The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 341 of 653neither case is the paroxysm preceded by distinct symptoms; itarises all at once after a trivial exciting cause, or even withouevident reason. Paroxysms where the patient alone is conscious ofthe palpitation, are by far the worst and attended with the greatdistress. The heart feels as if it were hanging loose, tremblingfalling down, without any external change being observable; thesingle beats even are feebler rather than stronger. At the sametime the patient experiences a fearful anguish and restlessness,with every new paroxysm imagines that his death is at hand. Theface is pallid, covered with a cold perspiration, the eyes stare,extremities are cool, the consciousness sometimes seems to vanishfor a time. The pulse is always small, compressible, sometimesintermitting. Paroxysms of this kind seldom last for a long tiraeperhaps only a few minutes, seldom longer than an hour. Paroxysmsof the second kind are characterized by an externally perceptibleincrease of the cardiac activity, the impulse of the heart is a gdeal stronger, the beats succeed each other more rapidly, the patexperiences a painful throbbing in all the arteries, the pulse isand hard, and even in this case not unfrequently unrhythmical.The face is turgescent, highly flushed, the eyes glistening and sing, the body is at times cool, at other times liot. The patientscomplain of headache, buzzing in the ears, luminous vibrationsbefore their eyes, dyspnoea which interrupts speech and obliges tto sigh frequently, and of vertigo which may even be very violentNothing abnormal is perceived at the heart, only the sounds of thheart are considerably stronger. These paroxysms at. times are onof short duration, at other times they continue for hours.The course of this affection varies; often it is very obstinate,Palpitatio Cordis. 401other times it disappears together with the complaint occasioningit. Very seldom the paroxysms show any regularity. If the affection is incidental to the period of evolution, it generally disapof itself and gradually.The affection is not a very serious one, provided life is notdirectly threatened ; this could only be the case if other complashould assume a dangerous character in consequence of the abnormal increase of the heart's action. The disorder being a source otorment to the patient, the physician must necessarily desire tohim from it completely. We can certainly promise a cure unlessthe palpitation depends upon an otherwise incurable affection.The diagnosis must never be based upon an examination instituted during the paroxysm, but should be derived from the condition of the patient during the free intervals.As regards treatment, it is of importance that the previouslyestablished distinction between subjective and objective palpitatshould not be lost sight of, if possible. Cases do occur where thobjective increase of the heart's action is associated with subjetive palpitation, although not always to the extent that the patient's distress and lamentations might lead us to suppose. For treason the remedies contained in each of the two following seriesrespectively ought not to be considered as belonging to either ofthem exclusively, but we have resorfed to this arrangement simplyhttp://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt