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124 ESOTERIC ANTHROPOLOGY.
Retention of the menses, from stoppage, is indicated
by pain and swelling of the abdomen, and symptoms
like those of pregnancy. Its cure may require a sur
gical operation.
Suppression is a symptom of some exhaustion, or dis
ease, or new action of the system. Of itself it is of no
consequence. What it indicates, may be. It may pro
ceed from inflammation of the ovaries, or womb ; from
exhaustion, by masturbation or other amative excesses ;
or from disease of some other organs. It very often
occurs when the system is undergoing changes in
water-cure. We have patients whose menses stop for
months, while they are getting purified and strength
ened ; and the return of the menses is the sign that
these processes are completed. Study, mental excite
ment, fatigue, local inflammations, fever, cold, debility,
and exhaustion, may be causes of suppression, and in
every case the cause is to be removed.
The treatment in this case does not differ from that
in retention. Give the patient health, and the menses
will take care of themselves. Medicines to force men
struation are full of mischief. In any case, the sitz-
bath, the wet bandage, and the use of the vagina syringe,
will form a part of the treatment. A thorough wet-
sheet or blanket pack, with a wet bandage, is one of the
best appliances.
Dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation, is caused, in
almost every case, by unnatural or excessive excite
ment of the organs, or previous exhaustion. There
are neuralgic pains in the pelvis ; weakness and distress
ia the small of the back, tenderness of the bosom ; the
womb is congested; the menstrual secretion is hemor-