Urinary Organs
Bladder. Paresis of the bladder. Slight paresis of the bladder. Pain in the region of the bladder (after one hour). Pain in the bladder; (after two hours). Micturition. Emission of scanty urine, with great urging (after four hours). Passed very little urine, with great difficulty (first night). Ineffectual efforts to urinate (after seven hours); he succeeded in urinating (nine hours later). Constant desire to urinate, and inability to do so for twelve hours. Complete ischuria. Strangury is often caused. Retention of urine. Urine. Urine high-colored and scanty. Urine scanty. Diminished secretion of urine. Frequently the secretion is diminished, though at times it is increased. Suppression of urine (second day). Suppression of urine and faeces. Complete suppression of urine. Urine turbid and slimy. The urine yielded albumen, without structural elements. Passed z3ix urine, sp. gr. 1010.4 (on rising, before injection); z3xviiiss. urine, alkaline, sp. gr. 1008.8 (after two hours); z3vij, freely acid, sp. gr. 1009.2 (after four hours). The kidneys excrete albuminous urine, in severe cases. The evacuation of urine is often difficult, and the amount frequently scanty; the specific gravity varies within the most extreme limits; I have found urine of 1004 to 1038; generally the urine at first has the highest specific gravity; towards the end of the cure the specific gravity diminishes; naturally this varies according to the amount of urine passed. The urine of nearly all suffering from Morphine intoxication reduces an alkaline solution of Cuprum sulphate without precipitating it as an oxide, at the same time the urine usually turns the polarization ray to the left. Urine acid, sp. gr. 1022, about z3ij in the hour (before the injection); during two hours and a quarter, z3iv of bright acid urine, sp. gr. 1029, was secreted (after 1/4 gr.); z3ij pale acid urine, sp. gr. 1009.2, in the hour (before 1/2 gr.); z3vss. of bright acid urine, sp. gr. 1022.0, during the three hours (after 1/2 gr.). At first the specific gravity of the urine, although the quantity was only moderate, was 1000; and in three weeks it rose to 1014; during about three weeks the quantity of albumen was very abundant; it then slowly diminished, and disappeared in the fourth month; no formed elements were found. The specific gravity of the urine varied from 1007 to 1012; the urine reduced alkaline solution of Sulphate of copper, turned the plane of polarization to the left, and showed a remarkable amount of albumen; microscopical examination, during the first fourteen days of her stay in the hospital, detected waxy cylinders and white blood-corpuscles; five weeks later, there were only a few traces of albumen. The specific gravity of the urine varied from 1026 to 1035; sugar was tested for, but was not found; albumen was distinctly present, but in small quantities; no structural elements were present; after the albumen had disappeared for some days, it was again observed for a short time. The urinary organs are generally more affected in men than in women. Urine diabetic, possessing reducing and levogyrating properties, in cases of chronic poisoning; the fact had already been established, but its occurrence in acute poisoning now noticed, is new. Albumen is frequently found in the urine is cases of Morphine intoxication, both during the continued use of Morphine and the period of abstinence. This albumen, which appears during the long-continued use of Morphine, either as a transient symptom that occurs irregularly, often lasting only a few days, or as a constant symptom that only disappears after weeks or months following the total withdrawal of the drug. Albumen is much more frequently found during the period of abstinence than during the continued use of Morphine, as observed in nearly all cases; it makes it appearance in three to six days after the beginning of the abstinence, and disappears in two to four days. It varies from the slightest turbidity to a flocculent sediment. Before I had observed cases of the latter character, I had slight turbidity as accidental, dependent upon a slight catarrhal condition of the urogenital organs; the presence of the deposit leaves no doubt that we have here to deal with pathological changes in the uropoietic system. In the chemical action of the urine, all the reagents (nitric acid, Acetic acid, Carbolic acid, Potassium ferrocyanide, and Sodium sulphate) promptly indicate albumen. In some cases the action of Nitric acid was noteworthy, and called to mind the case of Bence Jones and his acid albuminate. When the Nitric acid was used freely, and the urine heated, no albumen was precipitated while hot, but after the urine became cold, and it was again dissolved by heat.
