1-1banner
 
medpundit
 

 
Commentary on medical news by a practicing physician.
 

 
Google
  • Epocrates MedSearch Drug Lookup




  • MASTER BLOGS





    "When many cures are offered for a disease, it means the disease is not curable" -Anton Chekhov




    ''Once you tell people there's a cure for something, the more likely they are to pressure doctors to prescribe it.''
    -Robert Ehrlich, drug advertising executive.




    "Opinions are like sphincters, everyone has one." - Chris Rangel



    email: medpundit-at-ameritech.net

    or if that doesn't work try:

    medpundit-at-en.com



    Medpundit RSS


    Quirky Museums and Fun Stuff


    Who is medpundit?


    Tech Central Station Columns



    Book Reviews:
    Read the Review

    Read the Review

    Read the Review

    More Reviews

    Second Hand Book Reviews

    Review


    Medical Blogs

    rangelMD

    DB's Medical Rants

    Family Medicine Notes

    Grunt Doc

    richard[WINTERS]

    code:theWebSocket

    Psychscape

    Code Blog: Tales of a Nurse

    Feet First

    Tales of Hoffman

    The Eyes Have It

    medmusings

    SOAP Notes

    Obels

    Cut-to -Cure

    Black Triangle

    CodeBlueBlog

    Medlogs

    Kevin, M.D

    The Lingual Nerve

    Galen's Log

    EchoJournal

    Shrinkette

    Doctor Mental

    Blogborygmi

    JournalClub

    Finestkind Clinic and Fish Market

    The Examining Room of Dr. Charles

    Chronicles of a Medical Mad House

    .PARALLEL UNIVERSES.

    SoundPractice

    Medgadget
    Health Facts and Fears

    Health Policy Blogs

    The Health Care Blog

    HealthLawProf Blog

    Facts & Fears

    Personal Favorites

    The Glittering Eye

    Day by Day

    BioEdge

    The Business Word Inc.

    Point of Law

    In the Pipeline

    Cronaca

    Tim Blair

    Jane Galt

    The Truth Laid Bear

    Jim Miller

    No Watermelons Allowed

    Winds of Change

    Science Blog

    A Chequer-Board of Night and Days

    Arts & Letters Daily

    Tech Central Station

    Blogcritics

    Overlawyered.com

    Quackwatch

    Junkscience

    The Skeptic's Dictionary



    Recommended Reading

    The Doctor Stories by William Carlos Williams


    Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 by Elizabeth Fenn


    Intoxicated by My Illness by Anatole Broyard


    Raising the Dead by Richard Selzer


    Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy


    The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks


    The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo


    A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich




    MEDICAL LINKS

    familydoctor.org

    American Academy of Pediatrics

    General Health Info

    Travel Advice from the CDC

    NIH Medical Library Info

     



    button

    Wednesday, August 01, 2007

    Days Gone By: From JAMA's "100 Years Ago" feature, a description of gas gangrene contracted in the Phillipines after a canon wound:

    On the second day multiple incisions were made with the object of evacuating pus. On introducing the hypodermic needle to inject cocaine for local anesthesia the pressure within very promptly forced the piston of the syringe back, filling the barrel of the syringe with gas. On withdrawing the needle the gas sizzed out of the tissues.

    He survived after an amputation of the gaseous arm. His companion in arms was not so lucky, in treatment nor outcome:

    Hot local applications and rectal injections of strong coffee were administered during the night. On the following morning the patient's condition was bad, with no return of circulation in the leg.

    Amputation above the knee-joint was decided on....The patient succumbed at the commencement of the operation.


    What do you suppose those strong coffee enemas were meant to do? flush the toxin from the body? It's a belief that still has its subscribers. Now as then, coffee is better taken per os than per rectum.
     

    posted by Sydney on 8/01/2007 08:17:00 PM 2 comments

    2 Comments:

    During the Battle of Midway, the Japanese bombed the island. Navy pharmacist's mate E. B. Miller, sweating out the attack in a bunker, decided to use the time to brew a "Murphy drip": a pot of extremely (indeed, undrinkably) strong coffee, "used rectally in treating shock", according to historian Walter Lord.

    By Blogger Rich Rostrom, at 12:52 AM  

    In the days before IV fluids, when a person could not drink, they gave fluids per rectum.

    Heck, I remember when we gave chloral hydrate enemas for DT's.

    Caffiene is used in infections to give the person energy and alertness...and indeed, old books recommended IM injections as a treatment for pneumonia. Did it work by stimulation or by relieving bronchospasm? Who knows?

    By Blogger Nancy Reyes, at 9:29 PM  

    Post a Comment

    This page is powered by Blogger, the easy way to update your web site.

    Main Page

    Ads

    Home   |   Archives

    Copyright 2006