Show ri BY WILLIAM t g- g i i. i-i. in n a aTHE THE ABDOMINAL LIMP Persons beyond middle age with arteriosclerosis arteriosclerosis ar ar- ar- ar I often otten suffer sutter what Is technically technically tech tech- called intermittent I tion a a. numbness pain and limping which comes on at intervals when walking This is due to narrowing of the arteries of ot the legs leg with Insufficient insufficient blood supply It sometimes re responds responds responds re- re to general medical an and treatment to relax the arteries In a few cases it is a forerunner of gan gan- grene A similar state of localized arterial narrowing is popularly mistaken for stomach or liver trouble in elderly Individuals There is a peculiar cramp like sensation which is felt in the upper upper upper up up- per abdomen and perhaps through to the back and is brought on by walking walking walk wall ing or other exertion In either condition local applications and medicines taken for rheumatism rheumatism rheumatism or indigestion give no relief but hilt a dose of nitroglycerin or other I drug to relax arterial spasm often I gi gives cf prompt t ta and grateful r relief le Abdominal a arteriosclerosis io s of course urse attends the ordinary hardening of ot the tho arteries which is part and parcel of advancing age but In some somo cases for unknown reasons the process is 11 more rapid In the abdominal vessels than in the vessels of the lIm limbs s or the thA head and hence manifests Itself in these at attacks attacks at- at tacks of abdominal limping long be before before be- be fore the external arteries show marked hardening In practice it Is notable that most patients who suffer from abdominal limping are rather more moro bent forward in a stooping posture than normal persona persons persons per per- sons sona of their own age This may be a result or possibly a cause of the local local- of the arterial hardening We dont don't know about that Abdominal l limping Is sometimes mistaken for angina pectoris and and in indeed indeed indeed in- in deed it is closely to that painful heart disease in origin and character Sometimes the patient gives a vague history of ot cat catarrh in recent years with more or less pain after eating distension rarely vomiting vomiting- and this arouses a suspicion of cancer of the stomach There may even be some Rome blood raised in abdominal arI ar ar- I The bloating is not characteristic nor is the constipation the patients always complain of But tho the Intermittent occurrence of these symptoms i is always alwa's suggestive Then If marked relief follows a few minutes after a suitable dose of ot one of the arterial ar ar- ar- ar relaxants the diagnosis Is com com- There Is some ground for tor the belief bellef th that t tho the stomach symptoms or colic coll I of lead poisoning are produced by spasm of the abdominal arteries Such I colic colle is described as not exactly a pain nor an ach ache but a peculiar tightness or distress about the lower chest and upper abdomen |