Rash

“ Further, that in any instance in which even very slight feverishness, or very slight sore-throat, have preceded or accompanied the rash, the nature of the ailment is stamped beyond the possibility of doubt. Mistakes are made from want of careful observation, much more than from any insuperable difficulty in distinguishing one disease from the other. When the least hesitation is felt as to the nature of any [Pg 209] rash which may appear on a child, with, or without previous illness, the question should be at once referred to a medical man. ”

“ About the fourth day, a rash makes its appearance on the face, forehead, and behind the ears, and in the course of the next forty-eight hours travels downwards over the body and limbs, and then in another forty-eight hours it fades in the same way, being at its height on the body when it has already begun to disappear from the face. ”

“ This fever is very uncommon in hot climates.
Incubation period, three to eight days. Rash appears second day.
Symptoms.—The rash consists of numerous minute red spots, evenly [223] distributed all over the surface of the body, upon a general rose-red blush. The area immediately surrounding the mouth is not affected. Shivering fits, sickness, high temperature, sore throat, headache, pains in the back. The sickness is very characteristic in children. After the rash has subsided, peeling of the skin takes place, beginning on the face as a very fine powdery deposit. ”

“ It is usually most considerable where the rash has been most abundant, while where the rash has been scanty, it is sometimes scarcely apparent except at the tips of the fingers and toes and just around the insertion of the nails. ”

“ There is nothing better to relieve the irritation of the skin than a warm bath. If it be a severe attack of nettle-rash, by all means call in a medical man.
What NOT to do.—Do not apply cold applications to his skin, and do not wash him (while the rash is out) in quite cold water. Do not allow him to be in a draught, but let him be in a well-ventilated room. If he be old enough to eat meat, keep it from him for a few days, and let him live on milk and farinaceous diet. Avoid strong purgatives, and calomel, and gray powder. ”

“ It is a painful irritating rash, often spreading over the whole body, mostly prevailing, however, wherever the clothes screen the body from the power of the air; we rarely find it on the hands or face. ”

“ This alleviation always takes place when the rash comes with perspiration, and also under a proper course of water-treatment. If the rash continues to stand out steadily, the symptoms decrease on the third day; the patient becomes more quiet, the pulse slower (going down to 90 and even to 80 strokes per minute) ; the rash, then, gradually and steadily fades, and finally disappears altogether.—Sometimes the rash fades or disappears too early, in which cases, usually, the internal symptoms [Pg 16] increase, the brain and spine become affected, and the situation of the patient becomes critical. ”

“ I constantly recommended to my patients, in this stage of the disorder, to lie in bed. This favoured the eruption of the rash, and the solution of the disease by perspiration. Persons who struggled against the fever by sitting up, or who attempted to shake it off by labour or exercise, either sunk under it, or had a slow recovery. ”

“ In ordinary cases, by the close of the first week or in the beginning of the second the rash becomes less and less distinct, and finally disappears, as do also the redness and swelling of the buccal and faucial surfaces. The engorgement of the tonsils and of the papillæ of the tongue subsides, the appetite returns, the countenance brightens and becomes natural, and the child, who during the height of the fever scarcely noticed objects or noticed them with indifference or even repugnance, can be amused as before his sickness. ”

“ They look a good deal like flea bites. Within 24 hours this rash is spread over the body and the child looks very much bespeckled and swollen. In from 5 to 7 days the rash begins to fade, and within 3 or 4 days thereafter is entirely gone away, leaving behind a faint mottling of the skin. ”

“ The skin is yellowish, hot and damp; a rash, disappearing on pressure, may occur on the trunk and legs, nausea is always present and thirst is usual. The liver and spleen both enlarge. The number of respirations and pulse-rate become increased. ”

“ Symptoms.—The rash may be the first sign of the disease and more frequently is so in children. In others, for a day or two preceding the eruption, there may be headache, soreness, and redness of the throat, the appearance of red spots on the upper surface of the back of the mouth, chilliness, soreness in the muscles, loss of appetite, watering of the eyes. Catarrhal symptoms are most generally absent, an important point in diagnosis. When present, they are always mild. ”

