The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English Part 86

Paralysis is an affection characterized by loss of muscular power or by the sense of touch, taste, sight or smell becoming impaired from injury to a nerve by accident or disease.

The disease is sometimes due to simple lack of nerve force or power.

This may come from interference with the blood supply of the nerve centres, as in hysterical palsy and reflex paralysis. Frequently the power of speech is affected in this way, ability to remember and difficulty in p.r.o.nunciation of certain words being the most common.

Certain affections of the womb and its appendages, in women, and, in men, stricture of the urethra, adherent prepuce, or foreskin, with wounds and injuries, many times of nerves and organs remote from the paralyzed points, cause the loss of power.

THE CAUSES OF PARALYSIS are very numerous. Whatever destroys, or impairs the natural structure of nervous matter, or whatever interferes materially with the conducting power of nerve-fibre, or the generating power of the nerve-centres, will produce a paralysis, the extent of which will depend upon the amount of nervous matter affected. Thus paralysis may be due to disease of the brain arising from apoplexy; to abscess, softening, syphilitic or other tumors, or epilepsy; to disease of the spinal cord, or marrow; to disease of the structures which surround the spinal cord, producing pressure upon it; to injury or compression of a nerve, by which its conducting power it impaired; to the effects of diphtheria, hysteria, or rheumatism. It may also be due to poisoning of nervous matter with opium, lead, a.r.s.enic, or mercury; or to the retention of poisonous substances which are generated in the living body and which should pa.s.s off through the excretory organs, as the elements of the urine and bile.

Members of consumptive families are very p.r.o.ne to paralysis.

We also find that the disease is often the result of some nervous strain, or over excitement The over indulgence of the pa.s.sions is particularly a fruitful source of injury to the brain and spinal centres. An angry man or woman uses up more nerve energy in a few minutes than would be sufficient to serve the muscles with stimulus through hours of toil.

The young, in unnatural indulgence of the s.e.xual pa.s.sions, waste the vigor and energy of maturity. s.e.xual excesses must be put down as among the most prolific causes of this terrible malady. Ignorance shields no one from the consequences of violations of the laws of health.

The pa.s.sion for wealth with its ceaseless toil, continuous strain, and rapid exhaustion of the nerve forces, usually brings its devotee into the same condition of discord as does the abuse of a stimulant. For a time the system will repair and bolster up the weakness, but the longer the day of reckoning is postponed, the more serious and terrible is the collapse.

Such individuals need only an exposure to cold, or an over indulgence of some kind, to suddenly precipitate a paralysis.

GENERAL PARALYSIS. This term is applied to paralysis affecting the arms and legs. In this form of paralysis there is generally more loss of motion than of sensation, and the mind is usually more or less affected.

HEMIPLEGIA, or paralysis of one side of the body, is generally spoken of as a "stroke of palsy." Sometimes only one extremity, the arm, is affected. Only occasionally is the face involved. In the majority of cases the mind is affected, the memory being poor, the sufferer becoming melancholy, peevish, and fretful.

In paralysis of the right side, there is sometimes a curious forgetfulness or misplacement of language, the patient being unable to think of words to express his thoughts. This condition is called _aphasia_. It is usually the result of some injury or disease of the brain, almost invariably the side of the brain opposite the affected half of the body. In some cases it is due to a wasting, or softening, of the brain substance, on account of insufficient nourishment, a deficient supply of blood; whilst in others, it is due to just the opposite condition, an excess of blood, producing rupture of some blood-vessel, transudations, and pressure.

PARAPLEGIA, or paralysis of the lower half of the body, is the result of disease of the spinal marrow. The paralysis may occur suddenly, but, in the majority of cases, it comes on slowly and insidiously, with weakness and numbness of the feet and legs, or with tingling and a sensation resembling that produced by ants creeping on the surface of the skin. By degrees the weakness increases, until there is complete loss of both motion and sensation in the feet and legs. The lower bowel and bladder are generally involved, and as a result, the patient suffers from constipation, and retention and dribbling of urine. Although completely paralyzed, the patient is often tormented with involuntary movements and cramps in the affected muscles.

