The principles and practice of obstetrics / by Gunning S. Bedford.
- Gunning S. Bedford
- Date:
- 1863
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The principles and practice of obstetrics / by Gunning S. Bedford. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
656/696 page 634
![her general health, but her menstrual function has not yet appeared. 1 should judge, my good woman, from the change in the appearance of your daughter, that her health is very much better than it was when you first brought her here. Yes ! indeed it is, sir, but I am very un- easy because her turns have not come on. You need give yourself no uneasiness; t she will be all right in due time. The case of this young girl, gentlemen, is one full of practical interest. You will remem- ber that when she first applied for advice, I called your attention partic- ularly to the fact that, although seventeen years of age, yet she was a mere child as regarded her physical development. The treatment sug- gested for her consisted in remedies calculated to invigorate her general health, and to develop her physical forces. The amenorrhcea, although the chief object in the mother's mind, causing her much anxiety, was for us a trivial circumstance. You perceive now, from the general ap- pearance of the girl, that her health is much improved. For the pres- ent, I shall direct a pill twice a-day of the following combination ]£ Sulphat. Eerri ....... 3j Extract Gentianse 3ij Divide in pil. xx. In referring to this case, you will be reminded of the treatment orig- inally suggested; and I feel every confidence that as soon as her physical system is sufficiently developed, this girl's menstrual function will be- come established.—Page 33. Undue Lactation in a married Woman, aged thirty-eight Years.—Mrs. P., who, it will be remembered, was extremely exhausted from the effects of suckling her infant, and whose general health was much impaired, reports herself relieved, and says her health is now much better than it has been for the past six months. Her menstrual turns have become regular. The subject of undue lactation is one of extreme interest to the prac- titioner, and of no little consequence to the patient. If suffered to con- tinue, its effects on the general health are insidious, but most positive, and oftentimes destructive. It would be an interesting disclosure, if the fact could be ascertained, how many deaths have ensued from this cause, not directly, but indirectly. For instance, the first effect of over- suckling is exhaustion ; but we are not to forget that the results of this exhaustion are multiplied, and frequently fatal. Not to speak of the numerous nervous disturbances, such as mania, epilepsy, convulsions, etc., so apt to ensue from the operation of this cause, we must take into account the organic and functional derangements of the uterus, phthisis pulmonalis, etc., which, it is now conceded, will occasionally be produced by the dilapidated health consequent upon protracted or undue lactation. It is, therefore, the duty of the practitioner promptly to distinguish be tween the healthy and morbid effects of suckling ; for the early recog](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21034357_0656.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
