Upon the constitutional causes of uterine catarrh : with notes of personal observations. / A graduation thesis by Mary Edith Pechey presented to the Medical Faculty of the University of Bern ; and accepted by the Faculty on the report of Dr. Peter Muller.

  • Pechey-Phipson, Edith, 1845-1908.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Upon the constitutional causes of uterine catarrh : with notes of personal observations. / A graduation thesis by Mary Edith Pechey presented to the Medical Faculty of the University of Bern ; and accepted by the Faculty on the report of Dr. Peter Muller. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    her own accord when reliovod from the disclmrf^e. Lut hosv often do those f-ationts return in the course of u few weeks or months with a relapse, often worse than the first attack, not seldom com- plicated later on with hypertrophy of the entire organ and retro- flexion ? At other times the catarrh is lessened appreciably up to a certain point, but there it remains, and weeks and months elapse till the patient either seeks further advice, or thinking that her malady will never bo entirely and permanently cured, discontinues her visits so long as the symptoms remain in abeyance. This unsatisfactory result has been caused by a reliance on local treatment alone, to the neglect of all instructions having in view the improvemenl of the general health by the removal of the causes which lead to this derangement of the uterine functions. This neglect is the conse- <juence of a reaction from the older theory, which regarded the local disorder as always the result of general constitutional derange- ment, and which disregarded almost with contempt all local interference. During a year’s residence as House Surgeon in the Birmingham Hospital for Diseases peculiar to Women, where I had the advan- ' tage of seeing daily a large numlrer of patients, my attention was of course frequently directed to this common disorder under its various forms, and it is my purpose in the present paper to state the result of my observations upon the more frequent causes of uterine' catarrh, with the indications they furnish for general treat- ment. Symptoms.—Generally speaking, the patient complains of a weary dragging pain in the pelvis, backache, great lassitude, and a constant pain between the shoulders. If the malady is of long standing, there are added to these pains down the thighs and pain in defsecation and micturition. Sometimes the patient does not mention the discharge till asked about it, unless it has become so profuse as to form one of the most prominent and unpleasant symp- toms of her malady. If married, there is often pain in coitu, and this act is followed by slight haemorrhage. Menstruation is gener- ally irregular, being sometimes too frequent and profuse, or there is amcnorrhoca, except that the leucorrhoe is, at irregular intciwals and generally after exercise, tinged wdth blood. This especially is