Liver and Kidney Disease

Colonist, Volume XLIV, Issue 10138, 28 June 1901, Page 4

Liver and Kidney Disease

WORN TO A SKELETON.

The Case of Mr. A. N. MORRISON.

[By a Lyttleton Reporter).

A pathetic incident in. the history of the Upper Kyeburn, which resulted in the loss of five young lives, has been lucidly described in verse, under the title "Lost in the Snow," by Mr. Andrew Napier Morrison, of Percy-street, Sydenham, who is also the author of other poems of much merit. Our reporter* recently interviewed the abovementioned gentleman, who gave a graphic description concerning a personal matter, which is submitted to public notice.

"I think there must be a mistake somewhere, Mr. Morrison," exclaimed the scribe. "Surely you are not the man who has suffered so greatly as I have been led to believe?"

" Yes, I am, although I acknowledge I don't look like it," was the answer. " But a few years ago I was not half the man lam now. My career has been very varied, you must know. Being fond of roving from place to place in my younger days, I was always on the move. I have travelled all over New Zealand, and have been engaged in all kinds of business pursuits, some of which involved exposure to the weather. Many a day I have been out when it has been raining a'.:d blowing a miserable cold wind, and have been too far from civilisation to get a change ot dry clothes, besides getting irregular meals, with no variety in my diet. The strongest of constitutions will go under in time, if a person continues with this mode of living, and my system broke down and collapsed entirely. I was frequently out of touch with a town where I could get something to keep me in regular, trim, with the result that I became a victim to liver and kidney disease, besides having a heavy cold upon me for a long time." '* How did your complaints manifest themselves?''

"I suffered pains of an acute, darting character, which always increased -in severity when I went^ to bed, particularly if I lay on my right side. .The symptoms became more aggravated a. time wore on. The pain extended to other parts of my body, even my shoulder blades being affected by sharp twitchings of agony. I became so weak that I was incapacitated from going through my daily vocation. I nave always had a strong aversion to medicine of any kind, and for a long tim? I determined to allow nature to take her course ; but I found that this doctrine was a fallacy, as my condition was gel ting too serious to trifle any longer with my complaint. Occasionally I took seme medicine which was supposed to be strengthening, and which sometimes . partial.y relieved lne ; but the ease only lasted all hour or so, and then the pains came back with redoubled violence. My dread ailment obtained a firmer hold upon me every day. I was drowsy and heavy, and felt fatigued as if I had been working hard. My bowels were constipated a;id excessively relaxed in turn, and there was a beastly taste in my mouth. It was not often' I- felt hungry, but" if I did take a few mouthfuls of food 1 suffered for it afterwards-"

■hat way, Mr

" Horrible pains in the stomach seized me, tiie food seeming to turn into lead, and refusing to digest. There it lay till the victuals turned sou., when another torment appeared in the form of windy spasms, which fairly doubled me up. A iit tie relicf 'WHS obtained when I vomited the food up again, which was a matter of frequent occurrence ; but, of course, a man can't live very long without some nourishment, and my inability to keep the , food down soon wore me to a skeleton. My eyes were swollen and almost sightless; a result, I believe, of the racking, blinding headaches which never gave me any peace. I became so listless and dreamy that I could not follow a person's conversation without losing the gist of the subject, besides getting -very hard of hearing. Anybody wlio came to have a ohat with me must have found me a most uninteresting individual to talk to, as I took very little heed of what transpired. My thoughts were continually

centred upon the internal disease which was dragging my life away." " Your kidneys were . affected, you say. How could you tell?" "By the sharp, shooting pains in the small of my Iback. These -terrific agonies were particularly severe whenever I stooped, or even if I lifted a chair. I remember that when I sometimes tried! to straighten myself up suddenly I received suoh a painful shock that I quivered with agony. The shooting pains were generally followed with a dull, heavy sensation, which lasted for days t and these symptoms alternated for months. The urine was highcoloured and scanty, with a sandy sedirreri- apparent. It was bad enough to be in such a state of misery during the day, bu f to be kept awake by the everlasting torture during .he night, was really too bad. The refreshing feeling w,hich sleep alone can produce was denied me, although sometimes I had a few hours sleep, when consciousnessflickered out through extreme exhaustion, but the sleep did not avail m* much comfort, and I awoke as restles. and tired as ever, and felt just as bad as if I had remained awake. Under this terrible strain I knew I could not exist much longer. My nerves gave way and added to the general discomfort and vicissitudes that such a disease as mine entails. The many remedies I tried were worthless, and I am sorry I did not know as much then as I ao now. because it would have meant pounds in my pocket, besides averting months of suffering. As it was I thought the only termination to my disease lay in death. With this conviction always upon my mind it is not necessary to describe the desperate condition I was in. But a turning point ai'rived at last, and it came when I had actually given up doctors' and chemists' medicines in disgust. They really made me feel worse, my stomach now being too weak to retain their obnoxious compounds."

" What was the turning point you mentioned?"

' Well, I happened to hear of a person who had suffered somewhat similarly to myself, and who had been curee by a course of Clements Tonic. I resolved to put this medicine to th-. test, so I began to take it immediately. I was very impatient to get well, and I must admit that when I had taken a few doses I was not over sanguine of success. The fact of the matter was that my condition was so critical I did not expect to recover. A miracle was performed later on. I thought I might just as well finish the bottle, so I kept going, and to my intense delight I felt a change for the better before the bottle was empty. So great wa. the improvement that I was hopeful and confident, and bought several more bottles of. Clements Tonic, which reliev ed my pains wonderfully, and, more fortunate still, I had sweet and refreshing nights of sleep. I a'so ate well, anc 1 did not feel any more stomach or chest pains. My head was clear, the kidney afflictions ceased, and my nerves we're toned. Clements Tonic made m\ liver healthy, besides removing all traces of indigestion. Strength and vitality returnvd, and I was soon as robust Snd happy as a man could wis";, to be."

" May I give publicity to your re marks P"

v Decidedly. Clements Tonic renew ed my term' of life, so you can publisl my testimony any way you like."