There are a variety of uterine difficulties that afflict women of all classes and conditions of life. Yet it is somewhat encouraging to know that the cure of each is possible when rightly understood.
_Treatment._—If the bowels are kept free by taking a teaspoonful of Epsom salts, dissolved in warm water, about three times a week, bathing frequently, and absolute rest observed, relief will be certain.
A pessary or ring should never be worn if avoidable. There are other means to resort to less unpleasant and more certain to give permanent relief. All misplacements of the womb should be rectified at once.
The appearance of the menses in girls, denotes the beginning of womanhood; but the irregularities which the periods sometimes exhibit from the ages, of 35 to 50, have given rise to the term “change of life.”
Women are considered to be in their prime at from 25 to 45, and if careful of habit, may escape any perceptible irregularity save but a few months before the entire cessation, or till after the fiftieth year of their age.
What is needful for a pleasant and healthy cessation of the turns, is a more strict observance of the rules of self-preservation. In some cases, where the menses appear early, they leave early. Climate and the state of the mind, and general health, very often influences the periodical flow; the mere change of residence for a few hundred miles, causing them to vary or disappear entirely, even in young girls. It is a great mistake for young women, thus affected, to seek a doctor or doctress who is considered an expert in “bringing the turns on again.” Probably any amount of mischief has been done by neglecting to cultivate patience in this matter.
In the decline of life, the cares become burdensome, and the system is in a more irritable condition, therefore liable to cold. The ovaries sometimes become enlarged, causing the abdomen to bloat, and sometimes present the appearance of dropsy, or tumor; or a general enlargement may take place. There may be periodical flooding of bright or dark, even black blood, and large pieces of clot may cause great pain for days, then pass away unattended by any serious change in the general health.
Very many women begin to notice the change by feelings of suffocation, flashes as of hot steam, alternating with a slight chilly feeling. If at any time perspiration is free, it should be encouraged rather than suppressed. It is better to endure the hot feelings and save the lungs, than to expose them by inhaling cold air through the tubes, or driving the perspiration in on to them. Fanning, rushing into cold air, drinking ice-water, all tends to throw the danger internally, inducing paralysis. When the feeling of suffocation comes on, it is decidedly best to sit quiet. When there is much fluttering of the heart, it is a good plan to take one or two swallows of cool water, just as it is coming on; this sometimes has the effect to retard it for weeks.