Advice to a wife on the management of her own health : and on the treatment of some of the complaints incidental to pregnancy, labor, and suckling.

  • Q52148313
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Advice to a wife on the management of her own health : and on the treatment of some of the complaints incidental to pregnancy, labor, and suckling. 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.

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    in appearance very much like blood from a recently cut finger.* 203. The menstrual fluid ought not, as before ob- served, to clot. If it does, a lady, during menstruation, Buffers intense pain ; moreover, she seldom conceives until the clotting has ceased. Application must there- fore, in such a case, be made to a medical man, who will soon relieve the above painful symptoms, and, by doing so, will probably pave the way to her becoming pregnant. 204. Menstruation ceases entirely in pregnancy, dur- ing suckling, and usually both in diseased and in dis- ordered states of the womb. It also ceases in cases of extreme debility, and in severe illness, especially in con- sumption ; indeed, in the latter disease—consumption —it is one of the most unfavorable of the symptoms. 205. It has been asserted, and by men of great ex- perience, that sometimes a woman menstruates during pregnancy. In this assertion I cannot agree; it appears utterly impossible that she should be able to do so. The moment she conceives, the neck of the womb be- comes plugged up by means of mucus ; it is, in fact, * The catamenial discharge, as it issues from the uterus [womb], appears to be nearly or quite identical with ordinary blood ; but in its passage through the vagina it becomes mixed with the acid mucus exuded from its walls, which usually de- prives it of the power of coagulating. If the discharge should be profuse, however, a portion of its fibrin remains unaffected, and clots are formed.—Dr. Carpenter's Human Physiology.