string of troubles they conclude with the remark: "Of course,
doctor, I'm in the change, and I know that lots of these things are
natural at my time of life."
Is it true that all this suffering is natural and inevitable? Among
the primitive races of the earth suffering incident to the change of
life is practically unknown. The same is true in a lesser degree of
the country population of Europe. The causes of it must, therefore,
be sought in the artificial modes of living peculiar to our
hypercivilization and in the unnatural methods of treating disease
as commonly practiced.
Which are the specific causes of the profound disturbances so often
accompanying the organic changes of the climacteric?
Aside from their other physiological functions, the menses are for
the woman a monthly cleansing crisis through which Nature eliminates
from her system considerable amounts of waste and morbid matter
which, under a natural regime of life, would be discharged by means
of the organs of depuration, that is, the lungs, skin, kidneys and
bowels.
The more natural the life and the more normal, as the result of
this, the woman's physical condition, the shorter and less annoying
and painful, within certain limits, will be the menstrual periods.
Through unnatural habits of eating, drinking, dressing, breathing
and through equally unnatural methods of medical treatment, the
kidneys, skin and bowels have become inactive, benumbed or
paralyzed. As long as the vicarious monthly purification by means of
the menses continues, the evil results of the torpid condition of
the regular organs of depuration do not become so apparent. The
organism has learned to adapt itself to this mode of elimination.
But when, on account of the organic changes of the climacteric,
menstruation ceases, then the systemic poisons, which formerly were
eliminated by means of this monthly purification, accumulate in the
system and become the source of all manner of trouble. All
tendencies to physical, mental or psychic disease are greatly
intensified. The poisonous taints circulating in the blood
overstimulate or else depress and paralyze the brain and the nervous
system. As a consequence, mental and psychic disorders are of common
occurrence; the more so because the waning of the sex functions is
accompanied by a tendency to negativity and hypersensitiveness.
How Can the Ailments of the Climacteric Be Avoided or Cured?
Is it not self-evident that the easiest way to sidestep the troubles
incident to this critical period and to reestablish the perfect
equilibrium of the organism lies in restoring the natural activity
of the organs of elimination?
This is what Nature Cure accomplishes easily and successfully with
its natural methods of treatment. Air and sun baths, water
treatments and massage bring new life and activity to the enervated
skin. Pure food diet, chiropractic and osteopathic treatment,
curative gymnastics, homeopathic or herb remedies restore the
natural tonicity and functioning of the stomach, liver, kidneys and
intestines. Mental therapeutics, systematically practiced, make
every cell in the body vibrant with the higher and finer forces of
the mental and spiritual planes of being.
When the natural equilibrium of the organism is thus restored, there
is absolutely no occasion for the troubles of the climacteric. We
have proved this in hundreds of cases. As kidneys, skin and bowels
begin to function normally and freely, physical and mental
conditions commence to improve, and one after another the dreaded
symptoms disappear.
Let us compare with this common sense, natural treatment the
orthodox medical practice in such cases:
The medical treatment, as usual, is entirely symptomatic. The
sluggish organs of elimination are prodded by poisonous cathartics,
laxatives, diaphoretics, cholagogues and tonics, all of which, after
temporary stimulation, leave the organs in a more weakened and the
system in a more poisoned condition. If brain and nerves are
irritated and aching, sedatives and hypnotics are given to stupefy
them into insensibility. If the heart action is weak and irregular,
it is whipped up by poisonous stimulants; if too fast, it is checked
and paralyzed by sedatives and depressants.
Thus, instead of removing the underlying causes, every symptom is
promptly suppressed. Drug poisons are added to the waste and morbid
matter which are already clogging the channels of life. And, of
course, under such unnatural treatment, in many instances things go
from bad to worse. Flushes, headaches, rheumatic and neuralgic
pains, melancholia, irritability, mental aberration, partial
paralysis and a multitude of other symptoms appear and gradually
increase in severity.
When the family physician has arrived at the end of his wits, the
surgeon has his innings, and leaves the patient in a still worse
condition of chronic suffering.
These experiences are so common that the manifold troubles of the
climacteric are regarded as unavoidable and as a matter of course.
Here, as in so many other instances, people fail to see that it is
the treatment which prevents the cure. If the efficiency of common
sense, natural treatment were more widely known and recognized, how
much unnecessary suffering could be avoided.