The history of the case; the relation of the tumor to the adjacent parts as first movable, then fixed; the extreme, stony hardness of the tumor itself; and the stabbing, lancinating character of the pains, will enable the physician to give a qualified, guarded diagnosis, even in the earlier stages of the disease; and to express the hope that the tumor may be prevented from assuming the form of scirrhus, ulcerated cancer; and that if it is not entirely dissipated by the exhibition of the appropriate remedy, homoeopathic to whole case, – it may at least be arrested in its progress and its further development finally prevented.
With regard to the operation for the removal of cancer, we may now state that the results of allopathic surgery to far to confirm the principles adopted in this book and which are common to the Homoeopathic school. The expiration of the tumor so far from removing the disease, does but result, in most cases, in its more rapidly fatal development. All those cases in which the allopathic surgeon would dare to operate, afford still greater prospect of a radical cure from the use of the Homoeopathic remedies. And finally, if these remedies fail to arrest the progress of the disease entirely, they can greatly retard its advance; and at the same time do much towards relieving the intense pains which characterize almost every form of cancerous affection.
Treatment. – Study the following remedies; and also the others mentioned under Uterine Cancer and Ovarian Tumors.
Apis m. Indurations; Scirrhus, or open cancers, attended with “stinging burning” pains.
Arnica m. Should be employed immediately after a contusion, or should this not be found sufficient, Conium will almost probably be found to be the remedy.
Arsen. a. Burning like fire. Putrid exhalations. Waxy paleness, and great debility from the cancerous affection. Great loss of flesh. The pains are relieved by motion.
Asterias rubens. Cures cancers, particularly of the left breast. “Feeling as if the left breasts were drawn inwards. “drawing pain in the breast. “Swelling and distention of the breasts, as if before the menses.
Belladonna. Red streaks, like radii, extend from the scirrhus, induration, or ulcer. The pains come on suddenly and finally disappear with equal suddenness. They are aggravated by motion or the least jar.
Bryonia. Where there is a tensive burning and tearing pain, aggravated by moving the limb of the affected side. She feels generally better on keeping still.
Calcarea carb. In leucophlegmatic constitutions. The cancer is very sensitive and painful to the touch.
Calcarea oxalata. Cancer of the left breast, with intense agonizing pain.
Carbo ani. Burning and tearing pains; dyspnoea and anxiety; low-spirited and desponding. Faint, empty sensation at the pit of the stomach.
Chamomilla Induration, with drawing tearing; painful to the touch, – she feels as though she could not possibly bear the least touch. She becomes almost furious about the pain; she cannot bear her clothes to touch the part affected. The pains are aggravated in the open air and at night.
Clematis e. Cancer in the mammae, painful only on being touched.
Colocynth. Will be found indicated in some cases of very painful cancer.
Conium m. Is particularly indicated in cases developed by means of an injury. Or if aggravated at every menstrual period. Pricking, stinging pains. She is roused from her sleep with pain.
Creasote. The whole mammary gland is hard, bluish-red and covered with little scurfy protuberances, from which blood oozes out whenever the scurf is removed.
Graphites. If developed from old cicatrices formed from repeated abscesses in the mammae.
Hepar s.c. Cancer of the breast with stinging, burning of the edges, and smell of old cheese. Little pimples or smooth ulcers surrounding the scirrhus or principal ulceration.
Lachesis. The cancer has a bluish or dark red base, interspersed with black streaks of coagulated or decomposed blood.
Lycopodium. Hard, burning nodosities in the mammae. Study the constitutional symptoms of this important remedy.
Mercurius. The cancer has a sore pain, a sort of raw feeling.
Nitric acid. Hard knots in the mammae, particularly of mercurialized women.
Phosphorus. Inflamed indurations, very painful, much aggravated by exposure to the air. Stitching pains striking through the part affected. Tall, slim, phthisical females.
Pulsatilla. May be indicated in all lumps occurring in the breasts of young girls. They are sometimes very painful; and often affect the arm of the corresponding side.
Sepia. Is a powerful remedy in these affections. The urine is putrid and deposits a sediment like clay burnt on the chamber. Painful sensation of emptiness in the pit of the stomach; yellow spots in the face; burning pain in the cancer.
Sulphur. The constitutional symptoms are strong in this direction; flushes of heat; burning in the soles of the feet; heat on the crown of the head; weak, faint spells. Weak and unusually hungry from eleven to twelve A.M.
OVARIAN DROPSY.
The greater number of the tumors of the ovaries are dropsical in their nature. And although in all cases of ovarian dropsy, the contained fluids are encysted, not diffused, there are several distinct forms of such tumors. Thus there are simple serous cysts which are merely attached to the surface of the ovary; tumors which consist in dilatations and dropsies of the Fallopian tubes; dropsies of the ovaries which consist of single cysts; and multilocular cystic dropsy of the ovaries. It is well to understand these various forms, – although it may not always be necessary or possible to distinguish them in the living subject; and also to know that they may be complicated with or developed into more malignant forms of disease.
