Part 57

=Myocarditis.=--Reports conflict. It is well to consider this a grave condition and one open to investigation.

=Myxoedema.=--Only one case known to have been under adjustment, and this after several years was markedly improved, but not yet quite cured.

=Nephritis.=--Prognosis good. Acute cases show rapid, chronic cases slow, improvement.

=Neuralgia.=--Prognosis excellent in any form. Trophic neuralgias, such as herpes zoster, are slowest as a rule, but occasional cases of tic doloureux will require several months. One may always expect a cure unless the patient, in long cases, becomes discouraged and stops adjustments.

=Neurasthenia.=--Good, but will be slow unless mental aid be given in the form of freedom from worry or strain.

=Neuritis.=--Good, but very uncertain as to time; some cases show quick disappearance of all pain and some drag interminably.

=Optic Atrophy.=--Complete atrophy with total blindness is rarely cured, though occasional partial or complete cures have been reported. Partial atrophy may slowly recover, or recovery may cease at some point short of completion and case remain stationary thereafter.

=Ovaritis.=--Good, except in suppurative forms. When adhesions have been formed, results are doubtful.

=Pancreatitis.=--Obscure, hard to recognize, and hard to cure. Prognosis probably bad.

=Paralysis Agitans.=--Probably in the earliest stages this is curable. Cure of a fully developed case is exceedingly doubtful and the writer has yet to see marked benefit in such a case.

=Paralyses.=--Prognosis decidedly variable. Apoplectic hemorrhage recovers in about 50 per cent of all cases. Paralyses from central lesions require much more time than peripheral palsies because of the necessity for rebuilding degenerated nerve cells as well as fibres. The paralyses following anterior poliomyelitis are almost certain to be cured if sufficient time is allowed. Most peripheral palsies, except in the very aged, are curable. Any other paralysis but a purely functional one recovers slowly, but this form may yield almost in a day.

=Parotitis.=--Mumps respond immediately and may be checked at any stage.

=Pericarditis.=--Usually recovers. Effusions are stubborn and may become purulent, in which case the prognosis is grave.

=Peritonitis.=--Prognosis grave, but some cases have been reported as cured under adjustment. These are probably localized rather than diffuse inflammations, usually pelvic.

=Pertussis, or Whooping-Cough.=--Tends to run its course despite adjustments, though some aborted cases are reported. All cases mild under adjustment, with small liability of complications. A nervous cough is likely to persist for months after the infection has passed. Adjustments seem seldom to prevent contagion.

=Pharyngitis.=--Acute form yields readily. Chronic pharyngitis is more stubborn, but usually curable.

=Pleurisy.=--Pleurisy, unless purulent or tubercular, yields well in varying periods. Purulent and tubercular pleurisy are stubborn and may not recover.

=Pneumonia.=--The author has had a wide and gratifying experience with pneumonia. At every stage it seems amenable to adjustment, and the usual effect of the first adjustment is a drop of from one to two degrees in the temperature with immediate softening of the consolidated area. Specific adjustments get best and quickest results. Pneumonia should =always= recover, unless it occurs as an intercurrent event in some chronic and wasting disease, as Bright’s Disease.

=Potts’ Disease.=--Tubercular caries of the bodies of the vertebrae is curable, within limits. Occasional cases are seen in which Nature has stopped the spread of the disease by walling off the morbid area with exostosis. Such cases should not be adjusted, and the disease may remain latent through a long life. When active the disease proves fatal unless checked, which is possible in the earlier stages, and becomes impossible when the vertebral bodies are too fragile to stand strong adjustments. Discernment in case-taking will avoid any fatalities under adjustment, but by no means all cases of Potts’ Disease are curable.

=Pregnancy.=--We may correct by adjustment any pathological conditions arising during pregnancy which would be amenable to adjustment under other conditions. A course of adjustments during a normal pregnancy will render delivery easier and lessen, but not abolish, the pains. Great care must be exercised in the manner of adjustment.

=Prostatic Enlargement.=--Varies according to age and recuperative power. Prognosis is bad in the very aged and infirm, but in more vigorous subjects quite good for steady reduction of the hypertrophied gland, with subsidence of attendant symptoms. Venereal history is unfavorable.

=Pulmonary Tuberculosis.=--In the early stages, where little damage has been done to lung tissue, recovery is rapid and quite certain. In fully developed cases, with characteristic symptoms and marked damage to tissue, prognosis is very grave, and it is usually wisest to advise a trip to the Southwest in preference to adjustments. Tubercular cases should be studied with a view to estimating the exact condition and recuperative power of the patient before taking.

=Rachitis.=--Prognosis excellent. In a period varying from six months in the best to five to seven years in the slowest cases, all show complete or nearly complete cures. All deformity may be checked in a short time and proper bone nourishment established. Correction of deformities existing prior to adjustment is a growth process. Too many cases become discouraged at the slowness of the work and stop adjustments.

=Retinal Hemorrhage.=--Prognosis fair. Undoubted cures have been recorded, as well as a few failures. At least one case of hemorrhages followed by partially detached retina has been cured, or nearly so, by adjustments.

=Rheumatic Fever.=--Hard to adjust because of its painful nature. Results of proper adjustment usually, but not always, good.

=Rheumatism.=--Muscular rheumatism yields more rapidly than articular. Acute tends to quick recovery, chronic to more or less lengthened and slow improvement. Rheumatic diathesis may require many months of careful adjustment.

=Rubella.=--Simply and easily checked. Rash slight, and no prostration at all.

=Scarlet Fever.=--Data on quarantinable cases is meagre, but scarlet fever, or scarlatina, seems to be quickly modified by adjustment. One may expect a drop of from one to two degrees in temperature after first adjustment, followed by steady rise, which will again be checked by the next adjustment. Rash appears early, and all symptoms are mild, but several days are often required to put the patient at ease. Occasional sequelae, such as endocarditis, otitis media, or other inflammations, occur unless case be watched with great care. No fatal terminations under adjustment except in cases which were at first misdiagnosed.