The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-09-12

mia. Nearly one-fourth of the en-
tire number have been kept alive
for ten years or more. When it is
remembered that it was only 18
years ago that the modern method
Of cure Of the disease, by liver and
liver extract, was announced, and
some of these patients have been
kept alive ever since, we see how
remarkable and significant is this
report. Before the modern treat
ment the best hope we could hold
out for the average case was life
expectancy of about FIVE years.
Its significance lies in the fact
that this record proves the liver
treatment has established itself as
a tried and true remedy. So many
of the cures and treatments we
hear about are fly-by-night affairs.
Somebody proposes them and they
get a great bally-hoo. They are
miracles, they are wonder-work-
ers, they will cure anything. Then
before you know it they disappear
and nothing is heard of them
again.
Need of Clinical Observation
We have just gone through that
first stage with the sulfa drugs
and we are starting to go through
it with penicillin. do not say that
these are not valuable drugs: they
are, but it is certain that the ex-
tent of their usefulness will be
seen to be less in the future, after
they have been tested in the cold
white fame Of clinical experience,
than is thought or claimed for
them now.
But the use Of liver or liver ex-
tract in anemia is a method that
has gone through the flame. 1t is
IS years old now. We know it
wasn't fash in the pan. 1t is old
enough to go to war. 1t is clas-
sified l A.
There is another significance TO
such record. Pernicious anemia
is one of the diseases of mi Idle or
old age that we can overcome. The
ages of the patients in this series
reported from the Milwaukee
County Hospital is arresting.
There were no patients in the age
group 20 to % years and only one
in the age group 80 to 80, and only
four from 40 to 40. There were
IS from so to SO, 80 from 60 to 81,
and % from 10 to 70. 1t is distinct
ly disease Of the ages between
80 and 70.
Symptoms of Pernicious Anemia
My readers who are always ask
ing me how to turn their gray hair
back to normal will be interested
to know that over half the patients
were gray before 40 years of age,
and, in one case, the hair was re-
stored TO its original brown by the
treatment. So l can say that the
only treatment of gray hair known
to me is to eat liver once a day.
At least it is harmless.
1t is we'll for people over fifty
years Of age to know what the
symptoms of Addisonian anemia
are. Fatigue and weakness were
present in So per cent of cases as
the earliest symptom. This con-
nected with spells Of about six
weeks duration when the skin
turns lemon color, and then the
complexion spontaneously returns
to normal, with persistent sore
tongue (57 per cent Of cases),
tingling Of the hands and fingers
(7l per cent? loss of appetite $50
per cent?, and disturbances of
gait al per cent? should send the
man or woman Of fifty or more to
a doctor for a blood count. Par
ticularly striking is that there is
seldom any weight loss: the ghast-
ly complexion makes you think
instinctively here is a very sick
man, and on investigation it is
found he has only fifth as much
blood as nc should, yet the weight
remains the same.
The best thing about the liver
treatment Of anemia is that it
doesn't make any difference how
you ta'ie it. 1t works by mouth
cooked in any way, or raw chopped
up and served in ice as a cocktail,
or in tablets, so long as you take
some every day. Or you can have
a hypodermic Of it once a month.