“ Patient, a man of 30, recovering from worst symptoms, but gradually consecutive fever supervened, and with it a red or purple rash, like that of measles, slightly raised above surrounding skin, disappearing on pressure and returning on removal of pressure. ”

“ The stronger and harder the skin, the better will a crisis be developed. Every sore and boil cannot be considered a crisis, some degenerate into disease, and have an inward tendency. In a proper crisis of boils, they rise, burst, and heal.”
“For itching rash in the arm, do not wear the bandage, unless great pain ensues, and in that case only at night.”
“Chopping or sawing wood is better exercise for the stomach and bowels than walking.” ”

“ The bright red rash is seldom seen, and when there is a rash it disappears before the arrival of the medical attendant. If one looks for throat-signs, they, too, may have been transitory. The symptoms of onset are so slight that even an anxious parent takes no notice of a passing indisposition. ”

“ There is usually comparatively little pain, and the patient lies in a sort of mild stupor, paying little attention to his surroundings. He is much enfeebled and seldom cares to lift his head from the pillow. A slight rash appears upon the surface of the body, but this [Pg 217] is so faint that it would escape attention unless carefully looked for. ”

“ Eczema, a common skin disease, which may be either chronic or acute; develops in a red rash of tiny vesicles, which usually burst and produce a characteristic scab; is not contagious, and leaves no scar. ”

“ Clinical manifestations include arthritis, neurological symptoms, heart problems, and sometimes eye inflammation, hepatitis, and severe fatigue.
Early symptoms may include one or more of the following: a rash at the site of the tick bite, headache, fever, joint pain, and fatigue. ”

“ Fomenting with warm water is useful.
Medicines
. Mercurius generally; Belladonna may be used when mumps follow an attack of measles.
954. Nettlerash
This rash, so called because in appearance it resembles the swelling and redness caused by the sting of a nettle, is generally produced by a disordered state of the stomach.
Medicines
. Aconitum napellus, Nux vomica, or Pulsatilla, in ordinary cases; Arsenicum is useful if there be much fever; Belladonna if the rash is accompanied with headache.
955. Piles
The ordinary homœopathic remedies for this painful complaint are Nux vomica and Sulphur. ”

“ Nettle rash or urticaria, so called from the appearance and tingling sensations resembling those caused by the sting of nettles, in some people, is very apt to follow the use of indigestible and unwholesome food. ”

“ Hence the difficulty of breathing experienced after scalds or burns on the cuticle, the cough that follows the absorption of cold or damp by the skin, the oppressed and laborious breathing experienced by children in all eruptive diseases, while the rash is coming to the surface, and the hot, dry skin that always attends congestion of the lungs, and fever. ”

“ This connection between the skin and internal organs is shown, not only by the internal effects of a chill on the skin, but by the sympathetic effect on the skin when these internal organs suffer. For example, there are some kinds of food that will irritate and influence the stomach or the bowels;240 and this, by sympathy, will produce an immediate eruption on the skin. Some persons, on eating strawberries, will immediately be affected with a nettle-rash. Others can not eat certain shell-fish without being affected in this way. ”

“ With nervous and excitable individuals the symptoms of any skin puncture become exaggerated not only in the mind of the individual but in their actual characteristics, and not only does this refer to cases of skin puncture but to certain skin eruptions, and to some of those early summer skin troubles which are known as strawberry rash, etc. ”

“ When a child vomits, or has a diarrhoea, or is costive and feverish, it is owing to some derangement, and needs attention. But these various symptoms may continue for a day or two before the nature of the disease can be determined. A warm bath, warm drinks, etc., can do no harm, and may help to determine the case. On coming out of the bath, and being well rubbed with the hand, the skin will show symptoms of rash, if it is a skin disease which has commenced. ”

