Medical Home Remedies:
As Recommended by 19th and 20th century Doctors!
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MEDICAL INTRO
BOOKS ON OLD MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND REMEDIES

THE PRACTICAL
HOME PHYSICIAN AND ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MEDICINE
The biggy of the late 1800's. Clearly shows the massive inroads in medical science and the treatment of disease.

ALCOHOL AND THE HUMAN BODY In fact alcohol was known to be a poison, and considered quite dangerous. Something modern medicine now agrees with. This was known circa 1907. A very impressive scientific book on the subject.

DISEASES OF THE SKIN is a massive book on skin diseases from 1914. Don't be feint hearted though, it's loaded with photos that I found disturbing.

Part of  SAVORY'S COMPENDIUM OF DOMESTIC MEDICINE:

 19th CENTURY HEALTH MEDICINES AND DRUGS

 

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Dropsy.

Dropsy. Dropsy is not a disease but a symptom; but as it is a symptom of very many diseases it may be as well to discuss it as a separate topic.

By dropsy is understood the presence of the watery elements of the blood in portions of the body where they are not usually found. There are various parts of the body where this fluid may collect in considerable quantity; these are, 1. The loose connective tissue situated under the skin; when the meshes of this tissue become filled with watery liquid the skin presents a white, puffed appear­ ance, the foot and leg, perhaps also the body and arms, being swollen. This general dropsy of the tissue under the skin is called anasarca. 2. Another locality where the watery part of the blood often collects is the cavity of the abdomen. In this case the fluid collects between the abdominal wall and the intestine, and the dropsy is called ascites. 3. The water may also collect in the chest, between the lung and the ribs; in this case the dropsy is called hydrothorax. 4. The fluid may also collect between the brain and the skull, the dropsy then being called hydrocephalus, water on the brain. 5. The water may collect in a tumor of the ovary, and is then called ovarian dropsy. There are also various smaller cavities in the body where the watery elements of the blood may accumulate so as to constitute a local dropsy ; such is hydrocele, dropsy of the testicle.

Causes.-Dropsy, whether general or local, is the result of either, 1. interference in the circulation of the blood ; or 2, of im­ poverishment of the blood; or 3, of certain inflammations of the kidneys. Dropsy often occurs in the advanced stages of many wasting diseases, such as consumption; in this case it is probable that the dropsy is due to the first of the above named causes - in­ terference in the circulation of the blood, from the weakness of the heart which accompanies the general failure of the patient's strength. The swelling which often occurs around a local inflammation, such as a felon or an erysipelas, is not properly called dropsy.

General dropsy-anasarca-may be due to any one of several causes. One of the most common of these is heart disease, as a result of which there is an impediment in the circulation of the blood. It follows, therefore, that the blood will collect in some parts of the body, most naturally at the lower parts,- the feet and legs - because the heart is not strong enough to force the blood up again from the feet into the trunk. The result of this accumulation of blood in the feet and legs is the escape of some of its watery elements into the loose tissue under the skin-that is dropsy. This dropsy begins at the feet and legs, and may for a considerable time remain limited to these parts of the body ; but as the heart grows gradually weaker, the circulation becomes more and more feeble, and the dropsy correspondingly greater. Hence after a time the swelling usually extends up the legs to the trunk and even to the face and head.

Another form of dropsy results from disease of the kidney - 11 Bright's disease. " In this case the dropsy usually begins in the feet, gradually extending up the body as the disease progresses in the kidney. Finally the face also becomes swollen and distorted.

An acute inflammation of the kidney may cause general dropsy within a few days ; in this case the swelling often appears in the face first, especially under the eyes ; but in a few hours or days there may be a general puffiness of the skin throughout the body. Such a dropsy will be readily recognized by the accompanying symptoms, since there is almost invariably fever, pain in the back and other evidences of constitutional disturbance. It is from this cause that the dropsy originates which often occurs during the con­ valescence from scarlet fever.

These are the most frequent causes of general dropsy ; and an individual who becomes the subject of such a dropsy, should at once submit himself to medical examination, in order that the cause may be discovered, and, if possible, be removed. There are in addition numerous causes which occasionally induce general dropsy.

It has been already noticed that an impoverishment of the blood results in anasarca (dropsy), examples of which are sometimes seen in those who have long suffered from malarial fever, and in the subjects of advanced consumption. So, too, any obstruction to the circulation of blood may be followed by general dropsy. This obstruction may be not merely organic disease of the heart, already mentioned, but also various tumors within the chest and abdomen may result in the same way by impeding the circulation. Several diseases of the lungs also, whereby the flow of blood through these organs is prevented, may result in more or less general dropsy.

