EXPERIENCES WITH MEASLES


Edwards rash was developing slowly, when suddenly the temperature shot up to 106, with pulse and respiration correspondingly high, the whole chest being filled with rales. He was indeed a very sick child, the rash was under the skin and of a livid color, the cough was infrequent, the chest was filled with mucus, there was no expectoration and he was in a semi- stupor, being roused with difficulty.


Helen was a thin, scrawny child, with a congenital heart lesion, a frequently recurring eczema of the head and face, and a very unstable nervous system. When the measles eruption should have been fully developed, there was only a pale, livid rash under the skin, the heart action was weak and failing, and the child looked extremely ill, with rapidly increasing prostration. Sulph. 1M produced prompt reaction, development of the rash, and normal course of the disease without further complications.

Edwards rash was developing slowly, when suddenly the temperature shot up to 106, with pulse and respiration correspondingly high, the whole chest being filled with rales. He was indeed a very sick child, the rash was under the skin and of a livid color, the cough was infrequent, the chest was filled with mucus, there was no expectoration and he was in a semi- stupor, being roused with difficulty. Edward had been under my care since birth and under such constitutional remedies as Sulphur and Tuberculinum, but in spite of carefully selected remedies at this critical time the temperature remained at 106, and there was no improvement in the symptom picture.

Dr. Rabe was called in consultation from New York. Because of a similar appearing skin in an undeveloped rash in a recent case of scarlet fever, he advised Ammonium carb. which was given in the 200. In about five hours the rash appeared in full force, the whole body was covered with a drenching sweat, the chest symptoms were relieved, and Edward had turned the corner. A teasing persistent cough and an afternoon temperature of 100 and over called for Tuberculinum which completed the cure.

Barbara, sister of the above, during the course of measles, had a hard, deep, barking cough, with retching and vomiting. She would become greatly exhausted by the violence of the prolonged paroxysms, during which she would hold her chest with her hands. Drosera 1M relieved at once.

Richard was apparently making fine progress with an uncomplicated measles, when the rash suddenly receded, the temperature mounted to 105, and over night we had a fully developed right lobar pneumonia. Bryonia 1M redeveloped the rash and modified the chest symptoms, but Phos. was called for in thirty-six hours for the hard, dry cough and flapping of the nostrils. The pneumonia ended by lysis.

Susan was just recovering from a follicular tonsillitis when she came down bang with measles, hard, dry, racking cough, temperature 104, and pale undeveloped rash. Bryonia 1M developed the rash but the temperature persisted, both lungs being filled with rales, threatening broncho-pneumonia. We had a very sick little girl who could sleep neither night nor day because of the constant hard, dry cough. Sticta 200 relieved almost immediately, the cough subsided and the chest cleared. Another rise of temperature occurred, and we had a right sided otitis media with profuse greenish yellow, offensive, excoriating discharge. Several remedies were given without benefit. The chronic symptoms were taken into consideration, hypertrophied tonsils and foul smelling foot sweat. Baryta carb 200 not only promptly cured the ear condition, but shriveled the tonsils and greatly improved the foot sweat.

PHILADELPHIA,.

DISCUSSION.

DR. R.E.S. HAYES: I trust that the essayist will forgive me for not saying very much. In a certain way she said it all.

Five little ones departed from the ordinary course of measures and took dangerous routes from which neither the most celebrated specialist, the most live wired clinician, the clearest visioned laboratorician nor the most zealous health official could have brought them. Life cannot be saved nor protracted illness prevented in conditions of that type unless the genius of the Hahnemannian principle is recognized.

With practiced eye and keen insight the homoeopath knew what to do and what to expect. Her work, as also the consultants in one of the cases, shows an understanding of influences far deeper than mere measles. It shows the master hand.

Reports like this always suggest the phrase. “That reminds me.” At our last state meeting Dr. B.S. Adams related the case of a boy who went through measles in the usual way but the disappearance of the rash was followed by a large swelling of the cervical glands. Belladonna was used with prompt recession of the adenitis. Then the boy went through another complete attack of measles just as though none had occurred before.

I am reminded of an experience which I may have related at some previous time. An apparently robust boy was convalescing from an ordinary course of measles in the ordinary way when he suddenly came down with a very high temperature, drenching sweat, marked pallor and prostration. The most spectacular symptom, however, was a remarkably rapid loss of flesh. His soft tissues appeared to melt away with the passing of every hour. I had never seen anything like it before nor have I since. Tuberculinum checked the whole process, whatever it was, almost at once, with prompt recovery as the sequel.

Margaret Burgess Webster