North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826Various
History
North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826
Various
Medicine -- Periodicals
For eighteen months, Miss ---- had been afflicted, at intervals, with a
severely painful affection of the nerves of the right cheek, immediately
below the orbit of the eye, and extending to the angle of the lower jaw.
On the 14th of January 1826, she was attacked more violently than usual,
and the remedies, which had previously afforded some relief, now failed.
Stimulating cataplasms, warm embrocations, laudanum, internally and
externally, heat applied externally to the cheek by means of very hot
flannels, produced not the slightest mitigation of the pain; and she
continued to suffer excessively until the afternoon of the 15th; when
acupuncturation being proposed, she consented to the operation with this
remark,--"any thing to relieve me from this agony."
The needles were immediately procured, and three inserted about an inch
from each other. Two in a line parallel with the inferior edge of the
orbit of the eye, and half an inch below it; and a third below, and
equidistant from the others. The first two were introduced to the depth
of three-fourths of an inch; the last, a full inch. They were inserted
very gradually and with a rotary motion.
The second needle was scarcely introduced, before the patient exclaimed,
"the pain has entirely left me." When the third was introduced, she
experienced a stiffness in the muscles of the cheek, and a creeping
sensation, as if a spider's web had been drawn across the face; but no
painful sensation whatever.
Such was the exhausted state of her system from the excessive pain she
had suffered, that when thus relieved, she requested a pillow to rest
her head on, and fell into a gentle slumber.
About two hours after the insertion of the needles, I again visited my
patient, and found her still perfectly free from pain, and seated at a
table reading. She thanked me for the relief I had been the means of
affording her, and requested me not to withdraw the needles, lest the
pain might return. Upon being apprised of the risk that might attend
their being allowed to remain, she observed, that she would rather have
a servant to watch her whilst she slept. The propriety of their removal
being further urged, she at last consented. There was no return of pain.
The next morning, the patient remarked, that the stiffness of the cheek,
and a numbness of the whole right side, continued through the night; and
though she did not sleep very soundly, she was free from pain and rested
well.
By the third day, the stiffness and numbness had passed away, and there
was no return of pain. Several weeks have now passed, and she has had no
relapse; although often since exposed to causes, which, heretofore, had
always excited violent attacks. Previous to the operation, she seldom
passed as many days without severe suffering.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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