Paraplegia may be caused by various injuries of the spinal cord; by congestion, degeneration, or hemorrhage; by pressure from thickening of the sheath of the cord, or from tumors, or from disease of the bones and cartilages of the spinal column. Paraplegia may also be produced through reflex action, by an irritation, or injury to some organ or part of the body distant from the spinal cord; thus, irritation of the skin, or of the bowels from the presence of worms, or disease of the bladder or of the womb, may produce paraplegia.

LOCOMOTOR ATAXIA.

Locomotor ataxia, or creeping palsy, is also called progressive paralysis. This affection consists of a disease of the nervous matter in the posterior columns of the spinal cord. It usually affects first the lower part of the cord, and those portions of the nerve matter that supply the muscles of the legs. In other cases it first affects the portions of the spinal cord that supply the arms. In most cases of this disease there is an early stage in which the patient suffers from "lightning pains," as they are called. These are of a severe, stabbing, boring character, very sudden in their onset, and at times so serious as to have induced suicide. These paroxysms, in the milder form of the disease, are not so severe, and are readily controlled by anodynes. They may affect the stomach, and be mistaken for dyspepsia, or the r.e.c.t.u.m, and be taken for fissure or piles. At times they affect the bladder, when the symptoms are not unlike those of stone or cancer. In many cases we find the patient has been treated for a long period of years for rheumatism, sciatica, or neuralgia, when the real disease has been this progressive paralysis in its earlier stage. Sometimes the disease takes the form of spermatorrhea or impotency; in other cases it is manifested in weak eyes, disturbances of vision, or cross-eyes. Sooner or later, there appears the peculiar paralysis of the disease, which consists of more or less numbness of the feet and legs, and, in the later stages, of the hands and arms, sometimes of the face. As a rule, however, the patient finds difficulty in properly maintaining his balance, and in walking his movements are tottering, like a man partially intoxicated.

It is difficult for him to maintain his balance and walk with his eyes closed. If the arms are affected, their movements are uncertain. In guiding a needle or in b.u.t.toning or unb.u.t.toning the clothing, there is an inability to move the hand with rapidity and certainty, or to any portion of the face or body if the eyes be closed. The eyes and attention must be constantly directed to the motion that is about to be performed, or it is imperfectly done. The brain centres in this case supply the weakened action of the spinal cord, and the stimulus to the muscles is directed by the intelligence instead of being automatic, as in health, and due to spinal action. Still later, the voluntary movements become spasmodic or jerking. The neuralgic pains often become very distressing; there is often a sense of constriction around the limbs or body, as if they were encircled with tight cords. In extreme cases locomotion becomes impossible, the patient is unable to bring the hand to the mouth, and the speech may become impaired, articulation being difficult and imperfect. In all cases there is more or less loss of sensation in the lower limbs, the patient generally being usable to distinguish between two points and one, even when the two, are a considerable distance apart. The inability to feel the contact of the ground or floor with the feet occasions the difficulty in walking. THE CAUSES of this disease are somewhat obscure, but unquestionably exposure to cold and dampness, and over-mental work, are largely instrumental in its production. Scrofula and syphilis favor its development, while abuse of the nervous system, such as results from over-indulgence of the animal and reproductive instincts, are frequent sources of the nervous changes that lead to ataxia.

SHAKING PALSY.

_Shaking Palsy, or Paralysis Agitans_, is an affection dependent upon degenerative changes in the nervous centres. It is characterized by a tremulous agitation, or continual shaking, beginning in the hands, arms or head, and gradually extending itself over the entire body. The disease progresses slowly, but when far advanced the agitation is violent, and the patient swallows and masticates his food with great difficulty. In an advanced stage of the disease, the body becomes bent forward, and the chin almost touches the breast-bone. The tremor, which early in the disease only occurred during the time the patient was awake, now continues during sleep, and not infrequently the agitation becomes so violent as to waken the sufferer.

