The Good Doctor West Discusses Nerve Exhaustion

Nerve Exhaustion? What's that?

The good Doctor West, author of Maidenhood and Motherhood (c.1886) has visited several times over the past few months. Previous dissertations:
Don’t Give Your New Bride the Vapors
Dr. West Discusses Spinsterhood
Dr. West Discusses Nervous Affections of Women
More Lip Service from the Good Dr. West

The Good Dr. West is in; Change of Life

He has several more topics to share with you, and will begin the next series with Nerve Exhaustion which he says runs rampant through all classes (although his book is written mainly for the middle and upper classes as the working class cannot afford books or medical treatment or time off to deal with nervous exhaustion) and has never been fully understood, nor has it received the amount of attention it should at the hands of the practitioner.

He goes into an explanation of the nervous system that would cause twitters and guffaws among today’s physicians. He does maintain that the nervous system is subject to growth and decay and that agents producing this abnormal condition and causing debility are unlimited and can begin when “our tender shoots (that would be children) are exposed to a broad distribution of mental fertilizers (too much excitement of the mind through learning.)

The Doctor states that he is introducing this subject to his female reader because “she is, as many women are, on the way to nervous bankruptcy.

The symptoms the reader should look out for – and will most certainly and unfailingly find while reading this chapter- include:
Tenderness of the scalp at the front back or throughout the entire head
Difficulty combing or brushing hair due to scalp tenderness
Hair feels sore (isn’t this usually associated with a hangover?)
Heat and burning at the back part of the head (just move away from the radiator, Millicent)
Sore spot on scalp, forehead, temples, or base of the neck
Feels the need to support the head
Dull unexpressive eyes (usually I have these on Monday mornings)
Pain, pressure, heaviness at the top or back (or both) of the head which may be caused by too much blood on the brain (will get to this cure in a minute)
Vertigo or lightness of the head
Redness of the eyes
Impaired vision
Mist or cloud or spots before the

Dialated eyes

are my eyes dialated?

Noises in the ear like sudden explosions. (Just take those cap guns away from little Freddie!)
If there is anyone out there who has not discovered they have one or more symptoms of nerve exhaustion , don’t worry, I have more symptoms. Those of you who have already diagnosed the problem may take to your bed, fainting couch or chaise immediately and only have to return to the post when we get to the cures section.
Pumping sound in ears
Softness of the voice
Faintness, want of courage
Inability to concentrate when reading or writing
Wandering mind

See what I can do?

Become irascible over trifles (we’ll have to look this one up)
Housework, noise of children at play, disappointments, and vexacions become a source of distress. (Is anyone still reading and not already in bed with a cold compress???)
Hopelessness
Fear
Easily startled by doorbell
Shuns society
Can scarcely be induced to attend church
Flushing (of the face or the toilet?)
Anyone left out there? I’m now writing this from my Louis XVI brocade chaise
Insomnia
Bad dreams
Restlessness
Fatigue
Drowsy
Listless

I'm feeling a little invisible - got anything for that?

Tenderness of the teeth
Deranged stomach
Indigestion
Nervous dyspepsia
Difficulty eating
No appetite for fluids
Nor appetite for food
Desire for stimulants and narcotics, opium, alcohol, chloroform (now we’re talking)
Sweating of the hands or feet (Does this include Floridians?)

I feel like dancing. Is that on the list?

Use of several pocket handkerchiefs during church service from profuse sweating (Does Kleenex count?)
Tenderness of the spine; whole or part, upper or lower or middle
Crawling creeping or burning sensations
Dead weight in the loins
Irregular pulse
Palpitations
Fast heart beat
Spasms of the muscles and convulsive movements
Twitching of the eye
Spasm of the limbs
The feeling of falling when first asleep
Numbness in any part of head or limbs
Unnecessary alarm
Stinging or prickly sensations anywhere on the body

Say's here you have sweaty palms!

Hands or feet go to sleep while seated
Hands or feet go to sleep while riding on a streetcar, in an omnibus, or carriage (stick with the automobile and you’ll be ok here)
Any female problems whatsoever excluding nothing whatsoever
Wanting to stay in bed
Not wanting to walk over to neighbor’s home for a visit

I may have missed a few symptoms as I was having difficulty concentrating and my left foot kept falling asleep, but I think I’ve got the majority of the signs that signal nervous exhaustion.

And now for the cure!!

Dr. West says some powerful stuff here: “ As well might the mariner, starting upon a voyage, undertake to set the helm so as to direct his vessel into the objective port. He must stand at the wheel and accommodate the rudder to the shifting winds and currents. So with the treatment of any disease, it must be varied so as to be suitably adapted to all the changes that will develop in the progress of restoration.” In other words, we’ll try some stuff and see if it works. If not, we’ll try some other stuff. If we run out of things to so I’ll just tell you it’s all in your head and to get over it.

His suggestions include:

Nutrition: eat more fat, more boiled dinners, more meat, less starch. Eat less hotel food. Hotels serve rich, highly seasoned foods that should be avoided. Eat fats, oils, fish, oysters, butter and milk. Eat fatty greasy meat. Fat up a bit. Gain some weight.

Rest:
Go to bed, and get absolute rest. Imposed isolation may be highly advantageous. (Anyone who has read The Yellow Wallpaper knows just how well this works) Have a massage.

Plenty of medication:
Use appropriate doses of ergot, arsenic, caffeine, coca, zinc, bromides, strychnine. If you survive this and are still not cured, bleeding may be called for to relieve the congestion of the brain (probably caused directly by the meds) of 20 to forty ounces. Use either general blood-letting methods, cupping or leeches.

Dr West doesn’t say how we determine when the patient is well. I’m assuming that all 352 of the above symptoms will disappear completely, including the major symptom of death that was caused by the medication and the bloodletting. As always we are grateful for the wisdom of Dr. West.