Suppressive Surgical Treatment of Tonsillitis
The following paragraphs are taken from an article in the Nature
Cure Magazine May, 1909, titled "Surgery for Tonsillitis
and Adenoids." They will throw further interesting light
on the dangerous consequences of suppressing acute and subacute
diseases.
"The
tonsils are excreting glands. Nature has created them for the
elimination of impurities from the body. Acute, subacute and chronic
tonsillitis accompanied by enlargement and cheesy decay of the
tonsils means that these glands have been habitually congested
with morbid matter and poisons, that they have had more work to
do than they could properly attend to.
"These
glandular structures constitute a valuable part of the drainage
system of the organism. If the blood is poisoned through
overeating and faulty food combinations, or with scrofulous, venereal
or psoriatic poisons, the tonsils are called upon, along with
other organs, to eliminate these morbid taints. Is it any wonder
that frequently they become inflamed and subject to decay? What,
however, can be gained by destroying them with iodine or extirpating
them with the surgeon's scissors or the 'guillotine'?
"Because
your servants are weakened by overwork, would you kill them? Because
the drains in your house are too small to carry off the waste,
would you blockade or remove them? Still, this is the orthodox
philosophy of the medical schools applied to the management of
the human body.
".
. . In case of any morbid discharge from the body, wherever it
be, whether through hemorrhoids, open sores, ulcers or through
tonsils, scrofulous glands, etc., a fontanelle has been established
to which and through which systemic poisons make their way. If
such an outlet be blocked by medical or surgical treatment the
stream of morbid matter has to seek another escape or else the
poisons will accumulate somewhere in the body.
"Fortunate
is the patient when such an escape can be established, because
wherever in the system morbid excretions, suppressed by medical
treatment, concentrate, there will inevitably be found the seat
of chronic disease.
"After
the tonsils have been removed, the morbid matter which they were
eliminating usually finds the nearest and easiest outlet through
the adenoid tissues and nasal membranes. These now take up the
work of 'vicarious' elimination and, in their turn, become hyperactive
and inflamed.
"Sometimes
it happens that the adenoid tissues become affected before
the tonsils. In that case, also, relief through the surgeon's
knife is sought and then the process is reversed: after the adenoids
have been removed, the tonsils develop chronic catarrhal conditions.
"When
both tonsils and adenoids have been removed, the nasal membranes
will, in turn, become congested and swollen. Often the mucous
elimination increases to an alarming degree, and frequently polyps
and other growths make their appearance or the turbinated bones
soften and swell and obstruct the nasal passages, thus again
making the patient a 'mouth breather.'
"But
in vain does Nature protest against local symptomatic treatment.
Science has nothing to learn from her.
"When
the nose takes up the work of vicarious elimination, the same
mode of treatment is resorted to. The mucous membranes of the
nose are now swabbed and sprayed with antiseptics and astringents,
or 'burned' by cauterizers, electricity, etc. The polyps are cut
out, and frequently parts of the turbinated bone and septum as
well, in order to open the air passages.
"Now,
surely, the patient must be cured. But, strange to say, new and
more serious troubles arise. The posterior nasal passages and
the throat are now affected by chronic catarrhal conditions and
there is much annoyance from phlegm and mucous discharges which
drop into the throat. These catarrhal conditions frequently extend
to the mucous membranes of stomach and intestines.
"When
the drainage system of the nose and the nasopharyngeal cavities
has been completely destroyed, the impurities must either travel
upward into the brain or downward into the glandular structures
of the neck, thence into the bronchi and the tissues of the lungs.
"If
the trend be upward, to the brain, the patient grows nervous and
irritable or becomes dull and apathetic. How often is a child
reprimanded or even punished for laziness and inattention when
it cannot help itself? In many instances the morbid matter affects
certain centers in the brain and causes nervous conditions, hysteria,
St. Vitus' dance, epilepsy, etc. In children the impurities frequently
find an outlet through the eardrums in the form of pus-like discharges.
This may frequently avert inflammation of the brain, meningitis,
imbecility, insanity or infantile paralysis.
"If
the trend of the suppressed impurities and poisons be downward,
it often results in the hypertrophy and degeneration of the lymphatic
glands of the neck. In such cases the suppressive treatment, by
drugs or knife, is again applied instead of eliminative and curative
measures. The scrofulous poisons, suppressed and driven back from
the diseased glands in the neck, now find lodgment in the bronchi
and lungs, where they accumulate and form a luxuriant soil for
the growth of the bacilli of pneumonia and tuberculosis.
"In
other cases, the vocal organs become seriously affected by chronic
catarrhal conditions, abnormal growths and in later stages by
tuberculosis. Many a fine voice has been ruined in this way.
"The
prevention and the cure of all these ailments lie not in local
symptomatic treatment and suppression by drugs or knife, but in
the rational and natural treatment of the body as a whole."