Word: rheumatoid
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...Dramatic" improvements in the course of rheumatoid arthritis were reported yesterday morning by Dr. George W. Thorn, Hersey Professor of Theory and Practice of Physics...
...Rheumatoid arthritis claims some 7,000,000 victims in the U.S. Looking for a cure, doctors have tried just about everything, including high-calorie diets, low-calorie diets, vitamins A, B, C and D, typhoid vaccine, streptococcus vaccine, artificial fever, blood transfusions, injections of milk and horse serum, aspirin and whisky (for pain), massage, dry heat, mineral baths, metals such as gold, change of climate, psychotherapy, exercise and rest in bed. Some of the treatments proved to be harmless, some harmful. Some even seemed to work, but only for a while...
Arthritis is the modern name for rheumatism and "the misery," one of the oldest diseases on earth (even dinosaurs had it, as their fossil remains show). Doctors recognize two chief types: 1) rheumatoid, an inflammation which usually attacks people between the ages of 20 and 40; and 2) osteoarthritis, a degenerative ailment of old age. Symptoms: painful swellings of the joints, often starting in the fingers or knees, and migrating from joint to joint...
Gold in the Veins. The main advance is in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The whole body, not just the swollen joints, is treated. The principal idea is rest. "Many patients state that all they do is rest [but] examination . . . will frequently show that they are tense and that their muscles are in more or less constant spasm." Rest relaxes this spasm...
...very promising new treatment (not yet completely endorsed) is the injection of gold compounds into veins or muscles. This relieves from 48 to 80% of rheumatoid arthritis sufferers, of whom 10% are wholly cured. Drawback: gold is somewhat poisonous to about 17% of all cases, and several people have died from it. Yet most of New York City's 25 arthritis clinics are now using gold-with medical caution and skill...