Women's Suffering
Certain ailments peculiar to the female
organism have become almost universal among civilized races. Probably
the majority of surgical operations are performed for so-called
women's diseases. That women suffer untold agonies during menstruation,
in childbirth and at the climacteric is looked upon as unavoidable
and a matter of course.
The fact that the native women of Africa,
of the Sandwich Islands, the South American bush and our western
plains are practically exempt from these ailments indicates that
the cause of female troubles must lie in artificial habits of living
and in the unnatural treatment of diseases.
Many are beginning to recognize these truths.
For them is dawning a new era, when knowledge will free Woman from
physical suffering as it has freed her from other bondage.
Instances like the following are of common
occurrence in our free clinics for Diagnosis from the Eye:
A lady tells us that she has been suffering
for many years from a complication of female troubles. Her eyes
show a heavy scurf rim, indicating an inactive, atrophied skin,
poor surface circulation and, as a result of this condition, defective
elimination through the skin and accumulation of waste matter and
systemic poisons in the system. The areas of stomach and intestines
reveal the signs of chronic catarrhal affection and atrophy of the
membranous linings and glandular structures. This, of course, means
indigestion, fermentation of foods, gas formation, constipation
and a multitude of resulting disturbances.
The signs in the iris also indicate an atonic,
relaxed and prolapsed condition of stomach, bowels and other abdominal
organs. This is likely to cause sagging of the genital organs, relaxation
of the bands and ligaments which hold them in place and, as a result
of this relaxation, misplacement of the womb.
We tell the patient of our findings in her
eyes and she admits all the conditions and symptoms which we describe,
but she is not satisfied because our diagnosis does not agree with
that of the great specialists and professors of medicine whom she
has consulted. Every one of them has told her that all her troubles
are due to the fact that her uterus is flexed and retroverted, that
it presses on the rectum (this being the cause of her chronic constipation
and of the obstructed menstrual flow, the congestion, pain, etc.),
and that the womb must be placed in its normal position
by a surgical operation.
In this and many similar cases that have
come to us for treatment, it was the relaxed and prolapsed condition
of the stomach and intestines that caused the sinking (prolapsus)
of the uterus with the attending distressing symptoms. In some instances
the womb and with it the bladder had fallen so low that they protruded
from the vagina. In all of these cases, as the patients without
exception told us, the professors and specialists assured them that
surgical treatment, shortening of the ligaments, the insertion of
pessaries, the cutting loose and raising of the womb, etc., were
the only possible means of curing these ailments.
So we explain to the lady that the relaxed
and prolapsed condition of the genital organs, the misplacement
of the womb, etc., are not causes of disease, but
only the effects of the weakened and relaxed condition of the digestive
organs, and that this, in turn, is due to indigestion, malnutrition,
defective elimination through skin, bowels and kidneys; that, therefore,
the only possibility of cure lies in correcting and overcoming these
constitutional conditions through an eliminative diet, blood-building
remedies and other natural methods; that the blood must be built
up on a normal basis, and that the digestive tract and the other
abdominal organs must be made more alive and active through hydropathic
treatment, massage, spinal manipulation, general and special exercises,
air and sun baths, etc.
In thousands of cases we have thus cured
female troubles without poisonous drugs or surgical operations,
simply by improving the digestion, purifying the blood and invigorating
the abdominal organs in a natural manner.
On the other hand, almost daily we meet
with instances of untold suffering as the direct consequence of
operations, the use of pessaries, etc., which only served to weaken
the genital organs still more and resulted in all sorts of complications,
inflammations, adhesions, etc., and in many cases in malignant tumors.
In this connection I would warn
especially against the use of pessaries. They are at best
only a mechanical contrivance, and do not add anything to the improvement
of the diseased condition. On the other hand, they irritate the
abdominal organs by excessive pressure, which in many instances
produces inflammation of the neighboring tissues and abnormal growths.
Suppressing inflammation of the genital
organs by poisonous antiseptics, sprays, tampons or other local
applications only tends to aggravate the chronic conditions. Curetting
(scraping) the womb does not cure the catarrhal affection, but only
serves to destroy its delicate mucous lining and to suppress catarrhal
elimination. Holding up the womb by means of a pessary in order
to strengthen its muscles and ligaments is about as reasonable and
effective as to try to strengthen a weak arm by carrying it in a
sling. Replacing or removing misplaced or affected organs by means
of surgery does not contribute anything toward correcting the causes
of these abnormal conditions, but in many instances makes a real
cure impossible. How can an organ be cured after it has been extirpated
with the knife?
