A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 2 : $b General diseases (continued) and diseases of the digestive system
Science
A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 2 : $b General diseases (continued) and diseases of the digestive system
Medicine -- Practice
Whilst these local measures are being adopted the constitutional
disorder should also receive attention. A diaphoretic action should be
set up. For this purpose the hot-air or Turkish bath at the outset
would seem to be sometimes really abortive. Of medicinal means amongst
the most reliable are liquor ammonii acetatis and Dover's powder.
Pilocarpine occasionally proves useful. The fixed alkaline salts are
also sometimes beneficial, such as the acetate and citrate of potassium
and, at a later stage, the iodide of potassium. In a certain number of
cases of muscular rheumatism the sodium salicylate acts promptly and
well. This drug will succeed well in proportion as the evidence of the
rheumatic constitution is well marked, as shown by the tendency on
other occasions to attacks of acute articular rheumatism.
Persons who are subject to muscular rheumatism should be made to wear
warm clothing, avoid draughts, guard against strains and twists, and in
other respects to be careful of their general hygiene. Obstinately
recurring cases will very often receive benefit from a visit to some of
the natural springs known to possess antirheumatic qualities.
The chief varieties of muscular rheumatism, divided according to the
locality affected, require some separate description.
1. Lumbago, or myalgia lumbalis, is that common form which attacks the
lumbar muscles and the strong aponeurotic structures in connection with
these. It is more frequently than any other form attributed to some
effort of lifting or sudden twist of the trunk, but in many cases it
owes its origin directly to exposure to cold. The pain comes on
suddenly and renders the person helpless, the body, if he is able to go
about, being held stiffly to prevent any movement or bending; if
severe, he is absolutely compelled to observe complete rest in bed. The
muscles, when handled, appear slightly sore, but no local point of
acute tenderness can be found. This fact, with the characteristic
shrinking from any movement, distinguishes lumbago from neuralgia and
from abscess. Pain in the loins, more or less severe, is such a
frequent accompaniment of disorder of several organs and parts that
careful examination should always be instituted lest some serious
organic disease with lumbar pain as a symptom be mistaken for a simple
lumbago. The most important of these are perinephritis, lumbar abscess,
spinal disease, abdominal abscess, and disease of the rectum and
uterus.
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