GENERAL TREATMENT OF PARALYSIS.

The indications of treatment for the various forms of paralysis are to remove the causes, if these can be determined, and rouse the functions of the paralyzed parts. Measures should be adopted to remedy the morbid conditions upon which this affection depends. Keep the skin clean and healthy, promote the circulation of the blood, especially in the paralyzed limbs, and encourage healthy nutrition. These ends may be best attained by the daily employment of stimulating baths and frictions upon the surface. As much regular exercise as the patient can bear without fatigue should be taken in order to favor the preservation of the appet.i.te and strength. Care should also be taken that the bowels are evacuated regularly every day. The circulation through, and consequently the nutrition of, the palsied muscles may be aided by having a strong healthy person knead and manipulate them. These manual movements upon the surface of the body will often excite muscular sensibility, similar to that awakened by a weak Faradic current. The internal medicines should be such as to regulate the general functions of the system. The use of these remedies must be directed by the skill and experience of those who are professionally qualified to administer hem.

When the patient has been able to be under our personal care at the Invalids' Hotel, we have found the employment of mechanical movements and manipulations, applied by means of a variety of machinery, employed in this Inst.i.tution, together with the use of the equalizer, or large dry cupping, or vacuum apparatus, to be of the greatest benefit. These several machines and apparatus furnish a perfect system of physical training, thus rendering valuable aid in the cure of many forms of obstinate chronic diseases. A few of these machines are shown in Figs.

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14; also see page 32 of Appendix.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 9.

Manipulator Extended.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 10.

Manipulator Folded.]

The general pract.i.tioner often endeavors to overcome the inertia of the nerve-centers and nerves by means of specific irritants, with the view of exciting the power-producing function, of compelling the weakened and disabled centers to evolve more power. By such stimulation and forcing, he places a burden on the weakest parts. The compulsory and ineffectual endeavor of the weak parts to act in response to such stimulation is very liable to make undue drafts upon the capacity to act, which only end in exhaustion of the little remaining power instead of its re-enforcement. Cases which were previously curable by direct and appropriate means, are thus forever placed beyond the reach of remedies.

No powerful stimulating or depressing medicines are indicated in any of the various forms of the affection. In paralysis it should be our aim to improve local and general nutrition, to relieve local congestions and inflammations, to produce absorption of deposited matters, and to force an abundance of blood through palsied muscles, from which they may derive a proper supply of nutriment, and to which they may give up the products of waste. All this can be accomplished by ma.s.sage, mechanical movements, regulation of the atmospheric pressure on the body, baths, and proper physical culture.

In paralysis, there is a diminution or total loss of the contractile property of the muscles to which the affected nerve fibers are distributed; consequently the capillaries and small veins are not compressed, as in health, and the blood is not forced on through them towards the heart; hence there is a backing-up of the circulation, pa.s.sive congestion, and all the evils incident to that condition ensue.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 11.

Oscillating the Arms and Chest.]

_Mechanical movements_ properly applied to the affected limbs, or parts of the body, accomplish the same results as contraction of the muscles.

They compress the capillaries and veins and thus force the blood on through these vessels towards the heart. There is a constant pressure in the arteries, hence the flow of blood in the capillaries is always towards the veins, and, when it gets into the veins, it is prevented from flowing back by the valves in those vessels.

A proper circulation of the blood through the disordered parts is thus effected, and, as the result, they receive an abundance of nutriment, and their waste products are promptly carried away to the excretory organs, by which they are separated from the body; the deposits of fatty matter between the muscular fibers are absorbed, and the agglutinated fibers are separated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 12.

Rubbing the Legs.]

