Neuralgia and the diseases that resemble itAnstie, Francis Edmund
Science
Neuralgia and the diseases that resemble it
Anstie, Francis Edmund
Neuralgia
Neuralgia of the urethra is an affection which is occasionally seen,
both in males and females. I have observed it three times; all these
cases were apparently traceable to the effects of excessive self-abuse.
The male subject was an unmarried man, aged forty-two, of cadaverous
appearance, much emaciated, with clammy, perspiring skin, and habitual
coldness of the extremities; he suffered much from dyspepsia and
palpitation of the heart. The pain ran along the under side of the
penis, which was very large, with an elongated prepuce. The paroxysms
were severe, and came on chiefly in the morning, soon after he awoke. No
remedies did this man any permanent good, and he passed out of my sight,
being at that time in a condition of wretched feebleness, and with
symptoms of threatened dementia. Of the female subjects, one was a
married woman, who accused her husband of impotence, and from her
account it would certainly appear that effective connection had never
taken place; the hymen was completely destroyed, however. The neuralgic
pains recurred nightly in several paroxysms, and were especially severe
about the time of the monthly periods. In this case the patient was, she
stated, induced to give up her malpractices; at any rate, the pain
subsided in a manner which could not be well accounted for by any direct
influence of the medicinal treatment. The other female patient was a
widow in whom the morbid habit was suspected from her general
appearance, and from the existence of enlarged clitoris and other signs
of irritation about the external parts: she became rather rapidly
phthisical, and suffered severely from neuralgic headaches.
Neuralgia of the bladder has been specially described by various
writers; the pain is usually spoken of as seated at the neck of the
bladder, and as accompanied by frequent desire to micturate. I have seen
two cases, both in women: the first was eventually discovered to be an
instance of malignant disease of the fundus of the bladder; the other
was apparently the result of a long-continued menorrhoeal flux, which
had greatly impaired the health, and produced extreme anæmia. In neither
of these instances was the pain referred to the external meatus, as in
the female patients above mentioned who were suffering from urethral
neuralgia. I have never seen the extreme examples of vesical neuralgia
described by some writers, in which actual paralysis of the coats of the
bladder was secondarily produced; but the reflex influence of the
neuralgic affection in both the examples just mentioned appeared to
produce great weakening of the muscular power of the rectum, occasioning
most obstinate and troublesome constipation.
It would appear, from recorded cases, that both the bladder and the
uterus are liable to be affected with neuralgia from malarious
influences; but I have never chanced to see any such cases.
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