Part 30 (2/2)

EFFECTS ON THE CHARACTER.

The effects on the character of this 'grand climacteric' are often marked. Not unfrequently the woman becomes more masculine in thought and habit, as has been admirably described by Dr. Tilt:--'There are almost always while the change is progressing various forms of nervous irritability and some amount of confusion and bewilderment, which seem to deprive women of the mental endowments to which they had acquired a good t.i.tle by forty years' enjoyment. They often lose confidence in themselves, are unable to manage domestic or other business, and are more likely to be imposed on either within or without the family circle.

When the change is effected, the mind emerges from the clouds in which it has seemed lost. Thankful that they have escaped from real sufferings, women cease to torture themselves with imaginary woes, and as they feel the ground grow steadier underfoot, they are less dependent on others--for, like the body, the mental faculties then a.s.sume a masculine character. The change of life does not give talents, but it often imparts a firmness of purpose to bring out effectively those that are possessed, whether it be to govern a household, to preside in a drawing-room, or to thread and unravel political entanglements. When women are no longer hampered by a bodily infirmity periodically returning, they have more time at their disposal, and for obvious reasons they are less subject to be led astray by a too ardent imagination, or by wild flights of pa.s.sion.'

Changes in the moral character also frequently show themselves, and for a time astonish friends and relatives. These shades of moral insanity all disappear in a little while, if there be no family tendency to insanity to prolong and intensify them.

THOSE WHO SUFFER MOST.

Those women especially may antic.i.p.ate serious trouble at this epoch in whom the change at p.u.b.erty was accompanied by distressful and obstinate disorders,--those in whom the menstrual periods have usually been attended with considerable pain and prostration, and those in whose married life several abortions or several tedious and unnatural labors have occurred; also those who from some temporary cause are reduced in health and strength,--as from repeated attacks of intermittent fever, or disorders of the liver and digestive organs. Still more predisposed are they who are subject to some of those displacements or local ulcerations which we have mentioned in our chapter on Health in Marriage. It becomes of great consequence, that any such deviation from the healthy standard shall be corrected before a woman reaches this trying pa.s.sage in her career.

The const.i.tution and temperament have much to do with the liability to disease and suffering during the change of life. Those of weak const.i.tutions sometimes fail of the necessary stamina to carry them easily through the trials of this transition period. It has been remarked that the _lymphatic_ temperament is the most favorable to an easy change. Women with this temperament suffer less from nervous or bilious disorders, and quickly show signs of having been benefited by what has occurred. Those of a _sanguine_ temperament are more liable to floodings and to head symptoms; but such disorders with them usually readily yield to treatment. The _bilious_ temperament predisposes to disorders of the stomach and liver at this epoch; while the union of the nervous with the bilious temperament seems to predispose to mental diseases. The most suffering at this time of life is experienced by women of a _nervous_ temperament.

The social position exerts an influence on the pain and the tendency to disease at this epoch. The poor who are forced to labor beyond their strength and who are exhausted by fatigue, anxiety, and want, suffer much. So also do those who have recently been exposed to some great sorrow. As the poet says:--

Danger, long travel, want, or woe, Soon change the form that best we know---- For deadly fear can time out-go, And blanch at once the hair.

Hard toil can roughen form and face, And want can quell the eye's bright grace, Nor does old age a wrinkle trace More deeply than despair.

The occupations of women also have an influence upon the change of life.

Washerwomen are said in particular to suffer more than others on account of the exposure to which they are subject by their trade. Those who are confined many hours a day in close or damp rooms are unfavorably situated for pa.s.sing through the various stages of the 'grand climacteric.' The rich, with plenty of time and means to care for themselves, often blindly or obstinately create an atmosphere about them and follow a mode of life, quite as deleterious as the enforced surroundings of their poorer sisters.

DISEASES AND DISCOMFORTS.

In rather more than one out of every four cases the change of life is either ushered in or accompanied by considerable flooding. When this occurs at the regular period, and is not in sufficient quant.i.ty to cause debility, and is not a.s.sociated with much pain, it need not give rise to any alarm. It is an effort of nature to relieve the impending plethora of the system, to drain away the excessive amount of blood which would otherwise acc.u.mulate by the cessation of the flow. When it is remembered that every month, for some thirty years of life, the woman of forty-five has been moderately bled, we need not wonder that suddenly to break off this long habit would bring about a plethora, which would in turn be the source of manifold inconveniences to the whole system. Therefore this flooding may be regarded as a wise act of nature, and, as such, allowed to take its course so long as it is not attended with the symptoms mentioned above. When this is the case, however, the doctor should be consulted, as then the bleeding may be from inflammation or ulceration, or even from that dreaded foe to life, cancer.

