When the paroxysm or the fit is
over, she opens her eyes, and as she feels an oppression of the stomach,
she tries to vomit. And lest any one should be deceived into taking one
disease for another, I will show how it may be distinguished from those
diseases which most resemble it.
It differs from apoplexy, as it comes without the patient crying out; in
hysterical fits also the sense of feeling is not altogether destroyed
and lost, as it is in apoplexy; and it differs from epilepsy, as the
eyes are not distorted, and there is spongy froth from the mouth. That
convulsive motion also, which is frequently accompanied by symptoms of
suffocation, is not universal, as it is in epilepsy, but there is some
convulsion, but that without any violent agitation. In syncope both
breathing and the pulse fail, the face grows pale, and the woman faints
suddenly; but in hysterical attacks there are usually both breathing
and pulse, though these are indistinct; the face is red and she has a
forewarning of the approaching fit. It cannot, however, be denied that
syncope may accompany this feeling of suffocation. Lastly, it can be
distinguished from lethargy by the pulse, which is rapid in the former,
but weak in the latter.
CURE.
In the cure of this affection, two things must be taken care of:--_In
the first place_, nature must be stimulated to expel these hurtful
humours which obscure the senses, so that the woman may be brought back
from that sleepy fit.
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