It is a fact known to every observing physician
that from fifty to seventy-five percent of all women have some kind
of misplacement of the genital organs and that only a comparatively
small number of these suffer from local disturbances, indicating
that, in most cases, misplacement alone will not create serious
trouble.
It is ridiculous to assume that the small,
flabby uterus of an anemic woman can block the rectum and cause
disease, but it is an excellent talking point, as effective in bringing
victims to the operating table as appendicitis with its fairy tales
of seeds and foreign bodies lodging in the appendix vermiformis.
While studying Nature Cure in Germany, I
took special courses in the Thure-Brandt Massage. By means of this
internal manipulative treatment, weakness of ligaments and muscles,
displacements, adhesions, etc., can be corrected without the use
of knife or drugs. During my first years in practice, I frequently
resorted to the internal manual treatment with good results; but
I found that in most cases it was not at all necessary in order
to produce perfect cures.
I saw that chiropractic and osteopathic
correction of spinal and pelvic lesions and consequent removal of
irritation and pressure on the nerves, the cure of chronic constipation
and malnutrition by pure food diet and hydrotherapy, the strengthening
of the pelvic muscles and nerves by means of active and passive
movements and exercises, were fully sufficient to correct the local
symptoms in a natural manner. Thousands of cases cured by us by
these methods attest the truth of our statements; while those who
failed to understand the simple reasoning of the Nature Cure philosophy
or lacked will power to withstand the arguments of friends and physicians
followed the siren call of the operating table and have been sorry
for it ever since.
In case of operation for misplacement of
the womb, it is necessary, in order to keep the womb in its new
position, to stitch it to the frontal abdominal wall. Very frequently
it will not stay there, breaks loose, and relapses into an abnormal
position. Granted that it remains fixed, woe to the woman if she
becomes pregnant. The womb cannot assume the constantly changing
positions of pregnancy, and the result is either abortion or malformation
of the fetus, together with great and constant suffering to the
woman.
The operation has done nothing to correct
unnatural habits of living or to purify the system of its scrofulous
and psoriatic taints, of drug and food poisons. Frequently these
gather in the parts that have been weakened and irritated by the
antiseptics and by the surgeon's knife, and set up new inflammations,
ulcerations and only too often malignant tumors. As a result, one
operation follows another.
We cannot cut in the genital organs
without cutting in the brain. The nervous system is a unit,
and the brain is directly and intimately connected with the complex
and highly sensitive nerve centers of the genital organs. Mutilation
of the genital nerve centers, therefore, invariably affects the
brain, and thus the intellectual and emotional life of a woman.
It is almost axiomatic that a woman whose uterus or ovaries have
been removed or mutilated is afterward mentally and emotionally
more or less abnormal. Nervousness, irritability and only too often
nervous prostration and insanity are the sequelae of operative treatment.
In medical colleges, among students and
professors, these facts are freely admitted and discussed, but the
prospective patient hears a different story. "Cut loose the
womb, shorten the ligaments, put it into the right position, and
everything will be well." This sounds plausible and seductive;
but everyday experiences expose the inadequacy and the destructive
aftereffects of local symptomatic treatment.
The Climacteric or Change of Life
Under our artificial methods of living,
the climacteric or change of life, has become the bugbear of womanhood.
It seems to be universally assumed that this period in a woman's
life must be fraught with manifold sufferings and dangers. It is
taken as a matter of course that during these changes in her organism
a woman is assailed by the most serious physical, mental, and psychic
ailments which may endanger her sanity and often her life.
Like rheumatism, neurasthenia, neuralgia
and hundreds of other medical terms, "change of life"
is a convenient phrase to cover the doctor's ignorance. No matter
what ailments befall a woman during the years from forty to fifty,
may the causes be ever so obscure, the diagnosis is easy. "You
are in the climacteric, you are suffering from the change of life,"
says the doctor, and the patient is satisfied and resigns herself
to the inevitable.
Frequently women come to us for consultation,
and after reciting a long string of troubles they conclude with
the remark: "Of course, doctor, I'm in the change, and I know
that lots of these things are natural at my time
of life."