Sexual Organs
Male. Impotency; the testimony of all men suffering from Morphine intoxication is uniform in that their sexual power is affected by the drug. Sometimes the sexual excitement, voluptuous sensations, and in part erections are incomplete, less energetic, and of shorter duration, or they do not occur at all. So in this case all grades may be found, from simple sexual weakness to complete impotency. The great majority refrain from sexual intercourse, either from lack of interest or from inability, owing to the fact that erections are incomplete or wanting altogether. Unmarried men become impotent sooner than married men. In many men the first effect of Morphine is excitement of the sexual sphere, afterwards the usual paralysis. Many unmarried men make use of this fact to smother their desires when they become aroused during the interval free from Morphine. The question arises whether there may not be other causes than that of Morphine for the impotency. The condition of depression which is induced in many persons might be supposed to be a psychical impotency, but there are also cases in which there was a condition of eutropia, and also still others upon whose emotional nature Morphine has no influence whatever, that are more or less impotent. Whether the power of erection ceases sooner, or since the emissions are not of a frequent occurrence the function of the seminiferous organs ceases sooner, is uncertain from want of sufficient data. The testimony of men is usually not clear; many dislike to speak of their impotency; many healthy men are, indeed, unaware of this condition, or passed over lightly, or are silent about it. In the register of the Morphine poisonings in Maison de Sante, it is found that wives of none of the men who had injected large doses of Morphine have had a normal pregnancy during the last two years, although they were young women, and previous to the use of Morphine by their husbands, had had children every year. Impotence. He had become impotent since he used Morphia. Pain in the genitals and urinary organs, especially in the right spermatic cord (after one hour and a half). Diminished sexual desire. Female. Amenorrhoea. In all the women treated by me for Morphine intoxication, menstruation had been irregular, or suppressed for months or years. These women varied in age from twenty-five to thirty-five, and had used subcutaneous injections of Morphine for a long time. The symptoms noticed at the commencement and during the course of the amenorrhoea, such as headache, vertigo, disinclination to work, loss of appetite, vomiting, constipation, palpitation, hysterical attacks, etc., coincide with those of Morphine intoxication, so that it is often difficult to distinguish whether they are caused by the toxicity of Morphine, or are the consequence of the amenorrhoea. I have never observed swelling of the breasts or vicarious hemorrhages in my cases. The amenorrhoea of Morphine is gradually developed from dysmenorrhoea, or it occurs suddenly. Conception has never been noticed in amenorrhoeic women, while some of the women have been repeatedly pregnant previous to the use of Morphine. Therefore, it seems probable that the cessation of menstruation is dependent upon anomalies of the ovaries, in that they seem inactive. According to Pluger’s theory, in the amenorrhoea of Morphine, the growth of the cells of the ovaries ceases from one period to another, and in consequence, the irritability that is transmitted by the ovarian cells and causes, on the one hand, bursting of the Graafian follicles, and on the other, determines the reflex condition of congestion of the sexual organs, in wanting. As a consequence, Morphine affects the ovaries as it does other secretory glands, namely, it renders them unable to perform their functions. It is most probable that menstruation ceases because ovulation ceases, and this also explains the sterility. The supposition that Morphine injection causes the arrest of the function of the organs of generation is justified by the fact that, after the cessation of Morphine, these organs recover their activity. The sexual desire is at increased by the habitual use of Morphine, but after the graver symptoms of poisoning have been developed it almost entirely disappears, as in men. It is also noteworthy that women who have suffered from fluor albus, are generally free from it during the prolonged use of Morphine; this reappears only after the withdrawal of the drug, often with labor like pains. Women suffering from Morphine intoxication, in whom menstruation continues normal, may conceive; but I have noticed that the pregnancy runs a normal course only when the women use small doses; they abort from large doses. Menstruation too early. Menstruation generally more profuse and too early.
Born in 1837in Westminster, Vermont. . He was an orthodox doctor who converted to homeopathy
Dr. Allen compiled the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica over the course of 10 years.
In 1881 Allen published A Critical Revision of the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica.