In my case, this regime was applied over the period of the past two years with the strictest perseverance. How ever, there were occasions when I unavoidably omitted these precautions. At such times, the symptoms again made their appearance. One year ago and for nearly thirty years my weight was between 140 and 150 pounds. I now weight 160 pounds, my skin is moist and free from the twenty-five years of dryness and itching. The gastric symptoms- empty eructations, flatulence and mild headaches-occur infrequently. The mental and nervous symptoms have disappeared. What is most significant is such abundance of vitality as was never thought possible.
In closing, i wish to add that by discarding for all time the aluminium kitchen utensils while receiving treatment, during any of my critical periods, I am convinced my course in life would have been different.
DISCUSSION.
Dr. STEARNS: These personal experiences are rich in knowledge. One of my secretaries, when I was dictating a letter about aluminium, remarked that when she made fudge in an aluminium dish it was always gritty. Some of you girls try it and see if it is true.
I dont know whether aluminium is responsible for cancer but we sometimes find evidence of it in cancer cases. One died within a few days, gave evidence of a high degree of the pharynx. The family, after she died, brought a saucepan to me that she had used for a long time. About a third of the depth of the inside of the pan is pitted and the surface if deeply eroded. It is a very impressive exhibited for my patients.
We find that every case showing aluminium effects responds to whichever of the barium salts is best indicated for that particular patient. We have the following list of Bariums:
Barium met. Baryta caust. Baryta nit.
Baryta acet. Baryta iod. Baryta phos.
Baryta carb. Baryta mur. Baryta sulph.
DR. HEIMBACH: I am very anxious to enumerate a few experience I have had with cases of aluminium poisoning. Two acute cases very nearly died, in fact, one of them did die from a stroke. The other was a very close friend of nine, a veteran of the World War, who was taken with severe abdominal pains and vomiting and diarrhoea at first; in a day or so it reverted into constipation, and we couldnt get anything through at all.
The pain was so intense for a while that I feared it might be a surgical case. I couldnt convince myself that it was appendicitis, but I soon discovered that it was aluminium poisoning. He made a complete recovery and has been well since.
Another peculiar case puzzled me for quite a while. She had an ulcer of the leg, probably four or five inches in diameter. She responded to treatment, and th ulcer healed up, but by the time the ulcer of the leg healed up, she commenced to get necrosis over the abdomen. She was a stout woman, with a roll of fat over the lower part of the abdomen, and that started to necrose across.
One day I saw an aluminium kettle of food on the stove. I didnt permit her to use it any more, and gave her a fruit juice diet. But the place kept on necrosing, and the whole thing sloughed off practically half-way across the abdomen. Then she got an acute obstruction of the intestines and died in a very short time.
She had a history of an abdominal operation; a large tumour had been removed five or seven years previous to that, and a cicatricial band enclosed the small intestine at one place.
A portion of the liver and some of the tissues over the abdomen were removed and sent to a chemist who had been interested, more or less, in this aluminium question. He made a test and the report came back that there was aluminium in all the tissues which had been sent him.
LEts come to think of the chemical effect of an aluminium kettle. How many foods are cooked where salt or vinegar are not used? You get an aluminium acetate if you use vinegar, and an aluminium chloride if you use salt; both are very good solution to embalm people.
Dr. BRYANT: I had a young woman working for Sears, Roebuck, who had a typical picture of aluminium. We had the stools and urine examined, and found aluminium in both. Her trouble began solely by the use of aluminium binders. It has done one good thing if it hasnt done anything else; every Sears, roebuck place in the world has done away with their aluminium binders. She sued Sears, Roebuck, for 50,000 dollars. I happened to have been the physician that took care of her.
Just to enumerate briefly, my attention was called to it by the fact that she had plenty of blood in the stools; she had a typical aluminium constipation; she was emaciated; eruption appeared first in the palm of her hand from the constant handling of these things. She also had an eruption on the soles of the feet, and she even had the craving for starch. The emaciation was extreme. I am quite sure the girls is going to die. I dont believe we can do much for her. The progressive emaciation goes on in spite of everything we do.
