Willmar tribune., 1900-08-08
IMAGINARY APPENDICITIS,
= :. ::
Since the Fad Became Popular Many
Nervous People Have Become
-. Affected.

That people can imagine themselves
into sick beds has long been an accept.
ed fact by men who practice medicine,
and the belief that the bread pill is one
of the. most potent remedies in the
physicians case was never more gen
eral than 1t is to-day. Since the begin
ming of the appendicitis fad the spread
of imaginary ills has been much worse
than ever before. Pains in their sides
now are sure to throw about three out
of every five people into terrible state
of alarm. They used to disregard
these things, says the Chicago Times
Herald, but appendicitis has wrought
change, and it seems that everybody
or nearly" everybody now arises in the
morning fully expecting to be spread
upon the dissecting table before night.
A New Orleans physician, in recent
interview on this subject, related an
experience that is worth repeating:
"A nervous man recently called on
me (this is the doctors story) and
asked: In what part of the abdomen
are the premonitory pains of appendici-
tbs felt?' On the left side, exactly
here I replied, Indicating a spot a
little above the point of the hip bone.
He went out, and the next afternoon
I was summoned in hot haste to the St.
Charles hotel. I found the planter
writhing on his bed, his forehead bead
ed with sweat and his whole appearance
indicating intense suffering. Il have
an attack of appendicitis he groaned,
'and I'm dead man! I'll never sur
vive an operation!' Where do you feel
pain? asked. oh, right here he
replied, putting his finger on the spot
had located at the office. Il feel an
If somebody had knife in me there
and was turning it around!' well,
then, it isn't appendicitis, at any rate
said cheerfully; because that is the
wrong side The wrong side!' he ex-
claimed, glaring at me Indignantly.
why, you told me yourself on the left!'
Then I must have been abstracted,'
replied calmly. Il should have said the
right I prescribed something that
would not hurt him and learned after
ward that he ate his dinner in the din
ing-room the same evening. Oh, yes;
he was no doubt in real pain when
called, but you can make your finger
ache merely by concentrating your at
tention on it for few moments"
At first this medical gentleman
would seem to have rendered service
to humanity in showing the absurdity
Of the habit of jumping at the conclu.
sion that every pain in the side is sure
sign of the presence of appendicitis,
but when we stop to consider the mat
ter we find that he has perhaps done
more harm than good. He has 50
definitely located the spot at which the
appedicitis pang may be expected to
make itself felt that the encouraging
doubts which people with pains in their
sides have clung to in the past must
hereafter vanish from the minds OF
many of those who happen to feel
twinge at the fatal point.
After people generally have found
out just how and where the trouble
with the vermiform appendix usually
begins it is to be feared that we may
expect a new outbreak of appendicitis
which will be worse than any of the
previous epidemics of this pernicious
malady that have swept over our glo-
rious and enlightened country.