Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

In some cases, the patient expresses himself as having a sensation as if a piece of wool or blanket were in the throat, or an aching or sore feeling, running up the sides of the neck towards the ears. Some have a burning or

raw sensation at the little hollow at the bottom of the neck; others, about Adam's Apple; while a third class speak of such a feeling or a prickling at some spot along the sides of the neck. Among others, the first symptoms are a dryness in the throat after speaking or singing, or while in a crowded room, or when waking up in the morning, or after unusual exertion. Some feel as if there were an unusual thickness or a lumpy sensation in the throat, at the upper part, removed at once by swallowing it away; but soon it comes back again, giving precisely the feelings which some persons have after swallowing a pill. Sometimes, this frequent swallowing is most troublesome after meals.

Throat-Ail is not like many other diseases, often getting well of itself by being let alone. I do not believe that one case in ten ever does so, but on the contrary, gradually grows worse, until the voice is permanently husky or subdued; and soon the swallowing of solids or fluids becomes difficult, food or drink returns through the nose, causing a feeling of strangulation or great pain. When Throat-Ail symptoms have been allowed to progress to this stage, death is almost inevitable in a very few weeks. Now and then a case may be saved, but restoration here is in the nature of a miracle.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF BRONCHITIS?

Bronchitis is a bad cold, and the experience of every one teaches what its symptoms are. The medical name for a cold is Acute Bronchitis; called acute, because it comes on at once, and lasts but a short time-a week or

two generally. The ailment that is commonly denominated Bronchitis, is what physicians term Chronic Bronchitis; called chronic, because it is a long time in coming on, and lasts for months and years instead of days and weeks. It is not like Throat-Ail, or Consumption, which have a great many symptoms, almost any one of which may be absent, and still the case be one of Throat-Ail, or Consumption; but Bronchitis has three symptoms, every one of which are present every day, and together, and all the time, in all ages, sexes, constitutions, and temperaments. These three universal and essential symptoms are—

Ist. A feeling of fullness, or binding, or cord-like sensation about the breast.

2d. A most harassing cough, liable to come on at any hour of the day or night.

3d. A large expectoration.

This expectoration is of a tough, stringy, tenacious, sticky, pearly or greyish-like substance, from a tablespoon to a pint or more a day. As the disease progresses, this becomes darkish, greenish, or yellowish in appearance; sometimes all three colors may be seen together, until at last it is uniformly yellow, and comes up without much effort, in mouthfuls, that fall heavily, without saliva or mucus. When this is the case, death comes in a very few weeks or-days.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF CONSUMPTION?

A gradual wasting of breath, flesh, and strength are the three symptoms, progressing steadily through days and weeks and months, which are never absent in any case of true, active, confirmed Consumptive disease that I have ever seen. A man may have a daily cough for fifty years, and not have Consumption. A woman may

spit blood for a quarter of a century, and not have Consumption. A young lady may breathe forty times a minute, and have a pulse of a hundred and forty beats a mninute, day after day, for weeks and months together, and not have Consumption; and men and women and young ladies may have pains in the breast, and sides, and shoulders, and flushes in the cheeks, and night sweats, and swollen ankles, and yet have not an atom of Consumptive decay in the lungs. But where there is a slow, steady, painless decline of flesh and strength and breath, extending through weeks and months of time, Consumption exists in all persons, ages, and climes, although at the same time sleep, bowels, appetite, spirits, may be represented as good. Such, at least, are the results of my own observation.

The great, general, common symptoms of Consumption of the Lungs are night and morning cough, pains about the breast, easily tired in walking, except on level ground, shortness of breath on slight exercise, and general weakness. These are the symptoms of which Consumptive persons complain, and as they approach the grave, these symptoms gradually increase.

HOW DO PERSONS GET THROAT-AIL?

C. M. "noticed that public speaking was followed by some soreness in the throat, which usually wore off in a day or two; in a year or two it was painful to make a speech, and he was compelled to desist altogether from making public addresses. In time, every attempt to speak a word required an effort followed by weari ness; there is a constant disposition to swallow or clear the throat, increased by taking cold-appetite good-sleep sound-general health uninjured. If there is several days rest, begins to feel well, but if any at

tempt is made to speak for fifteen minutes, the soreness in the throat returns."

A woman, while sitting on a stone bench in February, was attacked with sudden hoarseness, this continued, grew worse until the voice was lost altogether; a little pain in the throat, shortness of breath on the least exercise; was three months getting well.

Mrs. P. took cold by being exposed in the Park in Versailles, in August, followed by a hoarseness which nothing could control. In two years her voice was altogether extinct. In two months more there was oppres sion and shortness of breath if she walked fast; in two weeks more this oppression became constant during the . night, often threatening suffocation; and death took place in two years and a half from the first hoarseness.

A tall man, strong constitution, good figure, aged thirty-three, had hoarseness every winter for five years, then there was cough, irregular chills, clear expectoration, very sensitive to cold, copious night-sweats, daily fever, voice then changed some, throat became painful, then drinks began to return by the nose, appetite bad, digestion imperfect, casting up after meals, gradual falling away, heat in the throat, loss of voice, thick greenish expectoration, diarrhoea, and death.

A man thirty years old, delicate, subject to frequent colds for eighteen months past; with pains in the throat and hoarseness; voice hoarse and broken; expectoration thick and tough; often put his hands to his throat as if there were some obstruction there; had fits of coughing which were stifling, this grew painfully severe, and finally died from suffocation.

A gentleman, aged forty-two, was attacked in the street one morning in August, with a fit of suffocation;

he could not proceed; a dry, rough, hoarse cough came on, with shortness of breath. In two weeks had another attack and died.

A vigorous Dutch courier, was subject to cold every winter for eight years, but last winter it was worse, with sore throat, and obstinate hoarseness; emaciated very rapidly, with complete loss of voice; acute pain in the throat when he swallows either liquid or solid food; a tender spot on the side of Adam's apple when pressed with the finger; expectoration streaked with yellow at times, at others, it is viscid, small, opaque, and swimming in a sort of mucilage; night sweats on face and chest; general debility and death.

A gentleman, aged fifty, had an eruption over the body; it disappeared, but a pain in the throat came on immediately, with a feeling of oppression; expectora tion smelt badly. In a year or two there was a cough, hoarse voice, with a tough, sticky expectoration; acute pain in the throat, especially on swallowing and even of liquids; falling away; loss of voice and death.

A large, spare man, of fifty-two, a porter, noticed his voice changing for thirteen months, becoming hoarser for the last six weeks, until the voice was almost lost; difficult breathing; painful swallowing; wakes in starts from sleep, and died of suffocation.

B. W. felt uneasy about the throat frequently, inclining him to swallow or to clear the throat, as something appeared to be sticking there; now and then there was a little hoarseness, especially towards evening, or after speaking or reading; occasional dryness of the throat; some burning feeling at the side of the neck; unnatural sensation at top of breast bone; sometimes a feeling of tightness there; in the course of the year he found it re

« AnteriorContinuar »