CAUSES OF AMENORRHEA.--Any condition or circumstance which reduces the general health or impoverishes the quality or quantity of the blood and weakens the nervous system, will result in a stoppage of the monthly periods. Among these are insufficient food and exercise, overwork, overstudy, exposure to cold, sitting on cold steps or gold ground, wearing damp clothes, bathing in cold water at the beginning of menstruation, powerful emotions, as great fright, anger, anxiety; acute diseases, such as typhoid fever, cholera, the infectious skin diseases; chronic diseases such as Bright's disease, heart disease, consumption; anemia and chlorosis are very common causes. Obesity or an overfat condition will cause an early suppression of the menses which may result in a fruitless marriage. Displacement of the womb and other local disorders frequently result in scanty or delayed menstruation. Anxiety lest pregnancy may occur in the newly married may cause a delay in the periods. A radical change of climate or sometimes a visit to the country, or changed circumstances may stop the flow for the time being.
TREATMENT.--The treatment of amenorrhea, or absence of menstruation, will depend on the underlying cause. A careful investigation should be made into the mode of life and the hygienic surroundings of the patient. Her general health and her mental condition should be inquired into. If the patient is not in good health, or is not obtaining exercise in the open air, or if she is a victim of mental worry or of domestic unhappiness, or if any sufficient cause exists for the amenorrhea it must be removed before any treatment may be expected to relieve the condition. If the patient is a married woman the possibility of pregnancy should always be borne in mind, and no radical treatment instituted until this has been excluded. If the absence of menstruation is dependent upon defective development of the sexual organs we cannot expect much from any treatment. The amenorrhea from exhaustive diseases will usually correct itself with, or soon after, the establishment of convalescence. In diseases which tend to death, as in consumption, heart disease, etc., the function is never reestablished. A very common habit of most people is to regard the absence of the monthly periods as the cause of their ill health. It is not, it is the result of the ill health. Get rid of the bad health and the menses will take care of themselves. That form of amenorrhea which is the result of change of climate or surroundings will regulate itself as soon as the victim becomes acclimated or reconciled to the change, or returns home if the visit is of brief duration.