“DROPPED STOMACH”, technically called Enteroptosis or Gastroptosis, is an extremely frequent complaint in men and women. The intestinal organs are kept in their place by a padding of flesh and fat. If this padding disappears, then the organs slip down, drag, and produce, discomforts at first, and serious suffering later on. This condition is, of course, favoured by loss of internal flesh and fat and by weakness of the abdominal wall in both sexes. Another and very potent cause of this complaint in women is the bearing of children.
The stomach, bowels, kidneys and other organs can function properly only if they are in their rightful places, held up as they should be held up. If there is dragging down, then the organs of digestion and excretion, the female womb, etc. suffer more or less severely, and those afflicted with this complaint frequently feel desperately ill, look haggard, and complain about loss of strength, lack of appetite, nausea, constipation, heart trouble, and so forth. The fact that there is dragging down of the abdominal organs can be ascertained scientifically by x-ray pictures, but it is not necessary to take X-ray photos.
It can readily be diagnosed by the simple test of knitting together the fingers of both hands and lifting up the lower abdomen, pressing it upward and backward. If this pressure causes the patient to feel very much better, it can be assumed that the indigestion, nausea, lack of appetite, weakness and many other things may be due largely, or chiefly, to Enteroptosis or Gastroptosis.
The obvious cure for this complaint consists in getting the sunken organs back into their normal place. The orthodox doctor or surgeon will think immediately of a surgical belt, such as the well known belts made by H.E. Curtis & Son, Ltd., 7 Mandeville Place, W. 1, or they will think of stitching up the organs. The artificial outward belt will relieve immediately if it is carefully fitted, and the stitching of the organs will give comfort for a time, but of course the ideal is to lift up the organs in some natural way. If the patient is emaciated, then the radical cure consists in filling the abdomen with flesh and fat which are normally found in it.
Such an individual should adopt a milky diet, and should take little exercise until the desired gain in weight has been obtained. Further, the abdominal wall should be strengthened by appropriate exercises. The patient should lie on his back, put his feet under a piece of furniture, cross his arms over his chest, and should then lift himself up to the sitting position, by the use of the abdominal muscles and then lower himself a number of times. This exercise is most useful. Another exercise to strengthen the abdominal wall consists in lifting up the legs while lying on ones back, an exercise which is also done by the abdominal muscles. Self- massage, or massage by a skilled masseur, is also helpful.
In the case of women, prolapse means frequently not only the prolapse of the stomach and bowels, but prolapse of the womb as well. This is an extremely unpleasant condition. Women with a pronounced prolapse, especially of the womb, get deeply depressed and occasionally hysterical, nervy, suicidal, they look and feel ill, are strengthless, and this condition is wonderfully improved by the methods described.
The usual orthodox method of treating prolapse of the womb consists in propping up the suffering organs with a ring or similar contraption, which is quite useful but which, unfortunately, irritates the organ. It may also cause inflammation. Besides it leads to the accumulation of dirt for the ring is apt to get very foul. This is, of course, most undesirable.
The general strengthening of the body by an appropriate diet and bowel regulation leads, of course, to the strengthening of all organs and tissues, to the energizing of the body as a whole, and the normalizing of the abdominal condition. Further, there are important Homoeopathic medicines which will help the sufferer. Among the bearing-down medicines, Sepia occupies the foremost place, particularly in the case of women. If the dragging down is accompanied by displacement of the womb towards the back, constipation and palpitations, then Lilium tigrinum is extremely useful.
Of course, the constitutional symptoms will determine whether Sepia or Lilium tigrinum is indicated, or such a medicine as Pulsatilla, which is particularly helpful in the case of women, who are tearful, fat, flabby, feel best in the open air, loathe fat and scanty and delayed periods. Nux vomica is strongly indicated where there is bearing down and the patient has characteristics opposed to the Pulsatilla symptoms, and is impatient, irritable, dislikes the open air, is fond of highly spiced foods, alcohol, and tobacco.
Where there is anaemia, Ferrum should be remembered, and where there is great emaciation, Secale should be thought of. Sulphur is beneficial in most cases of Enteroptosis, particularly where there is an impure skin, a feeling of sinking at eleven oclock in the morning and dislike of washing.
Enteroptosis is a condition which is frequently overlooked by the orthodox physician. The fact that a patient with an obscure complaint suffers from a dropped stomach, dropped intestines, dropped womb, etc. can be readily determined by the manual test described. Many sufferers can vastly improve their condition by the methods and medicines which have been given above.
James Ellis Barker wrote a very large number of books, both under the name James Ellis Barker and under his real German name Otto Julius Eltzbacher, The Truth about Homœopathy; Rough Notes on Remedies with William Murray; Chronic Constipation; The Story of My Eyes; Miracles Of Healing and How They are Done; Good Health and Happiness; New Lives for Old: How to Cure the Incurable; My Testament of Healing; Cancer, the Surgeon and the Researcher; Cancer, how it is Caused, how it Can be Prevented with a foreward by William Arbuthnot Lane; Cancer and the Black Man etc.