Is it true that all this suffering is natural
and inevitable?Among the primitive races of the earth suffering
incident to the change of life is practically unknown. The same
is true in a lesser degree of the country population of Europe.
The causes of it must, therefore, be sought in the artificial modes
of living peculiar to our hypercivilization and in the unnatural
methods of treating disease as commonly practiced.
Which are the specific causes of
the profound disturbances so often accompanying the organic changes
of the climacteric?
Aside from their other physiological functions,
the menses are for the woman a monthly cleansing crisis through
which Nature eliminates from her system considerable amounts of
waste and morbid matter which, under a natural regime of life, would
be discharged by means of the organs of depuration, that is, the
lungs, skin, kidneys and bowels.
The more natural the life and the more normal,
as the result of this, the woman's physical condition, the shorter
and less annoying and painful, within certain limits, will be the
menstrual periods.
Through unnatural habits of eating, drinking,
dressing, breathing and through equally unnatural methods of medical
treatment, the kidneys, skin and bowels have become inactive, benumbed
or paralyzed. As long as the vicarious monthly purification by means
of the menses continues, the evil results of the torpid condition
of the regular organs of depuration do not become so apparent. The
organism has learned to adapt itself to this mode of elimination.
But when, on account of the organic changes
of the climacteric, menstruation ceases, then the systemic poisons,
which formerly were eliminated by means of this monthly purification,
accumulate in the system and become the source of all manner of
trouble. All tendencies to physical, mental or psychic disease are
greatly intensified. The poisonous taints circulating in the blood
overstimulate or else depress and paralyze the brain and the nervous
system. As a consequence, mental and psychic disorders are of common
occurrence; the more so because the waning of the sex functions
is accompanied by a tendency to negativity and hypersensitiveness.
How Can the Ailments of the Climacteric
Be Avoided or Cured?
Is it not self-evident that the easiest
way to sidestep the troubles incident to this critical period and
to reestablish the perfect equilibrium of the organism lies in restoring
the natural activity of the organs of elimination?
This is what Nature Cure accomplishes easily
and successfully with its natural methods of treatment. Air and
sun baths, water treatments and massage bring new life and activity
to the enervated skin. Pure food diet, chiropractic and osteopathic
treatment, curative gymnastics, homeopathic or herb remedies restore
the natural tonicity and functioning of the stomach, liver, kidneys
and intestines. Mental therapeutics, systematically practiced, make
every cell in the body vibrant with the higher and finer forces
of the mental and spiritual planes of being.
When the natural equilibrium of the organism
is thus restored, there is absolutely no occasion for the troubles
of the climacteric. We have proved this in hundreds of cases. As
kidneys, skin and bowels begin to function normally and freely,
physical and mental conditions commence to improve, and one after
another the dreaded symptoms disappear.
Let us compare with this common
sense, natural treatment the orthodox medical practice in such cases:
The medical treatment, as usual, is entirely
symptomatic. The sluggish organs of elimination are prodded by poisonous
cathartics, laxatives, diaphoretics, cholagogues and tonics, all
of which, after temporary stimulation, leave the organs in a more
weakened and the system in a more poisoned condition. If brain and
nerves are irritated and aching, sedatives and hypnotics are given
to stupefy them into insensibility. If the heart action is weak
and irregular, it is whipped up by poisonous stimulants; if too
fast, it is checked and paralyzed by sedatives and depressants.
Thus, instead of removing the underlying
causes, every symptom is promptly suppressed. Drug poisons are added
to the waste and morbid matter which are already clogging the channels
of life. And, of course, under such unnatural treatment, in many
instances things go from bad to worse. Flushes, headaches, rheumatic
and neuralgic pains, melancholia, irritability, mental aberration,
partial paralysis and a multitude of other symptoms appear and gradually
increase in severity.
When the family physician has arrived at
the end of his wits, the surgeon has his innings, and leaves the
patient in a still worse condition of chronic suffering.
These experiences are so common that the
manifold troubles of the climacteric are regarded as unavoidable
and as a matter of course. Here, as in so many other instances,
people fail to see that it is the treatment which prevents the cure.
If the efficiency of common sense, natural treatment were more widely
known and recognized, how much unnecessary suffering could be avoided.