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DEP/DUA/1/31/31 (Normalised version)
Robert Don
(1782-1783)
NoXXIX
Robert Don at 35 A Shoemaker of a dark complexion, black hair & eyes complains of constant pain a little above the pit of the stomach & inclining to the left hypochondrium. He feels also constant pain accompanied with heat in the region of the lower dorsal vertebrae, which he compares to the sensation of a hot iron running through his skin. There is a considerable curvature of the [spine] about the three or four lowest of the dorsal vertebrae which he says is only of late date & attributes to a peculiar pain & uneasiness which he feels, when he attempts to put himself in an erect posture. On stooping if he makes an effort to rise again suddenly he feels an acute shooting pain in his back He cannot [stretch] himself in bed The pain he says frequently shoots from his back bone to his breast. He has a loss of feeling & motion in both legs but especially in the right which is only of three weeks standing. Pulse 84. Tongue natural. Appetite indifferent. Thirst natural Belly generally bound except when he is taking physick. He frequently feels an uneasy sense of cold rising from his back to his head. He had an abscess in his thigh last winter, which formed without any external injury done to the part & which dried up in the summer. From this period he thinks he can date his present affection. There are yet remaining two [large] black marks on the great gluteus & one below it. As he had some flatulence he [took] the foetid pills with Aloes in October last after that he got pills with Opium from which he received some temporary benefit. None of his family have had any similar complaint but his father died of Phthisis Pulmonalis. He says he walked perfectly straight in the beginning of summer. January 4 Excit. fontic duo prope partum affectam dorse & cap. Pil. Foetid cum Aloe gr V om m. 25 The issues have not been inserted. Pain now more severe in the hypochondrium than in the back. Cont. Pil. u a. February 1. The issues have not yet been inserted. His affections continue much as before & he thinks that the numbness of his legs is somewhat augmented. 6. Is much affected with pains of his sides. illin Bals. Anod. p. apprrim. dolent. 8. Pain somewhat easier, but he complains much of the insensibility of his legs. 15 The pain of his back has been of late considerably easier but the insensibility of his legs continues much as before. Two issues were inserted into his back yesterday. Cont. Fontic & Bals. Anod. u. a. 22 There is a pretty free discharge from the issues. His pains are rather easier but the affection of his legs continues much as before. March 1. [There] has been but little discharge from the issues, but the pain of his back is much relieved & the affection of his legs diminished though he still complains of a sense of numbness particularly in the right leg. Cont. Fontic. Interm Bals. 8. Free from pain of back, numbness much as formerly. Cont. Fontic u. a. 15. There is a free discharge from one of the issues. He has no return of the pain of his back The numbness of his legs is somewhat diminished & he can now walk erect. Cont. Fontic. u. a. 22. Symptoms as at last report Cont. Fontic u. a.
