The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-06-14

his column.
who have had that symptom 10
find out the proportionste fire.
quency Of causes behind it. For
instance. here is a patient with
jaundice. We know jauadice can
be caused by gallstones or liver
disease or blood destruction or by
infection Of the bile ducts. Now
the question stalking q thou
sand successive patients with
jaundice how many Of them have
gsllstones, how many liver dis
ease, etc?
You would think this Is all in
the textbooks Of medicine, but it
isn't Somebody writes met
have palpitation OF the heart.
What is the cause Of this? :" can
answer in a general way from my
experience. But l would like to
be exact so ! look it up in q text
book Of medicine. There, by con-
sulting the index under palpita-
ton, | am referred to the article
on goiter, and find that palpita-
ton is listed as one of the symp-
toms. Also in the article on high
blood pressure it is listed as one
of the symptoms. Also in the ar
ticle on neurasthenia. But that
does not tell me what | want to
know, and il is not what my cor
respondent wants to know.
My correspondent wants 70
know-"Whst are the chances
that my palpitation Of the heart
is something serious and what
are the chances that it doesn't
amount to anything! And what
are those chances put down in
cold statistical figures not based
on guesswork?" And the answer
10 that is what | do not find in
the medical textbooks and which
! find very scarce in medical lit
erature.
Report on Palpitation
But the other day found one
such report on this very subject
Of palpitation Of the heart.
wrote on the subject in answer
to a query recently, but I was not
satisfied with the answer and by
instituting q search in the medi-
cal literature ! ran across two re-
ports that give Us exact Informal
ton on the relative frequency Of
the causes Of ralpitaticn. One !.
from the National Hospital for
Diseases Of the Heart in London.
Another is from an American
hospital.
The first impression these stud.
les make on one is that palpita-
ton is not due to heart trouble
but to stomach trouble. Those
with organic heart disease were
remarkably free Of any sensation
or consciousness Of the heart at
all. And palpitation is nothing
but consciousness Of the heart.
But 45es Of all who suffered
from palpitation had dyspepsia,
some form of gas on the stomach
or bowel, or other trouble with
digestion.
Thyroid Trouble
Aside from this group, the
Argest group was Of goiter or
thyroid trouble. One Of the most
frequent signs Of thyroid gland
disturbance is rapid and strong
heart beats so the association Of
that with palpitation il natural.
High blood pressure was found
present in about Is per cent Of
the patients who complained of
palpitation (but over 999o of pa
tients with high blood pressure
are not conscious Of the hearts
action at all). A peculiar eondi-
ton in which the heart has spells
Of racing called paroxysmal
tachycardia is behind another
1919 Of cases Of palpitation.
The functional causes of palpi-
tation we're put down as-indiges-
ton, overweight, debility in con-
valeseence from some prolonged
illness, the menopause, anxiety
and fatigue.
The old French doctor, Potain,
who is best known for a blood
pressure apparatus he invented
had an aphorism which seems TO
fit the case pretty well.
when a patient complains Of
feeling his heart beat, examine
his stomach"