A Book of Medical Discourses, in Two PartsCrumpler, Rebecca Lee
Science
A Book of Medical Discourses, in Two Parts
Crumpler, Rebecca Lee
Child care; Children -- Health and hygiene; Infants -- Care; Infants -- Health and hygiene; Women -- Health and hygiene
In the decline of life, the cares become burdensome, and the system is
in a more irritable condition, therefore liable to cold. The ovaries
sometimes become enlarged, causing the abdomen to bloat, and sometimes
present the appearance of dropsy, or tumor; or a general enlargement may
take place. There may be periodical flooding of bright or dark, even
black blood, and large pieces of clot may cause great pain for days,
then pass away unattended by any serious change in the general health.
Very many women begin to notice the change by feelings of suffocation,
flashes as of hot steam, alternating with a slight chilly feeling. If at
any time perspiration is free, it should be encouraged rather than
suppressed. It is better to endure the hot feelings and save the lungs,
than to expose them by inhaling cold air through the tubes, or driving
the perspiration in on to them. Fanning, rushing into cold air, drinking
ice-water, all tends to throw the danger internally, inducing paralysis.
When the feeling of suffocation comes on, it is decidedly best to sit
quiet. When there is much fluttering of the heart, it is a good plan to
take one or two swallows of cool water, just as it is coming on; this
sometimes has the effect to retard it for weeks.
_Treatment._—Avoid over-heated rooms or exciting scenes; keep the bowels
free without severe physic. Use coarse plain food, drink very little of
fluids, avoid spices, stimulants, and secure cheerful exercise for the
mind, with an abundance of outdoor scenery; cultivate a love for the
gifts of our Heavenly Father, seek to do good for those who are worse
off than yourself, and all will come out right.
After the turns have ceased altogether, a woman may live to a good old
age, and fill many hours of usefulness to her sex.
Should the beats of the heart interrupt sleep very much, it is a good
plan to drink about a half-pint of hop tea, sweetened with brown or
maple sugar, at bed-time.
If the heart beats full and heavy, three grains of Bromide of Potassium
should be dissolved in cinnamon water, and drunk at noon and night, for
a week at the time, then left off to watch the result; and continued, if
needful. When there is great heat of the skin without perspiration, a
little mustard should be added to the daily baths for a while. Much
depends upon keeping the blood in a normal state at such times, and if
the luxuries of life are indulged in, the tendency is to fire the blood,
so to speak.
Meats, and sweets, or pastries, induce thirst, simply by their chemical
combination with the juices of the stomach; and the more water is drunk
to quench the thirst, the longer will the distress continue.
It is not at all improbable that the frequent sudden deaths of women
about the age of 36, is owing to taking cold through some imprudence, at
this time. Great care should be taken not to have the beatings of the
heart stopped too suddenly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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