Purge (medicine)

“ Bleeding and purging are generally proper at the beginning of this disease; but if the patient’s spittle is pretty thick, or well concocted, neither of them are necessary. It will be sufficient to assist the expectoration by some of the sharp medicines recommended for that purpose in the pleurisy, as the solution of gum ammoniac with oxymel of squills, &c. Blistering plasters have generally a good effect, and ought to be applied pretty early.
If the patient does not spit, he must be bled according as his strength will permit, and have a gentle purge administered. ”

“ Every physician who practices in a place where the mineral waters have purging effects has occasion to observe that persons coming to these spas, looking worn out and gray in the face, with pendant cheeks, and showing all the signs of auto-intoxication from the retention of poisonous products, always look much fresher, and, indeed, many years younger, after the cure. We could observe the same effects in our own case after each purge, although we do not suffer from habitual constipation. ”

“ Notwithstanding our Cautions on this important Head, whenever an urgent Necessity commands it, Purging must be recurred to at all Times and Seasons: but when the Season may be safely selected, it were right to decline Purging in the Extremities of either Heat or Cold; and to take the Purge early in the Morning, that the Medicines may find less Obstruction or Embarrassment from the Contents of the Stomach. Every other Consideration, with Relation to the Stars and the Moon, is ridiculous, and void of any Foundation. The People are particularly averse to purging in the Dog-days ”

“ He should thus endeavor to soothe the irritated surface of the bowels, while he permits all remains of the purgative to be carried off. If, however, twelve hours have passed, and the purging and the pain remain undiminished, he should continue the gruel, adding to it chalk, catechu, and opium, repeated every six hours. As soon as the purging begins to subside, the astringent medicine should be lessened in quantity, and gradually discontinued.
Bleeding will rarely be necessary, unless the inflammation is very great, and attended by symptoms of general fever. ”

“ When a Purging came on in the Course of this Disorder, if there was much Fever, with a strong throbbing Pulse, Gripes and Pain of the Bowels, some Blood was taken away; and immediately after the Patient took a Dose of Salts and Manna, or of Rhubarb; and an Opiate in the Evening after its Operation: But if there was little or no Fever, or sharp Pain, Bleeding was omitted; and if the Patient complained of Sickness, a few Grains of Ipecacuana were given previous to the Purge. ”

“ To healthy individuals, whose feces are indurated, drastic purges are exceedingly detrimental; because their disposition to Costiveness (which see) , is the best proof of their vigorous habit. 5. If such remedies become necessary, they should be given in the morning, when the first passages are empty; in diseases, during the intermission of paroxysms. Lastly, all nourishment, but particularly solid food, must be withheld previously to the operation of the medicine; nor should the patient be allowed much drink, till the purgative actually begin to produce its effect. ”

“ Almost total lack of symptoms in the group that received the purge after the drug. Not one of them was incapacitated for his regular duties ... with no after-purge there were some who had minor symptoms. Many were sleepy for several hours....
... Young Indian working in our office given 3 cc. at 7:45 A.M. ... by 10:15 gave 85 hookworms. Total for three days 101. Test treatment showed he was cured. ”

“ It is not an easy thing to affect life, or even subsequent health, by copious or frequent purging. Dr. Kirkland mentions a remarkable case of a gentleman who was cured of a rheumatism by a purge, which gave him between 40 and 50 stools. This patient had been previously affected by his disease 16 or 18 [244] weeks [67] . Dr. Mosely not only proves the safety, but establishes the efficacy of numerous and copious stools in the yellow fever. Dr. Say probably owes his life to three and twenty stools procured by a dose of calomel and gamboge, taken by my advice. ”

“ If the blood abounds not in such a quantity as may stir up nature to expel it, its purging must necessarily be deferred till there be enough. And if the blood be thick, 198the passage stopped, and the expulsive faculty weak, the menses must needs be out of order, and the purging of them retarded.
For the cure of this, if the quantity of blood be small, let her use a larger diet, and very little exercise. If the blood be thick and foul, let it be made thin, and the humours mixed therewith be evacuated. It is good to purge after the menses have done flowing, and to use calamint ”

“ The swelling gradually extends around it, sometimes deep into the muscles. The surface is hard and tense, but often when the finger is firmly pressed upon it and withdrawn a depression is left. In severe cases chills occur, the pulse is weak and quick, the breathing hurried, the bowels constipated and the urine scanty and highly colored. There is considerable thirst, but no appetite. A brisk purge is the first step in treating. Follow the purge with tincture of chloride of iron, 4 teaspoonfuls in a pint of water. ”

“ I ordered the window to be opened, the room to be kept cool, and gave her three grains of calomel, tart. emet. gr. 1⁄8, in a pill, and directed a purging draught to be taken as soon as it could be procured, and as there seemed no occasion for the blister, it was taken off.
I saw her next morning at a house to which she had been removed at a small distance, and found her almost free from complaints; she had rested moderately well, and was perfectly sensible. Those about her dated her amendment from the time when the purge (which had procured three stools) began to operate. ”

“ No purgative or other medicine is necessary for the purpose; indeed, violent purgative medicines are absolutely injurious, as they simply wash the food through, without giving it time to nourish the system, and debility, palpitation of the heart, and loss of condition result. Of course, a little mild aperient, in the shape of some natural mineral water, such as the Franz Josef, is always harmless, and most people, from errors in diet, require something of this kind occasionally. ”

“ I gave her a purge, which in a few hours procured a discharge of fæces so extremely fœtid, that they produced fainting in an old woman who attended her. The acrimony of the fæces was such as to excoriate the rectum, and sometimes to produce an extensive inflammation all around its external termination. The quantity of the stools produced by a single purge was in many cases very great. They could be accounted for only by calling in the constant and rapid formation of them, by preternatural effusions of bile into the bowels. ”

