The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 139 of 653The disease is scarely ever limited to a single attack. After thetrouble seems fully ended, generally in twenty-four hours, less fquently after several days, another attack sets in as suddenly asthe former ; a number of attacks may take place in this manner atindefinitely succeeding periods. In such a case anaemic symptomsmay make their appearance ; in severe cases the patient may evendie of exhaustion.At first sight it may seem as though the diagnosis of pulmonaryhemorrhage could not well be a difiGlcult task. Nevertheless decetions occur nowhere more frequently than in this disease, on whicaccount we shall explain the distinctive signs of pulmonary hemorrhage a little more fully. Nosebleed, especially when the blood idischarged from the posterior nares or during sleep, is easily miPneumorrhagia* 157taken for pulmonarj hemorrliage, because the blood, the largerquantity of which is undoubtedly discharged into the pharynx,likewise gets into the larynx, where it causes a desire to coughw^hich results in the expulsion of blood. At the same time bloodis blown from the nose, and the posterior-superior wall of the phrynx is seen streaked with blood. If these signs are wanting, perhaps the circumstance that after the first bloody expectoration nmore bloody mucus is brought up, may shed light on the nature ofthe attack. The absence of all local symptoms in the lungs is aloinsufficient to justify the supposition that the hemorrhage is nopulmonary, but nasal. It is sometimes equally difficult to discriinate between hemorrhage from the lungs and stomach. In heematemesis the gagging and vomiting likewise easily excites cough ;moreover in hemorrhage from the lungs a quantity of blood, beforeany is coughed up, is sometimes swallowed and vomited up. As arule, the following points may serve as diagnostic signs : In hfetemesis the symptoms of an intense affection of the stomach arealmost always present for some time previous, and these symptomslikewise accompany the attack itself. The blood is always darkred, even black, unless it should emanate from an artery. Thiscould easily be determined by an exact diagnosis ; whereas in pulmonary hemorrhage a bright-red blood is coughed up, although theblood that had first been swallowed and then vomited up, maylikewise be black. A discriminative diagnosis is the most difficuin a case of hsematemesis of tuberculous individuals, or if the psician is called upon to give an opinion derived from the reportdescription of the patient or his attendants. If the stools are tblack for some time, this symptom should not be overlooked. It islikewise important to investigate the circumstance whether theblood was first coughed or vomited up.It is much more difficult and most generally impossible to determine the precise spot in the lungs whence the blood is dischargedIf the blood emanates from the trachea or larynx, the quantity winot be as large, nor will it be as large in bronchial hemorrhagewhen the hemorrhage proceeds from the cavern ; but a perfectlysure diagnosis will always be very difficult, and it is our opinithat this is of very little consequence in a practical point of vThe prognosis is of particular importance to a physician for thereason that pulmonary hemorrhage is supposed to be such a frighthttp://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt