Part 10

Take the A C current, of considerable force. Place N. P. low upon the bladder, and treat with P. P. upon the inflamed and painful point five to eight minutes, once or twice a day. If treating twice a day, continue not more than five minutes at a time.

DIABETES. (A Kidney Disease.)

This disease occurs in two forms--diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus. In the first named form, the disease is readily cured. In the latter, it is very formidable, and is rarely, if ever, cured by medicines; especially when of long standing. In this latter variety of the disease, the urea is absent from the urine, and in its place is found more or less of sugar--often large quantities: Dunglison says 2-1/2 oz. in a pint.

The electrical state of the disease, in both of these forms, is negative in excess.

1. D. insipidus. Use the B D current, of moderate force. Place P. P. at the coccyx or on the upper dorsal vertebra, or on both in alternation, which is better, and treat over the kidneys with N. P. five to eight minutes, once a day for three or four days. If this should fail to cure, (as it seldom will), go on with the same treatment three times a week.

2. D. mellitus. Take the A D current, of mild force. Place P. P. as in d. insipidus, and treat the kidneys with N. P. about five to eight minutes, three times a week; supplementing this with general tonic treatment, once or twice a week.

Be patient and persevering. In bad cases, months will be required to effect a cure; but persistent effort, as above prescribed, will rarely if ever fail, unless the vital force is nearly expended.

DYSPEPSIA.

This is one of the most difficult of diseases to control by any of the ordinary modes of medical practice; and yet, under judicious electrical treatment, it is one of the surest to yield. The disease assumes various phases in different persons, and at different times in the same person, requiring varied treatment.

The pain, after eating, is severe; exhalations of air, apparently from the inner surfaces of the stomach and bowels, or of gas from their decomposing contents, are large--often enormous. The stomach is much of the time acid, and, in some cases, sensibly cold, ejecting often a cold mucus. The bowels are habitually constipated. The patient is nervous, irritable, and subject to great depression of spirits. In this stage or phase of the disease, there is a negative condition of the digestive apparatus generally. Treat with the A D current, in mild force, and expect the case to require considerable time. But, since there is no approach to uniformity among patients, no approximation to definite time can be stated. Give general tonic treatment, (page 95), three times a week, and close each sitting with local treatment, having P. P. at the coccyx, and manipulating some five minutes with N. P. over the entire front parts of the abdomen and thorax, and over the liver.

It is sometimes found, in old cases, that there is no sensible acidity of stomach; but a pyrosis--a burning sensation in the stomach, or a little above, in what is usually termed "the pit of the stomach." Treat this about three minutes with the P. P., strong force; moving N. P., long cord, over the lower dorsal vertebrae.

ACUTE DIARRHA.

Take B D current. Place N. P., long cord, upon the lumbar vertebrae and sacrum, moving it often along the spine, from a position opposite to the umbilicus down to the coccyx; and treat with P. P. over the abdomen, and more especially wherever pain or sensations of uneasiness appear. In severe cases, treat several times in a day--once in two to three hours, if need require, three to five minutes at a time. Use current of full medium strength, if the patient can bear it.

CHRONIC DIARRHA.

Take A D current, of very mild force. Place P. P. at the feet, and treat with N. P. over the lower limbs briefly; then over the bowels and stomach, both front and rear, some three to five minutes; then pass up with N. P. over the anterior parts of the chest, two or three minutes; and, next, place N. P. low on the back of neck, with P. P. still at feet, two or three minutes. Treat in this manner once daily.

If at any time the bowels should become unusually flatulent, and evacuations should increase in frequency, change the treatment. Place N. P. at back of neck, as before, and treat about five minutes with P. P. (force increased to moderate current) over the abdomen, daily, from one to three days, as may be necessary. After this, resume treatment as first above prescribed.

COLIC--of whatever kind.

Use A D current, pretty strong force. In severe cases, introduce the rectum instrument N. P., long cord, or in mild cases, place sponge-roll N. P., long cord, at coccyx, and treat with P. P. over all the abdomen, three to five minutes. It may be repeated, if necessary, in thirty minutes.

CHOLERA MORBUS.

Keep the patient still as possible on his back. Use A D current, strong force. Place N. P., long cord, at coccyx, and treat with P. P. over abdomen, five to ten minutes, and repeat, if necessary, in thirty to sixty minutes. If there be cramps, touch the contracted muscles with the P. P., for a few moments, without disturbing N. P.

CHOLERA.--(Malignant.)

As in cholera morbus, keep the patient on his back, still as can be. Use A D current, full medium strength.

In the early stage, or during the "rice-water" discharges, and down to the time of collapse, treat the abdomen and thorax with P. P., having N. P., long cord, on back of neck--not too near the head. After treating so a few moments--say four to six minutes--remove P. P. to the back, and pass it along close upon each side of the spinous processes from the lower lumbar up to about the middle of the dorsal vertebrae. Continue this about three or four minutes.

If cramping accompany the vomiting and purging, carry the P. P. a part of the time to the muscles in spasm, leaving N. P. still at the back of neck, with long cord.

Repeat the above processes as often as once an hour until symptoms improve. Then reduce their frequency as the case will admit of.

In the state of collapse, place P. P., long cord, at the coccyx, and manipulate with N. P. over the entire trunk and arms; bestowing a larger share of treatment along up the spine than elsewhere. Then remove P. P., long cord, to feet, and work with N. P. all over the lower limbs and hips. Treat in this stage of the disease some six or eight minutes at a time, and repeat it as the case seems to demand--once in thirty minutes to once in two, four or six hours, until improvement or death shall ensue. (See page 81.)

DYSENTERY.

Treat exactly as in acute diarrha, except that P. P. should be moved more over the colon and rectum than in diarrha.