Medical lectures and aphorisms / by Samuel Gee ; with recollections by J. Wickham Legg.

  • Samuel Gee
Date:
1915
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical lectures and aphorisms / by Samuel Gee ; with recollections by J. Wickham Legg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    71/426 (page 57)
    i] In treating these myalgic people, the first thing is \ to see that they take food enough. Often they take i very little food; especially if they suffer from con- ] current nervous disorder of the stomach, atonic or I flatulent dyspepsia, or cardialgia. But take food I they must: if they cannot or will not take much ! at a time, they must feed often. A moderate allow¬ ance of alcohol, in form of stout, ale, or wine, may be reckoned as so much food. The muscles must have an opportunity of being well nourished, or your other treatment will do little good. Secondly, the muscles should be rested. The pain is a kind of fatigue. The muscles of the neck and back cannot be rested unless the spine be supported in its whole length: the patient must lie on a couch, or recline in a very easy chair with a long, high back, and with elbows, so that the weight of the arms is taken off the spine. Yet here is a difficulty. A prudent man thinks long before he condemns a woman to the sofa. There is danger lest she may never rise from it, and so be a burden to herself and her friends for the rest of her life. Beware of insist¬ ing too much upon the repose of a couch ; it were