In this way the day is well filled, and the time does not drag so heavily
as would be thought. If the stomach rebels at over feeding, the amount of
food must be cut down, but when all the effort of the body is concentrated
on respiration, circulation, and digestion a large amount of nourishment
can be assimilated by the exhausted body, which before this treatment is
undertaken may have had its resources so shattered as to be unable to
carry out any physiological act perfectly. For the treatment to be
successful the rules laid down should be rigidly followed, and the cure
should last from three to six weeks or longer."
HYSTERIA.--A state in which ideas control the body and produce morbid
changes in its functions.
Causes.--It occurs mostly in women, and usually appears first about the
time of puberty, but the manifestations may continue until the menopause
or even until old age. It occurs in all races. Children under twelve years
are not very often affected. A physician writes: One of the saddest
chapters in the history of human deception, that of the Salem witches,
might be headed, "Hysteria in Children," since the tragedy resulted
directly from the hysterical pranks of girls under twelve years of age.
During late years it has been quite frequent among men and boys. It seems
to occur oftener in the warm and mild climates than in the cold. There are
two predisposing causes that are very important--heredity and education.
Heredity acts by endowing the child with a movable (mobile) abnormally
sensitive nervous organization. Cases are seen most frequently in families
with marked nervous disease tendencies, whose members have suffered from
various sorts of nervous diseases.
[284 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]
Education.--The proper home education is neglected. Some parents allow
their girls to grow up accustomed to have every whim gratified, abundant
sympathy lavished on every woe, however trifling, and the girl reaches
womanhood with a moral organization unfitted to withstand the cares and
worries of every-day life. And between the ages of twelve and sixteen, the
most important in her life, when the vital energies are absorbed in the
rapid development of the body, the girl is often "cramming" for
examinations and cooped in close schoolrooms for six or eight hours daily;
not only that, but at home she is often practicing and taking lessons on
the piano in connection with the full school work. The result too often is
an active bright mind in an enfeebled body, ill-adapted to subserve the
functions for which it was framed, easily disordered, and prone to act
abnormally to the ordinary stimuli of life.
Direct Influences.--Those influences that directly bring on the attack are
fright, anxiety, grief, love affairs, and domestic worries, especially in
those of a nervous nature. Diseases of the generative organs and organic
diseases in general, and of the nervous system especially, may be causes
of hysteria.
Symptoms.--These may be divided into two classes: 1. Interparoxysmal or
time between the paroxysms (spells). 2. Paroxysmal. During the time of the
attack. First variety--The will power seems defective. In bad cases
self-control is lost. The patient is irritable, and easily annoyed by the
slightest trifle; is very excitable and easily moved to laughter or tears
without any apparent cause for either. Easily discouraged and despondent.
She wants lots of sympathy. Second--Loss of sensation is frequently
present, and it is most commonly one-sided; it may involve certain parts,
as one or two limbs, the trunk escaping, or part of one limb. Various
spots of want of sensation (feeling) may exist. The skin of the affected
side is frequently pale and cool and a pin prick may not cause bleeding.
In some cases they feel the touch of the hand, but there is no feeling
from heat. There may also be oversensitiveness to pain and of the skin. It
may be one-sided or both, or only in spots. The left ovarian region is a
common sensitive point; also over the breasts, lower positions of the
ribs, on top of the head and over many portions of the backbone. Pain in
the head is a very common and distressing symptom, and is usually on the
top. Pain in the back is common. Abdominal pains may be very severe and
the abdomen may be so tender as to be mistaken for peritonitis. Various
parts of the body may have neuralgic pains. There may be intense pain
around the heart. There may be complete blindness, the taste and smell may
be disturbed or complete loss of hearing. Third--Paralysis is frequently
present. It may be one-sided or only of the lower extremities, or only one
limb. The face is usually not involved when it is on one side. The leg is
more affected than the arm. Sensation is lessened or lost on the affected
side. Paralysis of the lower extremities is more frequent than one-sided
paralysis. The power in the limbs hardly ever is entirely lost; the legs
may usually be moved, but the legs give way if the patient tries to stand.
The affected muscles do not waste. The feet are usually extended and turn
inward. Sudden loss of voice occurs in many cases. The paralysis is
generally paroxysmal, and is frequently associated with contractures,
shortening of the muscle. The contractures may come on suddenly or slowly,
and may last minutes, hours, or months, and some cases even years.
Movements of the hands, arms, etc., like the motions in chorea are often
seen in the young. A trembling (tremor) is sometimes seen in these
patients. It most commonly involves the hands and arms, more rarely the
head and legs. These movements are small and quick. Fourth--Swallowing may
be difficult on account of spasms of the muscles of the pharynx. The
larynx may be involved and interfere with respiration. Indigestion in some
form is often present. The stomach and bowels may be very much bloated
with gas. There may be a "phantom tumor" in the intestine (bowel).
Constipation may be very obstinate, vomiting may be present and persistent
and hiccough present. The action of the heart may be irregular, and rapid
heart action is common. The least motion may cause difficult breathing and
false Angina Pectoris (heart pang); the urine is retained not infrequently
in female patients.