“ As a great Part of the Cure depended on the frequent Use of gentle Purges [36] in the Beginning, [72] to carry off the corrupted Humours; the Purgative was repeated every second, third, or fourth Day, as the Case required; the Operation [73] of the former Purge, and the Symptoms, determining the Frequency of the Repetition. [74] It was surprising with how little Loss of Strength the Sick bore the Operation of these Purges; I have sometimes given them to strong People [75] every Day, for two, three, or four Days successively ”

“ It is little realized, that purgative drugs are unnatural modes of stimulating the internal organs, tending to exhaust them of their secretions, and to debilitate and disturb the animal economy. For this reason, they should be used as little as possible; and fasting, and perspiration, and the other methods pointed out, should always be first resorted to. When medicine must be given, it should be borne in mind, that there are various classes of purgatives, which produce very diverse effects. ”

“ And that I may comprise all as ’twere in one word, ’tis such an universal purge as that it roots out of the whole Body whatsoever is found to be hurtfull and offensive therein. It hath not its fellow as to Remedy the Feavers of Children whether proceeding from Worms or from a corrupted Stomach, the which kill such abundance of Infants of both Sexes, without any help left. Nor do I think that there can be found a better Remedy in the Plague, and in all other acute Feavers which usually kill Men suddenly, than this Vitriol of Gold, if it be but rightly made use of. ”

“ Thus, no doubt a retention of fæces, and sometimes a condition analogous to auto-intoxication, can be caused in people who have the bowels opened every day, although not to the extent of those having obstruction or habitual constipation.
To avoid such a condition a good purge should be taken at regular intervals, say once a week, even by persons who have a movement daily, in order to eliminate matter which may have remained. It will not be necessary, naturally, to use a too powerful purgative, but one adapted to the necessity of the case ”

“ Scarcely any illness is allowed to go to a week’s duration without the trial of some violent purge. Sometimes the purge is given with so little regard to its quantity and the vitality of the patient that it results in rapid collapse and death. In other cases a latent dysentery is excited, which may result in an illness lasting many months, and leaving the patient permanently weakened thereby. The seasonal blood-lettings are performed, as in the West, from the bend of the arm, this position having, no doubt, come down to the practitioners of both East and West from the ancient Greeks ”

“ They have great faith in the healing properties of a purge, but do not consider it has had any effect unless it acts at least twenty times. The way is prepared by administering every day for a week a large bowl of laxative mixture ”

“ Purgatives.—Purgatives are of as great importance as emetics in the treatment of yellow fever.
After the administration of the emetic and a repose of twelve to twenty-four hours, the purgative may be used to induce action by the intestines. It slightly excites the secretion of mucus, and facilitates the circulation and the passing of bile by the stools. Drastics should be absolutely excluded, their too violent action producing injurious irritation. Among the purgatives I recommend, above all, castor oil alone, or associated with oil of sweet almonds. ”

“ The ulcerated surface and open vessels increase the facility with which the poison finds entrance into the circulation. The microbes, blood clots, necrosed tissue and pus, furnish abundant supplies of toxic matter, which, saturating the system, over-power and stop the activity of the functions of all the organs of the body, causing degeneration of tissues. Death is said to take place from heart, lung or brain failure, but the failure involves every other organ as well. ”

“ The men of to-day who throw their food into their stomach are physical wrecks in fifteen years. The American doctor studies medicine when he should study nature; instead of trying to prevent disease, they try to cure. There are many people who do not take a bath in two years and they prematurely die from poisoning. The poison that accumulates under the first layer of skin breeds disease and sooner or later must come death. ”

“ Life has sometimes been destroyed by their inducing cramp, hæmorrhage, and inflammation in the stomach.
3. They are not subject to the controul of a physician, often operating more, or less than was intended by him, or indicated by the disease.
4. They are often ineffectual in mild, and always so in fevers of great morbid action.
II. Purges are useful in discharging acrid fæces and bile from the bowels in fevers. They act, moreover, by creating an artificial weak part, and thus invite morbid excitement from the blood-vessels to the bowels. ”

“ When he attacks his victim the hinge moves, the fangs descend, the poison gland is pressed, and the deadly poison runs down a groove in the tooth, and drops into the puncture prepared to receive it. Lop off the wounded limb ere the shadow on the dial has marked the passage of twenty seconds, or the venom will have done its work. Medicine has yet to discover the antidote that can save the life of the victim. ”

“ The effects of putrid animal matter when applied to wounds have 492been investigated experimentally by Professor Orfila; who found that putrid blood, bile, or brain, caused death in this way within twenty-four hours,—producing extensive local inflammation of the diffuse kind, and great constitutional fever. In man also several instances of diffuse cellular inflammation have been observed as the consequence of pricks received during the dissection of putrid bodies. ”

“ There is no immediate danger to life from its use. Patients have sometimes died under the operation of vomits and purges, but I never saw nor heard an instance of a patient's dying in a fainty fit, brought on by bleeding. ”

“ Cause of Death.—In cases of sudden death, as from accident or violence, the body decomposes more rapidly than when death results from disease. Putrefaction sets in early in death from the infectious fevers, such as typhus, pyæmia, and typhoid fever, also in death from suffocation by smoke or coal gas, by strangulation or after narcotic poisoning. ”

“ His subsequent experiments go to prove that death is owing to the poison exciting inflammation in the lungs. When six or eight grains dissolved in water were injected into a vein, the animal was attacked with vomiting and purging, and death ensued commonly within an hour. In the dead body he found not only redness of the whole villous coat of the stomach and intestines, but also that the lungs were of an orange-red or violet colour throughout, destitute of crepitation, gorged with blood, dense like the spleen, and here and there even hepatized. ”