As proof of these statements, it has been found by experiment and observation that there is an increase of temperature in the parts subjected to this action, which _must_ be due mainly to an increase in the chemico-vital changes that are superinduced by the nutritious elements of the arterial blood, particularly that element which is supplied to it by the inspired air, oxygen. All the products of waste are increased. The skin becomes more soft and moist, showing that the amount of matter eliminated by it is increased. The urine becomes more abundant, and the relative amount of urea, its most important const.i.tuent, becomes greatly increased. The amount of carbonic acid gas exhaled is increased, and further evidence in the same direction is furnished by the very marked increase in the inspiratory acts, necessitated by the increased demands for oxygen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 13.

Oscillating the Legs.]

The local increase of the circulation incident to properly applied mechanical movements, must produce a corresponding diminution of blood in other, even in remote, regions of the body. Thus this treatment, by its revulsive effects, is capable of relieving various disorders of the head, chest, digestive organs, and pelvis. Nowhere, however, is the effect more satisfactory than in affections of the brain and spinal cord, whether characterized by loss of power, of sensation, or by neuralgic pain. Any portion of these nerve centres suffering from congestion, will find prompt relief in mechanical vibratory movements.

THE MOVEMENT CURE which we advocate is not a "Swedish Movement Cure,"

nor anything akin to it. It is the application of remedial forces by complex structures, which combine a variety of mechanical powers. The inventions are solely American.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 14.

Apparatus for Rubbing in a Rec.u.mbent Position.]

By means of this machinery, which is driven by steam power with great velocity, we are able to apply _soft, pleasant, rapid vibrating movements_ over the surface of the body, and thereby increase the circulation of blood through the parts, raise the temperature, and excite pleasant sensations. The movements can be applied by our ingeniously-devised machinery to any part of the body through the clothing and _without the least exposure of the person._ They can be administered in a great variety of ways, by light, quiet persuasions, by gentle frictions, by rubbing, by oscillations, by kneadings, by circular movements, in fact, by an almost _endless variety_ of reciprocating and alternating motions, which, if described, would convey to the mind of the reader but a faint conception of their remedial value.

VIBRATORY MOTION not only establishes activity of the circulation through the skin and muscles, but it also affects profoundly the circulation in the important and vital organs of the body; it is thus capable of overcoming torpidity or congestion of the liver, spleen, and other deep-seated organs, without the depressing effects which sometimes follow the administration of powerful medicines.

It has not been our purpose to literally explain, in detail, the methods of applying vibratory motion in the treatment of paralysis for popular experiment, since to be successful one should become an expert, not only in this mechanical treatment, but also in the diagnosis of the various forms of paralysis, as well as familiar with their causes, pathology, and remedial requirements. Thus, to be successful in the treatment of paralysis and other nervous diseases, by the application of motor forces with our ingeniously-contrived machinery, the cost of which is beyond the means of most invalids, one must exercise great discretion.

GRATIFYING SUCCESS. Not only is vibratory motion as a remedial agent rational and philosophical, but our experience has fully demonstrated its marvelous effects in the treatment of paralysis in its various forms, and also in the cure of other chronic diseases. We have cured cases of infantile paralysis which had resisted the skill of the most renowned physicians in our country. We have treated those who could not stand or bear the weight of the body, but who have been so far restored as to be able to walk and run without a.s.sistance. Writer's and telegraph operator's paralysis, or cramp, we have cured in a few weeks' time.

Club-feet, spinal curvature, and other deformities resulting from paralysis, have been successfully treated in our Inst.i.tution. In short, our success has been most flattering in all curable cases of paralysis, and it is such experience that induces us to hold out encouragement to those who are afflicted with paralysis and other nervous affections.

Vibratory motion is a desideratum of priceless value to those who are afflicted with diseases of the nervous system, as well as to all others who need a gentle stimulus to call forth their latent energies and improve their physical condition.

RECAPITULATION.