A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 3 : $b Diseases of the respiratory, circulatory, and hæmatopoietic systems
Science
A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 3 : $b Diseases of the respiratory, circulatory, and hæmatopoietic systems
Medicine -- Practice
The intimate nervous connection which exists between the lungs and
stomach would naturally lead us to anticipate good results from
emetics. In asthma, as in laryngismus stridulus, an emetic often
affords prompt relief and arrests the paroxysm. The nausea which
precedes the act of vomiting, acting as a depressant, causes relaxation
of the spasm, while the emesis by unloading the stomach removes an
important source of irritation. Like tobacco and lobelia, remedies of
this class are only beneficial when pushed far enough to produce the
symptoms of depression and collapse to which we have alluded; these
once established the relief is usually complete. Tartar emetic and
ipecacuanha are the representatives of this class most used in asthma.
Tartar emetic, owing to the excessive and long-continued depression
which it occasions, is now rarely employed, having been almost entirely
superseded by ipecacuanha, which is equally efficacious and more
prompt. Its effects also disappear more rapidly than those of antimony.
Like other remedies intended to cut short the paroxysm, ipecacuanha
should be given as early as possible. It should be taken in full doses
of at least twenty grains.
Bromide of potassium, as is well known, acts upon the vaso-motor
nerves, causing contraction of the arterioles of the brain and spinal
cord, and thus inducing a state of partial anæmia which results in a
lessening of the irritability of these organs, quieting muscular spasm
and inducing sleep. These effects would naturally lead to its
employment in spasmodic asthma. Although occasionally used with success
in shortening the paroxysm, it is better adapted, as suggested by
Riegel, for use during the intervals, when, if given continuously, it
sometimes diminishes the severity of the paroxysms and causes them to
recur less frequently.
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