Dropsy of the abdomen {ascites) is a frequent form of dropsy. It occurs not only in connection with general dropsy, from the causes which have been already enumerated, but may also exist without any swelling in other parts of the body. In this case the abdomen is swollen sometimes enormously, so that the skin of this part of the body is tightly stretched, and the veins are often sharply outlined as blue lines running near the surface. The most common cause of ascites is disease of the liver, especially that form of liver disease which is brought on by long indulgence in the use of alco­ holic beverages. It may, however, also result from disease of other organs in the abdomen, as well as from pressure of a tumor on the large vein which leads from the liver, or from disease of the vein - the portal vein - which collects the blood from the intes­ tines and carries it to the liver. Abdominal dropsy may also occur from an ovarian tumor or even from a natural pregnancy, because the tumor or the enlarged womb presses upon the veins ; yet in pregnancy the dropsy is more apt to begin in the feet and to affect the feet and legs rather than the abdomen.

Dropsy, whether it be general or confined to the abdomen, is apt to result, sooner or later, in symptoms which seriously impair the patient's comfort. Not only do the different members of the body become unwieldy from the amount of water contained in them, but the breathing also is apt to become impaired in conse­ quence of interference with the movements of the diaphragm. In many cases of general dropsy, too, water accumulates in the chest, still further interfering with the expansion of the lung.

The distension of the skin often causes serious difficulty when the dropsy has existed for a long time. The skin becomes bluish, and may finally break-an accident most frequent between the knee and ankle. If the difficulty do not result in actual breaking of the skin there may be, nevertheless, a diseased condition known as eczema, or salt rheum ; in this state the skin becomes red and rough, and there is transuded a watery fluid, which keeps the limb constantly moist, and results in the formation of sores or ulcers. Even before this stage arrives the patient is troubled by the most intense itching of the skin, chiefly on the legs. Sometimes, too, when the swelling has involved the body, the patient is annoyed by a similar intense itching around the genital organs.

Treatment.-Since dropsy is merely a symptom and a result of certain diseased conditions of the body, it is evident that the treatment must be directed, not to the dropsy itself, but to the cause. If the swelling result from the disease of the heart, it is often possible, by the use of proper remedies, to strengthen the heart's action and thus improve the circulation of the blood, so that the dropsy may be much diminished or even entirely removed. So, too, in certain cases of dropsy from disease of the kidneys, it may be possible, at least, to improve the condition of the patient, though these cases are less promising than some others.

To strengthen the action of the heart we commonly employ digitalis, ten or fifteen drops of which may be given in water, three or four times a day, as already directed in discussing the dis­ eases of the heart. To relieve the dropsy from disease of the kidneys, it is usually necessary to give the patient tonics, whereby the condition of the blood can be improved. In all cases, unless the patient is quite weak, the dropsy may be diminished by the use of certain purgatives which cause the watery part of the blood to be passed into the intestines and evacuated in the shape of watery stools. For this purpose the following prescription may be given :

Jalap, - -. - - Forty grains.
Cream of tartar, - Four ounces.
Give one-fourth of this every second day.

If the patient be much debilitated, these purgatives which provoke large and watery stools cannot be well borne, and should not be employed in quantities so large as indicated in the above prescription. In these cases, however, it may be possible to reduce the dropsy somewhat by giving the sweet spirits of nitre., one or two teaspoonfuls twice a day. Another remedy which is usually very successful in promoting the removal of water from the skin is jaborandi, or its active ingredient, pilocarpine. The objection to its use consists in the exhaustion which is entailed by it. If, how­ ever, the patient's condition is such as to warrant its use, ten grains of jaborandi may be given once a day ; in all these cases where powerful drugs are used to diminish the dropsy, the patient's con­ dition should be carefully watched, since it is possible to do more harm - even though the dropsy be diminished - by weakening the patient, than good.

Although these measures may succeed for a time in diminish­ ing the dropsy, or at least preventing its increase, yet unless it be possible to remove the diseased condition upon which the dropsy depends, the amount of water in the skin and consequent swelling will gradually increase, in spite of all efforts to control it. Even then it is often possible to secure temporary relief by the operation of tapping, a measure which is especially useful in dropsy of the abdomen or of the chest. Tapping consists in the introduction of a tube through the wall of the abdomen or of the chest, whereby the accumulated water is permitted to escape. It is a matter re­ quiring much care and skill, and should, of course, be performed only by a competent physician. The relief afforded is often very great ; the patient is no longer compelled to struggle for breath, but becomes temporarily quite comfortable. In most cases the dropsy returns again far more rapidly than was the case originally ; in a few weeks or months the patient requires tapping again. There is, of course, in this operation of tapping nothing which can tend to cure the disease, nor even to arrest its progress. Yet the relief obtained is so great that the operation is a boon to the patient, as well as to his friends. In some cases, tapping is re­ peated a dozen or a. score of times, each time with the effect of improving the patient's condition, although he may ultimately suc­ cumb to the disease which causes the dropsy.

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