Diseases of the kidneys and of the spleen, hemorrhagic diseases / by H. Senator and M. Litten ; edited, with additions by James B. Herrick ; authorized translation from the German, under the editorial supervison of Alfred Stengel.

  • Hermann Senator
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the kidneys and of the spleen, hemorrhagic diseases / by H. Senator and M. Litten ; edited, with additions by James B. Herrick ; authorized translation from the German, under the editorial supervison of Alfred Stengel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    309/858 page 293
    out the kidneys. The drinking of hot and of strongly carbonated waters, and the indulgence in hot or even very warm baths are to be forbidden on account of their exhausting effect on the heart. For anemic persons the easily tolerated saline chalybeate ivaters, such as Franzenbad, Elster, and Wernarzer Brunnen in Briickenau, are useful. The best thing to do with such patients, however, is to send them to an ordinary summer resort where they can be properly fed and have exercise in the open air without any exertion on their part. ClimatiG health resorts are of advantage only if they permit the patients to spend more time in the open air during the unfavorable season than would be pos- sible at home. In making a selection the physician should see that the place offers plenty of opportunities for walking without any laborious mountain climbing. Thus, the same places that have been recommended for the parenchymatous form are suitable for indurative nephritis also. When the damaged heart is the most prominent feature and there is no widespread disease of the vessels, hot-water cures, such as are used for heart patients in Nauheim, Rehme, Kissingen, and other places, and suitable gymnastic exercises, may be employed with caution. As regards the influence of pregnancy, what has been said in con- nection with parenchymatous nephritis (see p. 258) applies in the case of indurative nephritis. Among the symptoms that require treatment in cases of contracted kidney with compensation may be mentioned palpitation of the heart, which is to be combated by means of cold compresses, ice-bags, or the wearing of heart bags filled with cold water and pieces of ice, and, if necessary, by the administration of potassium bromid, bitter-almond water, and digitalis; cardiac asthma, which may be relieved with the ethereal tincture of valerian or with digitalis and nitroglycerin or by nitrites, such as sodium nitrite, amyl nitrite and sweet spirits of niter, as, for example, in the following prescription : B Mtroglycerin, 0.05 (1 gr.) ; Sweet spirits of niter, 25.00 (6 oz.).—M. Sig. 12 to 15 drops, repeated if necessary. [There can be no question of the great value of nitroglycerin in some of these cases where arterial tension is unusually high. Tolerance for the drug seems often to be established, so that the initial dose of -^-^ gr. may have to be increased to ^, -gig-, or even gL gr. Combined with digitalis, it at times seems to act well. Perhaps by dilating peripheral vessels while the digitalis increases the action of the heart, it acts as a diuretic.—Ed.] In very bad cases an injection of morphin may be required. When there are signs of determination of blood to the head, ringing in the ears, headache, and redness of the face, cold compresses or an ice-bag to the head may be tried, or in full-blooded persons wet cups to the back of the neck, or the administration of saline laxatives and bitter waters. In vigorous persons with strong heart action and full, high-tension pulse, blood-letting, as recommended by Bartels, may prove useful under such circumstances.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3