The encysted dropsy of the ovary, – either consisting of a single greatly enlarged cyst, or of several smaller ones, – is by far the most common form of ovarian tumor. “This consists of an enlargement of one or more of the vesicles of De Graaf, the coats of which are thickened, greatly dilated, and become filled with a fluid, while the intermediate structure becomes atrophied, as the vesicle or vesicles enlarge, until the fibrous tunic of the ovarium, covered by the peritoneum, forms the boundary of the tumor. When the principal cyst is formed of the entire ovarium, it often happens that the vesicles having partaken of the morbid disposition, form a series of smaller cysts or cells, which are developed within the parent cyst, and occasionally communicate with each other by considerable openings, the tumor obtaining an immense size, so as to occupy almost the whole abdomen. The thickness of the parietes of the cysts differs much; they are often as thin as a bladder, but, at other times, of a substance as thick as the hand. – Leadam. “If there be a great variety in the size of ovarian tumors, in the density of their external coverings, and in the nature of their contents; there is scarcely less diversity in the number of the cells, and in the thickness of the septa which separate them. In most of these compound ovarian dropsies, the number of cysts in very considerable; as the larger cells have series of smaller ones developed and in the course of growth on their internal surface, so that when the disease has attained great bulk, this creation of sub-ordinate cysts is almost interminable. – Ashwell.
These tumors may vary from the size of a fist to that of a mass weighing an hundred pounds. “The fluid secreted within the cysts may be serous, like that of ordinary dropsy, or mixed with slimy matter, or it may be a thick, ropy fluid, or gelatinous; different cysts in the same tumor will sometimes contain different sorts of fluid. Pus is occasionally found in one or more of the cysts, mingled with the other fluid, a consequence of inflammation having occurred in the cyst.
The multiple cysts, as in multilocular cystic dropsy, are said by a late authority to depend on a particular specific alteration of the tissue which constitutes the normal parenchyma of the ovary. Some of them are filled with similar, some with different substances. Thus there may be a purely serious liquid, – or one mingled with blood, resulting from the rupture of interior vessels. In what are called composite cysts, in some rare cases, but usually in a few isolated cavities only, we find a mass of fat, of hairs, of cartilage, bones or teeth. – Scanzoni.
Ovarian dropsies occur more frequently in single than in married females; and in the sterile rather than in the parturient of the latter class. This form of disease never appears before puberty; it is most apt to occur in the middle age, – when the generative organs are in full activity. Usually but one ovary is at first or at all affected, even in cases in which the tumor occupies the entire cavity of the abdomen. The other ovary may have become atrophied by compression, or the superior influence of the morbid processes going on around it.
Symptoms. – During the first few months, or while the dropsical tumor continues in the cavity of the pelvis, the symptoms and sensations are not to be distinguished from those occasioned by a mere solid ovarian tumor. Its weight and size occasion uneasy, dragging, bearing-down sensations in the pelvis; or more or less positively painful affections of the bladder and rectum. Upon vaginal examination, the tumor may be discovered between the vagina and rectum; and if the parietes be thin, fluctuations may be detected. A similar exploration per rectum may be requisite fully to determine the nature and relations of the tumor has passed up from within the pelvic cavity, the bearing down sensation, the pressure upon the rectum and bladder, and consequent retention of feces and urine will be relieved. The disturbance of the organic action of the system will be shown higher up. The position and free movement of the intestines, stomach, diaphragm and other organs will be so interfered with, as the tumor increases in size, as to cause a great variety of nervous sufferings and functional derangements, such as palpitation of the heart, dyspnoea, dyspepsia, heart-burn, & c. The gradual but constant advance of the tumor, its slow but steady growth, even when apparently the normal quantity of urine is discharged, indicate the nature of the case, – independent of the fluctuation, – which if present is of course a positive indication, while its absence may arise from the excessive thickness both of the external parietes of the tumor and of the intermediate septa. There may be considerable fever, especially in the evening, with much thirst; or both fever and thirst may be comparatively slight. “In the course of the disease, the patient may have pains in the belly, with fever, indicating inflammation of the part of the tumor, which may terminate in suppuration, and produce hectic fever; or the attack may be more acute, causing vomiting, tenderness of the belly, and high fever, proving fatal in a short time; or there may be severe pain, lasting for a shorter period, with or without temporary exhaustion, and these paroxysms may be frequently repeated; but in many cases these acute symptoms are absent, and little distress is felt until the tumor acquire a size so great, as to obstruct respiration, and cause a painful sense of distention. By this time the constitution becomes broken, and dropsical effusions are (elsewhere) produced. Then the abdominal coverings are sometimes so tender, that they cannot bear pressure; and the emaciated patient, worn out with restless nights, feverishness and want of appetite, pain and dyspnoea, expires. – Burns.
