The Treatment of Hay Fever By rosin-weed, echthyol and faradic electricity, with a discussion of the old theory of gout and the new theory of anaphylaxis

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Title: The Treatment of Hay Fever

       By rosin-weed, echthyol and faradic electricity, with a

              discussion of the old theory of gout and the new theory

              of anaphylaxis

Author: George Frederick Laidlaw

Release Date: July 20, 2012 [EBook #40287]

Language: English

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THE TREATMENT OF HAY FEVER

By Rosin-weed, Ichthyol And Faradic Electricity, With A Discussion Of The Old Theory Of Gout And The New Theory Of Anaphylaxis

BY

GEORGE FREDERICK LAIDLAW, M.D.

Consulting Physician to Yonkers Homœopathic Hospital; to St. Mary's Hospital, Passaic; and to the Ann Mary Memorial Hospital, Spring Lake, New Jersey; Consulting Physician to Cumberland Street Hospital, Brooklyn, Department of Public Charities

Formerly Professor of Practice of Medicine in the New York Homœopathic Medical College; formerly Visiting Physician to Flower Hospital; to Hahnemann Hospital and to the Metropolitan Hospital, Blackwells Island, Department of Public Charities, New York

BOERICKE & RUNYON

NEW YORK

1917

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY

BOERICKE & RUNYON

PREFACE

The essentials of this book, rosin-weed, ichthyol, and faradism, were announced at the Baltimore meeting of the American Institute of Homœopathy, in June, 1916, and published simultaneously in the New England Medical Gazette and in the Journal of the American Institute of Homœopathy in December, 1916. They were presented also at the New York City branch of the United States Hay Fever Association in July, 1916; at the annual meeting of the same Association at Bethlehem, New Hampshire, in August, 1916; and rather widely printed in the public press of New York and Boston in the summer of 1916.

As a suggestion to those who may wish to follow the subject of hay fever in its recent interesting developments, chapters have been added on the old conception of gout, the new theory of anaphylaxis and treatment by diet, by pollen extracts and by bacterial vaccines.

CONTENTS

THE TREATMENT OF HAY FEVER

CHAPTER I

THE DIAGNOSIS

Under the name hay fever I include rose-cold and the so-called hyperæsthetic catarrh or vaso-motor rhinitis, all characterized by intense itching of the eyes, nose, and throat, free discharge, sometimes asthma, the attacks being precipitated by strong odors, dust, or pollen. There are many forms of the disease, some occurring in May or June, some as early as March, before the budding of vegetation, some even in the winter; but the large majority of cases occur in August, coincident with the flowering of late summer vegetation, notably the rag-weed and golden-rod. It is not so well known that the California privet, so widely used in hedges and parks, aggravates many patients, especially in June and July, when the scent of the flowers is strong. Others are irritated instantly by the odor of crude oil that is spread so freely on the roads in summer, by metal-dust, and by the cinders of a railway trip. Some patients are sensitive to one irritant, some to many irritants. I knew one man whose itching of the eyes began in March, nose and throat following in April and May, cough in July and August, who was sensitive to each and all of these irritants from March to October every year for thirty years.

If we follow the modern tendency and classify the cases according to the specific irritant, we shall have an endless number of varieties according to the endless number of possible irritants; and where will you classify the man who is subject to them all? In the present state of our knowledge, it seems better to regard the sensitiveness to irritants as the characteristic of these cases and to think of them as different forms of the same disease. In most text-books this idea is expressed by the terms hyperæsthetic catarrh and vaso-motor rhinitis; but there are serious pathological objections to the terms catarrh and rhinitis. These objections and the reasons for regarding the lesion as an angioneurotic œdema are discussed in Chapter VI, on Hay Fever as Urticaria, to which the reader is referred.

An additional reason for regarding all these varieties as superficially differing forms of the same disease is the fact that all of them are curable by the same methods. I am aware of the danger of error in this argument, the persuasive but misleading Analogieschluss, and would not advance it too strongly. However, for all practical purposes except the vaccine treatment, described in Chapter XII, all these hyperæsthetic cases may be regarded as varieties of the same disease.

With a patient suffering from hay fever, as with a patient suffering from any other disease, the first thing to do is to take the history and make an examination. Usually, the nature of the case will be clear from the history, but it is a mistake to rest here without looking into the nose and throat. In the nose, you may find anything from a polyp to a shoe-button, any of which may require mechanical removal before you will make any progress with your medicines, no matter how well selected. Usually, you will find nothing but a swelling of the mucous membrane of the turbinates with free discharge. If you are an adept at examining the nose, you will probably search for the sensitive areas, touching of which causes a spasm of sneezing. These may be found anywhere in the nose, but most commonly at the anterior and posterior ends of the middle and inferior turbinated bones. I apply ichthyol to the naso-pharynx to test the sensitive area described in Chapter III.

What constitutes a gross lesion requiring surgical removal? Competent men differ widely and the practice of the same man has differed widely at different stages of his career. For a time there was enthusiastic cutting of septal spurs and burning of redundant mucosa and cauterizing of sensitive areas. I think that the relation of the nose specialist to hay fever is similar to the relation of the abdominal surgeon to neurasthenics. The more experienced he becomes, the more he advises letting them alone or using gentle measures. Distinct polyps should be removed.

Having finished the examination and found no gross lesion requiring surgical removal, the treatment must be decided. The easiest plan for both patient and physician is to give rosin-weed, as described in Chapter II.

The most painful for the patient but often effective in severe cases is the application of ichthyol, as described in Chapter III.

If the patient is systematic and will attend to it, the ichthyol may be replaced by the frequent spraying with menthol and eucalyptol, as described in Chapter IV.

The best treatment of all, but that which takes the most time of both patient and physician, is the use of electricity, as described in Chapter V.

Consider the possible importance of diet in the case, as described in Chapter XIII.

Finally, ponder on the nature of hay fever, as discussed in Chapters VI to X, and the