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 prominent symptoms of the climacteric were as follows: Marked
debility, 24; intense nervousness, 31; nervous prostration, 9;
melancholia, 10; headache, 14; neuralgia, 6; hysteria, 7; irritable
heart, 11; tachycardia, 8; insomnia, 19; indigestion, 32;
constipation, 28; diarrhea, 3; leucorrhea, 38; rheumatism, 21; gout,
1; Bright's disease, 12; hemorrhage, 6; alcoholism, 2; corpulency, 2.
As a result of the study of these cases, the most striking feature was
the relation of miscarriages to the sufferings and ill health at the
time of the menopause. Of the nineteen women who had miscarriages,
only one did not suffer in some way at the time of the menopause. Four
suffered only slightly, and fourteen suffered extremely, not only
during the menopause, but in the post-climacteric period as well. And
the next most striking feature was that the prominent symptoms of the
menopause are preeminently reflex or the functional diseases of the
nervous system.
Tilt believes that single women suffer less than other women at the
time of the menopause. He further writes: "As at puberty, from the
ignorance in which it is still thought right to leave young women, so
at the change of life, women often suffer from ignorance of what may
occur, or from exaggerated notions of the perils which await them. It
would be well if they were made to understand that if in tolerable
health, provided that they will conform to judicious rules, they have
only blessings to expect from the change of life. Most unfortunately,
the individual not cognizant of the invisible changes going on in the
economy does not adapt the mode of life to the new conditions of the
organism, and the weakened and lessened amount of the digestive fluids
is unable to master the large quantities of food. The absorbents
refuse to take more than is needed to repair the tissues. The
atrophying muscles of the digestive tube, unable to hurry on the mixed
products of indigestion; fermentation; and micro-organisms inciting
fermentations and elaborating toxic alkaloids, poison and disorder the
functions of life. Man's outdoor life enables him to escape many of
these evils.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account