[NERVOUS SYSTEM 285]
Symptoms of the Paroxysms.--Convulsive seizures are common manifestations
of hysteria, and frequently present a great similarity to epilepsy. The
prodromal (fore-running) symptoms are frequently present and may begin
several days before the convulsion occurs. In milder forms, in which the
cause may be due to a temporary physical exhaustion, or emotional shock,
the fore-running symptoms are of short duration. The patient may become
very nervous, irritable, impatient, have fits of laughing and crying,
alternately, or have a feeling of a chill rising in the throat. The
convulsion follows these symptoms. The patient generally falls in a
comfortable place; consciousness is only apparently lost, for she
frequently remembers what has taken place; the tongue is rarely bitten, In
the milder forms the movements are apt to be disorderly. In the severe
forms the movements are apt to be a lasting contraction of the muscles and
the patient may have the head and feet drawn back and the abdomen drawn
front. There then may follow a condition of ecstacy, sleepiness,
catalepsy, trance, or the patient may show symptoms of a delirium with the
most extraordinary sights of unreal things. These convulsions may last for
several hours or days. Firm pressure over the ovaries may bring on a
convulsion, or if made during a convulsion may arrest it. The disease is
rarely dangerous to life, yet death has followed exhaustion induced by
repeated convulsions or prolonged fasting. The duration of hysteria is
very uncertain.
[286 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]
DURING A CONVULSION. The first thing to do is not to be frightened. A
patient in a convulsion from hysteria very seldom injures herself during
the convulsions. If you are sure it is hysteria, give a nasty tasting
medicine, asafoetida is a splendid remedy, but not in pill form, for there
is no taste or smell to them. Sometimes a convulsion may be arrested by
the sudden use of ice to the backbone or abdomen or by dashing cold water
in the face and chest, or by pressing upon the ovaries. When the hysteria
is of a mild form it is sometimes a good plan, when the convulsion comes
on, to place the patient in a comfortable position and then leave her, and
when the patient comes to and finds herself alone and without sympathy,
the attacks are less likely to be repeated. Sometimes if you watch a
patient closely when she is seemingly unconscious, you will see, if you
look at her very guardedly, that one eyelid is not entirely closed, and
that the patient really sees much that is occurring around her. I am
writing of real genuine hysteria, in which the patient is not quite right,
not only physically but mentally,--especially the latter,--during the
attack at least. For that and other reasons such patients should not be
treated cruelly.
Preventive Treatment of Hysteria.--In order to be successful in this line
of treatment the cause must be found and treated. An English physician
writes: "It is pitiable to think of the misery that has been inflicted on
these unhappy victims of the harsh and unjust treatment which has resulted
from false views of the nature of the trouble; on the other hand, worry
and ill-health, often the wrecking of the mind, body and estate, are
entailed upon the near relatives in the nursing of a protracted case of
hysteria. The minor manifestations, attacks of the vapors, the crying and
weeping spells are not of much moment, and rarely require treatment. The
physical condition should be carefully looked into and the mode of life
regulated, so as to insure system and order in everything. A congenial
occupation offers the best remedy for many of these manifestations. Any
functional disturbance should be attended to and a course of tonics
prescribed. Special attention should be paid to the action of the bowels.
The best preventive treatment is the one that is given early, when the
girl is growing from childhood to girlhood. It should be begun even
earlier. A weakly baby should be built up by proper food and outdoor life.
Dainties should not be given to such a child. When the child is old
enough, as some mothers think, to go to kindergarten school, keep the
little one at home. It is plenty early enough to send such a child to
school when she is seven years old. This early school work rushes the
child, makes it nervous. If you should happen to listen to the heart of
many young school children you would find it pounding away at a furious
rate. Do not hurry a weakly child. Do not hurry or rush a young girl even
though she is strong, from the ages of twelve to sixteen years. Our school
system does just that. Instead of taking life easy when she is nearing the
crisis (puberty) or is in that period, she is hurried and rushed and
crammed with her school work; the girl frequently goes to school during
this period, even when she is unwell and sits there for an hour or more
with wet skirts and sometimes wet shoes and stockings. Every day I see
girls of all ages go past my office here in this cultured city of Ann
Arbor, without rubbers, treading through the slush and water. Is it any
wonder they become sickly, become victims of hysteria and suffer from
menstrual disorders? Dysmenorrhea must follow such carelessness, and the
parents are to blame in many cases. Be careful of your children,
especially girls at this age, care less for their intellectual growth, and
pay more attention to their body development, even if it should happen to
be at the expense of their intellectual development. A healthy body is
better than all the knowledge that can be obtained, if it goes, as it too
often does, with a body that is weak and sick. Outdoor life is necessary.
Horseback riding is splendid; walking is also good exercise at a regular
time each day."
[NERVOUS SYSTEM 287]
PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Hysteria.--If there is any womb trouble, it must
be attended to. There is frequently trouble with the menses in cases of
hysteria. It sometimes comes from anemia or simply comes without any
special reason. Tonics like arsenic, iron, strychnine and cod-liver oil
are needed for anemia. Iron valerate is good, in one grain doses, three
times a day, in this disease, when the patient is not fleshy.