Instead of finding this exit, the blood occasionally is thrown off by bleeding at the nose, or is spat up from the lungs, or is pa.s.sed from bleeding piles. Due caution must be used about stopping such discharges too promptly. Rest, cool drinks, and the application of cold to the parts, are generally all that is needed.

We have just spoken of cancer. This is a subject of terror to many women, and their fears are often increased and deliberately played upon by base knaves who journey about the country calling themselves 'cancer doctors,' and professing to have some secret remedy with which they work infallible cures. It should be generally known that all such pretensions are false. It is often a matter of no little difficulty, requiring an experienced eye, to p.r.o.nounce positively whether a tumour or ulcer is cancerous. These charlatans have no such ability; but they p.r.o.nounce every sore they see a cancer, and all their pretended cures are of innocent, non-malignant disorders. Cancers are more apt to develope themselves at this period. Their seat is most frequently in the womb or the breast, and they are said to be especially liable to arise in those women who have suffered several abortions or unnatural labours.

Undoubtedly they are more frequent in the married than the unmarried, and they evidently bear some relation to the amount of disturbance which the system has suffered during childbirth, and the grief and mental pain experienced. For this reason a celebrated teacher of obstetrics insists upon cla.s.sing them among nervous diseases. The surgeon alone can cure them, and he but rarely. Medicine is of no avail, however long and painstaking have been its searches in this direction. A touching story is related in this connection of Raymond Sully, the celebrated philosopher. When a young man, he was deeply impressed with the beauty of a lady, and repeatedly urged his suit, which she as persistently repelled, though it was evident she loved him. One day, when he insisted with more than usual fervor that she should explain her mysterious hesitation, she drew aside the folds of her dress and exposed her breast, partly destroyed by a cancer. Shocked and horrified, but unmoved in his affection, he rushed to the physicians and demanded their aid.

They replied they could give none. He determined to find a cure, if he had to seek in all parts of the earth. He visited the learned doctors of Africa and Asia, and learned many wonderful things--even, it was said, the composition of the philosopher's stone itself; but what he did not find, and what has never yet been found, was what he went forth to seek--a cure for cancer.

At this time, too, tumors or swellings of the ovaries are apt to commence. They are nearly always preceded by scanty or painful menstruation; and this, therefore, it is the duty of every woman, as she values the preservation of her future health, to remedy by every means in her power.

Generally, from the commencement of the change of life commences also a steady diminution of the s.e.xual pa.s.sions, and soon after this period they quite disappear. Sometimes, however, the reverse takes place, and the sensations increase in intensity, occasionally exceeding what they even were before. This should be regarded with alarm. It is contrary to the design of nature, and can but mean that something is wrong.

Deep-seated disease of the uterus or ovaries is likely to be present, or an unnatural nervous excitability is there, which, if indulged, will bring about dangerous consequences. Gratification, therefore, should be temperate, and at rare intervals, or wholly denied.

PRECAUTIONS AND REMEDIES.

To guard against the dangers of this epoch, those general rules of health which we have throughout insisted upon should be rigidly observed. If during the whole of her s.e.xual life the woman has been diligent in observing the laws of health, she has little to fear at this period. Some simple remedies will suffice to allay the disagreeable symptoms; and the knowledge that most of them are temporary, common to her s.e.x, and not significant of any peculiar malady, will aid her in opposing their attacks on her peace of mind. When plethora, flooding, or congestion is apparent, the food should be light, chiefly vegetable, and moderate in quant.i.ty. Liquors, wines, strong tea, coffee, and chocolate should be avoided; an occasional purgative or a gla.s.s of some laxative mineral water should be taken, and cool bathing regularly observed. Exercise should be indulged in with caution, and care taken to avoid excitement, severe mental or bodily effort, and exhaustion. If the system is debilitated, and the danger is rather from a want of blood than too much blood, nouris.h.i.+ng food, tonic medicines, and perhaps some stimulant, are called for. When the perspiration is excessive, flannel should be worn next the skin in the daytime, and a flannel night-dress at night. A tepid bath before retiring is also useful. The 'goneness'

and other unpleasant sensations referred to the pit of the stomach may be much relieved by wearing a well-made spice-plaster over the stomach, or binding there a bag of gum camphor; or if these fail, an opium plaster will hardly fail to be of service. Internally, we think, nothing at all is needed; but as something must be taken, let it not be spirits or wine, but half a tea-spoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia in a few table-spoonfuls of water. There is too much of a tendency among some women to seek alleviation in intoxicating compounds, 'bitters,'

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