A case of Addison's disease / by William Pepper.

  • Pepper William, 1843-1898.
Date:
[1885]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A case of Addison's disease / by William Pepper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    pepsia had been almost constant, and more troublesome, and in addition there was a continual distress, and pain across the stomach running through to the back. There never were spells of vomiting with the dyspeptic symptoms, and during all this time the appetite was uniformly good. Two and a half years ago, he noticed that his color was darker than usual. This he attributed to exposure to the sun, and during the following winter the discoloration^ grew less distinct, but it re- turned with the return of spring, and last winter, instead of growing less, the color became more intense. Upon entering the wards of the Philadelphia Hospital, October 1, 1884, he thought that the color of the cheeks was lighter than it had been six months before. The general condition had failed no more rapidly since the appearance of the discoloration than it did before. His hair had begun to turn gray at the age of twenty. The notes upon admission state that he was apparently a well- nourished man, with dark brown hair sprinkled with gray; the pupil of the right eye a trifle larger than that of the left (probably physio- logical). “ He takes very little interest in anything but his family, and when away from home he suffers acutely with homesickness. Last spring he came to the hospital to stay, but ran off in twelve hours, staling that he could not stand the place. His mental condi- tion is good, and he sleeps well. The tongue is moist, with only a little yellow coat. After eating he has a feeling of fulness in the stomach, and has a dull pain across the pit of the stomach and through into the back. This is aggravated by the presence of food, and is sometimes sufficiently severe to keep him awake. There is no tenderness, no nausea or vomiting. The bowels are costive, and since being more careful in his habits he does not have spells of diarrhoea as frequently as formerly. He has great weakness and a feeling of excessive muscular debility, and any exertion produces breathless- ness, palpitation of the heart, and complete prostration. There are occasionally attacks of palpitation and short breathing even without exertion. “ The whole surface of the body is darker than natural, the dis- coloration being most marked on the face, where it extends from a little under the roots of the hair down over the neck to the line of