MEDICINES
"Of simples in these groves that grow
He'll learn the perfect skill;
The nature of each herb, to know
Which cures and which can kill."
--Dryden.
So distressing a malady as epilepsy early attracted attention, and every
treatment superstition could devise, or science could suggest, has been
tried. Culpepper in his "Herbal" (300 years old), recommends bryony; lunar
caustic (nitrate of silver) was extensively used, because silver was the
colour of the moon, which caused madness.
The royal touch for scrofula (King's Evil) was also extended to epilepsy,
the king blessing a ring, which was worn by the sufferer.
Another old remedy was to cut off a lock of the victim's hair while in a
seizure and put it in his hand, which stopped (?) the attack. In Berkshire
a piece of silver collected at the communion service and made into a ring
was specific, but in Devon a ring made of three nails from an old coffin
was preferred. Lupton says: "A piece of child's navel-string borne in a
ring is good against falling sickness."
Nearly every drug in the Pharmacopoeia has been tried, the drugs now
generally used being sodium, potassium and ammonium bromide.
Before bromides were introduced by Locock in 1857, very strict hygienic,
dietic and personal disciplinary treatment combined with the use of drugs
often effected improvement. Since the use of bromides, these personal
habits have, unfortunately, been neglected, far too much reliance being
placed on the "three times a day after meals" formula.
All bromides are quickly absorbed from the stomach and bowels, and enter
the blood as sodium bromide, which lowers the activity of both motor and
sensory centres, and renders the brain less sensitive to disturbing
influences.
Unfortunately, the influence of bromides is variable, uncertain, and
markedly good in only a small proportion of cases.
In about 25 per cent of cases, in which mild seizures occur at long
periods, without mental impairment, the bromides arrest the seizures,
either temporarily or permanently, after a short course. In another 25 per
cent the bromides lessen the frequency and severity of the fits, this being
the common _temporary_ result of their use in _all cases_ in the first
stages.
In quite 50 per cent of cases, the effect of bromides diminishes as they
are continued, and they finally exert no influence at all. Many cases are
temporarily "cured", the drug is stopped, and the seizures recur. Bromides
are valuable in recent and mild cases, but no medicine exerts much effect
on severe cases of long standing, which usually end in an institution.
When these drugs are taken continuously, nausea, vomiting, sleepiness,
confusion of thought and speech, lapses of memory, palpitation, furred
tongue, unsteady walk, acne and other symptoms of "bromism" may arise,
whereupon the patient must stop taking bromides and see a doctor, who will
substitute other drugs for a time.
If heart palpitation be troublesome while using bromides, take a
teaspoonful of sal volatile in water.
See a doctor if you can; _until_ you see him, get from a chemist:
Potassii bromidi 10 grains.
Sodii bromidi 10 grains.
Boracis purificati 5 grains.
Aquæ 1 fluid ounce.
Two tablespoonfuls in water three times a
day after meals.
This prescription is for an adult. If the patient be under twenty-one, tell
the chemist his age, and he will make it up proportionately.
Victims who have seizures with some regularity at a certain time, should
take the three doses in one, two hours before the attack is expected. If
there are long intervals between attacks, cease taking bromides after one
fit and recommence three weeks before the next seizure is apprehended. When
there is an interval of six months or more between attacks, take no drugs.
Bromides in solution are unpalatable, patients grow careless of regularity
and dosage.
You must learn from your doctor and your own experience the prescription,
time and dose best suited to your case, and then _never miss a dose until
you have been free from fits for two years_, for the beneficial action of
bromide depends on the tissues becoming and remaining "saturated" with the
drug. Never give up bromides suddenly after long use, but gradually reduce
the dose.
It is just when the disease has been brought under control, that patients
consider further doctor's bills an unnecessary expense, with the result
that a little later the fits recur, and a tedious treatment has to be
commenced over again.
No value can be placed on any specific for epilepsy until it has been
thoroughly tested for some years, and so proved that its effects are
permanent, for almost any treatment is of value for a time, possibly
through the agency of suggestion.
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