The Science of Therapeutics - Classical Homeopathy Online

Full text of "The Science of Therapeutics: According to the Principles of Homeopath...Page 530 of 653Rheuma. 681ness ; at thie period the least motion and the least pressure caupain, 80 that the patients remain perfectly quiet for fear of hurthemselves. Generally several joints are attacked at once, veryseldom only one at a time, never all the joints at once from theThe disease progresses in a very characteristic manner. While thejoint that was first attacked, is getting better in three to fivesometimes with a complete cessation of the pain as well as theswelling, other joints are attacked in the same manner ; in thismanner most of the other joints are invaded, after which therheumatism frequently breaks out again in the joint whence it hadoriginally proceeded. At times the swelling is quite considerableat other times scarcely perceptible ; sometimes it is confined tojoint alone, at other times the surrounding parts are very extensinvolved ; not unfrequently the articular extremities feel enlargThe constitutional symptoms are at times very violent, at othertimes very slight ; this depends a good deal upon the number ofjoints involved. The fever runs pretty high, remitting very irregularly ; the temperature is not much raised above the normallevel; pulse about hundred, in very acute cases increasing veryseldom to one hundred and twenty and upwards, small and changeable ; a copious perspiration, having a musty-sour smell, continuduring the whole course of the disease, corresponding with whichthe patients are tormented by a distressing thirst. The urine isscanty, saturated, and, on cooling, deposits a copious sediment.digestion is slow, the appetite impaired, but very seldom entirelsuspended.The course of uncomplicated rheumatism is never very rapid, generally more or less wavering ; recovery takes place gradually ; sjoints may remain painful and swollen for a long time, the pulseremains obstinately accelerated, the perspiration continues, theweakness abates very slowly. A favorable change takes place veryseldom after the first week, a little more frequently after the sbut most commonly only after the third and fourth week. Veryoften we have noticed that, before the disease terminates, everyis attacked twice, and that the second attack only lasts half asas the first. In violent cases all the joints are aftected togeththe termination of the attack, some, however, are more acutelyinflamed than others.Complications generally occasion a more protracted course of thedisease, and determine the amount of danger involved in the attacAmong these complications we seldom meet with pneumonia, pleu632 Constitutional Diseases without Definite Infection.ritis, peritonitis ; endo- and pericarditis, on the contrary, arecommon occurrences. Such complications must be expected somuch more certainly the larger the number of joints that aresimultaneously involved, and the more fiercely they are at;tackedIn a majority of cases the cardiac inflammation develops itself simperceptibly that it is scarcely betrayed by a single symptom ;very seldom sets in with a chill or with acute pain. A symptomthat ought always to excite our suspicion, is the hurried breathiand the abrupt talking of the patient. If this symptom becomeshttp://www.archive.org/stream/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog/sciencetherapeu00kafkgoog_djvu.txt