Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-06


the Chicago and Cincinnati Throat and
Lung Institute: for fifteen years, and still,
proprietor of the Detroit Throat and Lung
Institute; and for several years proprietor
Health Resort at Toronto, Ontario. Over
10000 cases treated by us during the past
nineteen years.
ON ASTHMA.
1t is common error to suppose every
disease which is attended by oppressed
breathing to be Asthma or Phthisic We
have shurtness of breath in Consumption,
Bronchitis and Pneumonia just as we do in
Asthma, only that in these diseases it is al
ways present, whereas in Asthma it occurs
in paroxysms.
Asthma is a spasmodic disease of the
lungs, which manifests itself in periodic at
tacks or lifts " 1t comes on suddenly and
is attended with great difficulty of breath
ing while 1t lasts, but when the attack is
over the patient breaths almost as we'll as in
health.
The Asthmatic fit may come on at any
time, day or night, but most commonly oc
ours after midnight and before morning.
The patient is suddenly awake ned by diff
ficulty of breathing, feeling of weight or
construction of the chest. 1t feels as though
it were bound. He sits up in bed, pants or
gasps for breath, and in bad cases, calls for
the doors and windows to be thrown open.
Perspiration stands out in large drops on
the forehead, the face looks haggard, the
lips are livid, the extremities cold, and the
heart beating violently.
Persons badly afflicted with the disease
are, during the fit, insensible to everything
save the desire for air. 1 have known them
to rush to the open window and hang over
the sill for hours in mid-winter. utterly re-
gardless of the cold. The feeling is pre-
cisely that of pending suffocation. and the
poor sufferer endures tor a time all the ag-
Ony OF drowning or slow strangulation.
But happily for the patiert his confidence
never deserts him. He ieels that it will
soon be over, and then he will get relief
After longer or a shorter period, accord
few hours-the iightness at the bottom of
the chest relaxes, the breathing becomes
deeper, the patient can speak aud cough
without difficulty, and begins to expectorate
freely. AT length, worn out by the intens-
ity of his sufferings, he falls to sleep and
the attack is at an end.
Nervous. Humid and Dry Asthma are
names given to different forms of this
disease Emphysema is another and more
inveterate kind of Asthma, while Hay
Fever or Rose Cold is a peculiar variety of
Asthma which occurs at certain season OF
the year. Each of these forms of disease
differs somewhat from the others in symp-
toms. but practically these distinctions are
of very little value. IL does not matter to
the patient which form of Asthma he has
since his suffering gs are the same i'll all. In
one case the expectoration becomes yellow,
and we call 1t bronchial. In another 1t is
light and we call it dry. When he coughs
up clear water, with white froth on the
surface, we say he has Humoral Asthma
In Nervous Asthma there is very little ex-
pectoration of any kind. Hay Fever always
enZa, and a ear water ruus from the nose
and the eyes before the Asthma fit comes
oil. In Emphysema the expectoration Is
generally thick, and continues so In the in
terval between the fits. while the shortness
of breath is increased on the slightest ex-
ertion.
There is no rule which can be said to be
uniform in Asthma. In one person the
disease will entirely pass off after single
other there will be several fits in succession,
with only short intervals between them,
and then the patient escapes for a longer
period. In some fits occur regularly at
stated times. Some athmatics breathe best
in the city, while others cannot pass night
in town without suffering an attack. One
prefers low land as a place of residence,
and another can only sleep on high ground.
A particular exposure of a room will often
make a difference, and l have known peo-
pie who could sleep on one side OF the
street and not on the opposite. The smell
of hay, roses, and even OF the stable,
with many is sufficient to bring on rarox-
endure cat in the same room.
All this must seem strange and almost
absurd to those who know nothing of the
disease by experience, but those who are
sensitive are some people that they cannot
enter drug store where ipecacuanha is
kept without experiencing an oppression in
breathing.
causes than other lung diseases. The mu-
Gus membrane is morbidly sensitive to
any change in the air, in the excess or def
cheney of its zone-in the presence of smoke
or dust; on the temperature, humidity, or
even impresnance with the delicate frag-
rance of flowers and plants. Few people
have any idea of the powerful influence ex-
erted for good or i'll by what we inhale The
air is the great source from whence we con-
tract most diseases and 1t is only by employ
ing 1t as the carrier of remedies that many
of them can be cured. This is peculiarly
the 9 Sc with all diseases of the afr passages
and lungs, of none more so than asthma.
1t is foolish conceit of many people to
believe that If they have Asthma they can
not get Consumption. The truth is the
very opposite. They are more liable to
fall into Consumption because they have
Asthma. Another idea is, that Asthma it
self is not dangerous disease, and YET the
published bills of mortality for this city
prove to all who read them that great num-
bers lose their lives every year.
Without courage and perseverance, noth-
ing is durable. But with these, aided by
proper and skilful treatment, Asthma can
be cured even after the lungs are extensive
The asthmatic sufferer, therefore, should
lose no time in having this tearible disease
eradicated from the system before 1t is
forever "too late"
Our Eastern friends should not depeni
upon climatic influences alone, for herein
lies the fatal mistake Nearly every case
requires positive medical aid, so as to be-
come rid OF the offending matter-the con
solidated portions OF the lungs-so as to give
nature an opportunity 10 heal them.