CHAP. XXIV.
Of the VARICES, or Vein-Tumours.
THIS Symptom is nothing else, than a Distention or Dilatation of the Hip, Thigh, and Leg-Veins: Which however chiefly appears about the Ham; and it happens most commonly to Plethorick Women, who walk much, or exercise themselves more freely upon any Occasion.
THE Cause proceeds only from a Plenty, or Superfluity of the suppressed Blood, more than the Infant can consume: which being carry’d by the Arteries to the lower Parts, is thence received by the Crural and Saphene or Ankle-Veins. Insomuch that the Womb, being (by this time) both Ponderous and Bulky, so presseth the Iliac-Veins, that it hinders the Blood in its Course, and obstructs its free Motion and Circulation; whereby (of consequence) these inferiour Veins must swell and distend themselves proportionably.
HOWEVER, the Danger of the SYMPTOM is not great; because after a safe BIRTH, when the super-abounding Blood and Humours are evacuated, these preternatural Tumours settle, and the Veins return to their Pristine State.
WHEREFORE the only necessary Relief of this Malady, consists chiefly in the Woman’s abstaining from too much Walking, and all other extravagant Exercises; upon indulging her inferiour Limbs, by keeping them rais’d upon a Couch or Stool, that the Blood may not settle too much to these lower Parts: Or (which is far better) let her prudently keep her Bed; in which Posture, the Blood can meet with no such Difficulty in returning by these Veins to the Heart, as it will find when it must ascend by the Woman’s SITTING or STANDING upright; so that consequently it must needs circulate the more readily and with more Ease. Hence in short, it is, that from this more Free and Easy Circulation in Bed, such Women are always more easy, or better dispos’d, and far less pain’d or troubled in the Mornings, than at Nights, in This Condition.
BUT if, after All, the PATIENT’s Convenience will not permit such Indulgences, Then a proper Swathe of three or four Fingers Breadth, is most adviseable; beginning to swathe this Varicose, or Swelling Part, from the Bottom upwards, as far as the Varices or Tumours extend. But in Case of more Plethorick Marks, at last, in the other Parts of the Body, Phlebotomy may be most safely made Use of.