The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; A Study in HygieneGalbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)
Science
The Four Epochs of Woman's Life; A Study in Hygiene
Galbraith, Anna M. (Anna Mary)
Women -- Health and hygiene
The symptoms of cancer of the uterus are hemorrhage, a more or less
offensive discharge, and pain. The quantity of blood may vary from a
slight amount which occasionally stains the clothing to a profuse
hemorrhage. In the married, bleeding following coition is always a
suggestive symptom. During the menopause any irregular or profuse
bleeding should excite suspicion. After the cessation of the menopause
any bleeding whatsoever, whether slight or profuse, should always be
regarded as a danger signal which demands an immediate and thorough
local examination. The same is true of any offensive vaginal
discharge. Pain is frequently so late a symptom that to wait for its
appearance means that the favorable time to perform an operation has
passed by. Emaciation is also a symptom of advanced disease.
Cancer is chiefly a disease of the climacteric; when there is a
diminished power on the part of the tissues to resist adverse
influence. It affects the debilitated and overworked, but it is also
found in the well nourished and in the comparatively young.
Cancer always begins as a local disease, and when it occurs in the
uterus, it is easily accessible and eradicable in its earliest stages;
that is, if the disease is discovered in its incipiency, an operation
will remove all the diseased tissue. If, on the contrary, the disease
is left to nature, the growth spreads out into the surrounding viscera
like the roots of a tree in the earth, and the cancer may be literally
said to eat into the tissues which it invades. At the same time the
germs of the disease begin to be carried all through the body, and the
entire constitution is affected.
Prophylaxis, or the Prevention of Cancer.-- All pelvic inflammations
should be promptly treated, and not allowed to become chronic.
Leucorrhea is a symptom of inflammation, the true cause of which can
be determined only by local examination. Women who have given birth to
children-- and this is more especially necessary as they near the age
of forty years-- should be carefully examined for tears of the neck of
the womb. If these tears are extensive they should be repaired, as it
is certain that malignant growths frequently do follow local injuries
and traumatisms.
Any irregular or profuse bleeding demands an immediate investigation
by means of a local examination.
A stormy, irregular, or delayed menopause should excite in the woman a
suspicion of some abnormal condition.
The importance of women being carefully watched by gynecologists at
this period of their lives cannot be too emphatically stated, for upon
the early recognition of cancer depends the only hope of radical cure
of the disease. It is estimated that at the present time not less than
95 per cent. of all cases of cancer of the uterus come under the
observation of the profession at a stage of the disease when all
prospect of permanent relief is out of the question.
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