“ The febrile phenomena are very marked, and the temperature quickly rises to a high point (105°–107° Fahr.) , at which it continues with little variation, while the pulse is rapid (100–140) , full and strong. There is intense thirst. a dry brown tongue, bilious vomiting, tenderness over the liver and spleen, and occasionally jaundice. Sometimes a peculiar bronzy appearance of the skin is noticed, but there is no characteristic rash as in typhus. ”

“ The disease usually begins with digestive derangement which shows itself in more or less severe gastric and intestinal catarrh (loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhœa) ; sometimes there [190] are severe affections of the respiratory tract,—pharyngeal and bronchial catarrhs; often the illness is accompanied by skin affections of various kinds, rashes, pustular eczema, loosening of the nails, abscesses, dark pigmentation of particular parts of the skin, and other symptoms. The nervous symptoms vary much according to the severity of the disease ”

“ Syphilis usually begins with a sore which may look like a cold sore or any other kind of sore or pimple around your sex organ. Soon the sore disappears, even without treatment, and is often followed by an inflammation of the mouth and throat, and rashes on the body. ”

“ I found the Down begin to make my hand itch, and in some places to smart again, much like the stinging of a Flea or Gnat, and this continued a pretty while, so that by degrees I found my skin to be swell'd with little red pustules, and to look as if it had been itchie. But suffering it without rubbing or scratching, the itching tickling pain quickly grew languid, and within an hour I felt nothing at all, and the little protuberancies were vanish'd. ”

“ The disturbance of the digestive organs is revealed by the dryness of the mouth and occasional excoriation of the tongue, which may be reddened or covered with white fur and silvery in appearance; [Pg 277] salivation may be present instead of dryness of the mouth; there may also be irritation of the throat; symptoms of gastro-enteritis, e.g. nausea and vomiting, anorexia, diarrhœa, or alternating diarrhœa and constipation.
(d) The skin eruptions are of various kinds, and comprise eczema, herpes, urticaria, erythema, keratosis, marked pigmentation and exfoliation. ”

“ Symptoms.—Intestinal irritation, loss of appetite, sickness, malaise, general weakness of the limbs, and diarrhœa. The eyelids swell as well as the joints, the skin is bathed in cold, clammy sweat, and a low form of fever sets in. Death may be due to peritonitis, paralysis of the muscles—the result of their destruction—or to irritative fever. During the perforation of the coats of the stomach and bowels by the worms, the mucous membrane becomes inflamed, pus is formed on the surface, and the stools become bloody. ”

“ Hence arise indigestion, constipation, headaches, weariness, depression of spirits, palpitation, and a feeling of oppression at the heart, pain in the side, eruptions on the skin, which either feels chilly all over its surface or sometimes burns, and, what will probably seem of much more importance to those whom vanity has induced to lace tightly, pallor and thickness of complexion, with a yellowish or greyish tinge to the cheeks, and owing to impaired circulation, swelling and redness of the hands and feet, and, worst of all to the would-be beauty, redness of the nose. ”

“ The petechiæ on the surface of the skin depend on the same cause. They are nothing but effusions of serum or red blood, from a rupture or preternatural dilatation of the capillary vessels. The smell emitted from persons affected with this disease was far from being of a putrid nature; and, if this had been the case, it would not have proved the existence of putrefaction in the blood; for a putrid smell is often discharged from the lungs, and from the pores in sweat, which is wholly unconnected with a putrid, or perhaps any other morbid, state of the blood. ”

“ There may be marked inflammatory exudate, causing the surface of the skin to become excessively moist and more or less itching. Redness, vesicles and pustules may characterize the inflammation. In the chronic form the skin may become thickened and greatly changed in structure. ”

“ The diseases to which children are liable, are sore eyes, sore ears, sore head, scald head, sickness and vomiting, thrush, red [221] gum, yellow gum, pain in the bowels, diarrhea, dentition, chilblains, rickets, worms, scrofula, catarrh, cough, measles, &c.
841. Sore Eyes frequently occur on the second or third day after the birth, occasioned by too early an exposure of the child to a cold atmosphere: the eyelids swell, become closed, and discharge a purulent matter. It may be relieved by fomenting the eyelids with equal parts of lime water and elder-flower water. ”