Kent's cases 66: Menstrual flow scanty and enlarged abdomen Pyosalpinx Lycopodium Petroleum Belladona

Short, plump, married woman, aged 36.
For several months her menstrual flow has been
but a mere stain, and the enlarged abdomen made her suspect she might be
pregnant.
Her menstrual habit has always been profuse. Her
ankles are oedematous and her hands slightly swelled. Marked nausea
when hungry.
When in one position long becomes stiff in all the
limbs. Great weakness from simply walking up a flight of stairs. Great
prostration during menses, and so tired and heavy all the time.
Sudden spells of overpowering sleepiness. All her
morbid feelings are made worse in a warm room and greatly improved
when she is in the open air. Must urinate frequently day and night,
copiously during the night.
Sense of soreness, perhaps in the region of the
uterus; on "sitting something pushes up that is painful." Great sense of heat
in the dorsal spine. Hot flushes from spine to face.
135
Brown spots on abdomen. The slightest exertion
causes profuse sweat. "To-day I could not eat my dinner; every time I
swallow my hearts jumps so;" Feet go to sleep.
"There is a yellow, sandy deposit in the urinal,
hard to wash off; soap suds will not wash it off."
She received Lycopodium 43m, a single dose on
the tongue.
Three weeks later she reported; "The swelling of
the abdomen has gone, and I can breathe easily." Sac. lac.
Four weeks later she reports: "I do not think I am
quite so well. I have been going back again for a week." The difficult
breathing had returned, and the feet are beginning to bloat; the abdomen is
again distended with flatus.
Lycopodium cm, one dose.
No report for two months. Word was sent that all
the symptoms had disappeared.
Some three months later was sent for in haste.
She had passed a quantity of limpid fluid from the vagina, so suddenly that
she was alarmed. It looked like a mucopurulent fluid that had been
followed by the disappearance of a lump in the left side of the, abdomen
the size of a fist.
There was no more of it, and no more symptoms.
Evidently a pyosalpinx.
Upon re-examination, several of her old
symptoms had returned, and it was thought proper to give her another dose
of her old remedy.
As she had made a great constitutional gain,
Lycopodium c. m. was given, a single dose, dry.
She reported some three months later for the first
time, thinking herself well up to within a few weeks. The painful pushing
up feeling on sitting down has returned.
Menstrual flow scanty and clotted.
136
Pain in ovaries before menses.
Abdomen distended and 'hard with flatulence.
The uterus is sore to a jolt in the street car.
The whole abdomen seems sore to the concussion
of riding or stepping.
Frequent urination during the night.
As soon as there is any urine in the bladder she
must pass it.
Nausea all day.
Eating often to relieve the hunger and nausea.
Cannot endure clothing about the waist.
Pain in the uterine region at the beginning of
menstruation that passes off after the flow begins.
Sick stomach from riding in a carriage.
Must make haste when the desire to urinate
comes or she will lose it.
Petroleum 45m., one dose, dry.
She sent word some weeks later that all her
symptoms had gone, and that she would report if they returned.
It was nearly four months when she called to
report that she had menstruated once, perfectly normal, but the next time
not quite right, and the last time she was very sick.
Great tenderness in the region of the uterus,
compelled to keep her bed; clotty, scanty, coffee-colored menstrual flow.
Jar of the bed made her suffer very much.
The mammae and nipples extremely tender.
Pains ceased when the flow became free.
137
Pains through ovaries, and in the back (sacrum)
before menses, until flow became free.
She had been troubled with pains all during the
month as if her menses would come on.
Seems that the very sensitive uterus pushed up
when she sits down.
Belladonna 50m., one dose, dry.
She is perfectly well and says she is much
stronger than ever in her life. She says, "I am now a perfectly healthy
woman."
Ferrum iod, gave me a very interesting study in
comparing it with remedies in this case, but I could always feel safer
among the remedies that I have so often tested. I neglected to say that there
was never any albumin in the urine.