When nerve
degeneration has once begun, iodide will do little good and mercury may
do positive harm, if used in large doses. The other common predisposing
causes, exposure to cold, over-exertion, sexual excess, need concern us
only as they suggest warnings to be given, especially when the patient
is improving. Until he does improve not much need be said about them; he
cannot indulge in venery, as sexual power is usually (though not always)
lost early in the disease; and the incooerdination lessens his
opportunities of exposure or over-exertion.
During this stage some patients complain most of the numbness,
girdle-sense, and incooerdination; others of the stabbing pains or the
bladder weakness. The general treatment must be much the same, however,
in all, with special attention besides to the special needs of each
individual.
Fatigue makes all the symptoms worse, increases pain, and impairs still
more the muscular incooerdination; it is, therefore, of the first
importance in every instance to forbid all over-exertion. Walking, more
than any other form of exercise, hurts these cases.
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