Author Topic: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2  (Read 161031 times)

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Offline Helen

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #300 on: January 01, 2009, 05:55:32 AM »
It would be interesting to know what the doctor, who was "thrown out" of the palace in 1911 (not 100% sure about the year) said about Alix health. I guess he said something that they didn't want to hear. I do wonder what it was...
Attention, Reply #23:  Perhaps "psychosomatic," or the  equivalent thereof.  No definitive conclusion will ever be reached here on this topic; it is truly "playing doctor."  AP
Alexandra seems to have been open to the possibility that her complaints were at least partly psychosomatic. In a letter to her friend Margarethe Pfulstein, née Freiin von Fabrice, from December 1913, Alexandra explicitly recognised that she did not suffer from organic heart failure, but that the pains were caused by endless worries and sorrows and her tendency to bottle up things. And on 12/13 June 1915, she wrote to Nicholas about heart pains and that hiding one's sorrow, swallowing all, made one physically tired.
"The Correspondence of the Empress Alexandra of Russia with Ernst Ludwig and Eleonore, Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse. 1878-1916"
"Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine in Italy - 1893"
"Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine - Gebhard Zernin's Festschrift"

Offline EmmyLee

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #301 on: January 01, 2009, 11:41:32 AM »
I agree that part of Alexandra's problem was her lack of exercise, however hindered by her sciatica. As for her headaches, they could have been caused by so much stress and worry over Alexei.

Offline amartin71718

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #302 on: January 06, 2009, 09:27:53 PM »
i knew, where she was older, she has hear-problems. the children and nicky must speak laud, soo that she can underatnd them
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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #303 on: January 06, 2009, 09:58:16 PM »
i knew, where she was older, she has hear-problems. the children and nicky must speak laud, soo that she can underatnd them

Queen Alexandra of England (wife of Edward VII) had a hearing problem.  I don't remember reading that Empress Alexandra did.  Goodness, I hope not.  That poor woman had enough problems.  : (

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #304 on: January 06, 2009, 10:00:30 PM »
How did they treat Alexandra's ear infection if antibiotics didn't really exist in the early 1900's?

I may be wrong, but I think they did, in very primitive forms. 

Even if they didn't, they would have had other ways of dealing with such problems.  Like you, I'd be interested in knowing what those were.  We'd probably think they were crazy, these days.  lol!

Offline Helen

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #305 on: January 10, 2009, 02:09:13 AM »
How did they treat Alexandra's ear infection if antibiotics didn't really exist in the early 1900's?
I'm not even sure they did treat it. After the death of Princess Elisabeth of Hesse in Skiernewice in 1903, Alexandra got a cold and inflammation of the ear. I think Miss Eagar wrote that Alexandra kept to her sofa/bed for a period of time as long as six(?) weeks. Would it have taken so much time to cure an ear infection with antibiotics?    :-\
"The Correspondence of the Empress Alexandra of Russia with Ernst Ludwig and Eleonore, Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse. 1878-1916"
"Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine in Italy - 1893"
"Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine - Gebhard Zernin's Festschrift"

Offline Janet Ashton

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #306 on: January 10, 2009, 10:11:05 AM »
How did they treat Alexandra's ear infection if antibiotics didn't really exist in the early 1900's?
I'm not even sure they did treat it. After the death of Princess Elisabeth of Hesse in Skiernewice in 1903, Alexandra got a cold and inflammation of the ear. I think Miss Eagar wrote that Alexandra kept to her sofa/bed for a period of time as long as six(?) weeks. Would it have taken so much time to cure an ear infection with antibiotics?    :-\

Two things strike me about this episode: one being the extraordinary amount of personal, medical detail which found its way into the press! In the Times they describe the infection with gruesome precision, right down to discharges and so forth. Imagine the complaints of current royalty being detailed in this way! :) (Conversely I am sure that if Alix were a U.S. President they certainly WOULD include every personal detail; I have seen this done).

The other thing that struck me was that she was just pregnant with Alexei when this happened, and I wondered if the otitis media were used as a cover for not moving her while she was suffering badly from morning sickness, but without making an official announcement (since her previous pregnancy had been the one that disappeared, for whatever reason).

I am pretty certain that antibiotics DIDN'T exist at this date, except perhaps any natural antibiotics used in homeopathic medicine. I understood that the first commercially manufactured antibiotic was penicillin, around the time of the Second World War, but I see that some people also count Salvarsan, a product used to treat syphilis, which was available only from circa 1910. Edited to say: we should recall that Alexandra's cousin died from a very similar ear infection, now easily treatable with antibiotics - mastoiditis being the result if unlucky of untreated otitis media.....(and my grandmother, born in 1910, almost died as a child from the same thing, for lack of antibiotics)
« Last Edit: April 29, 2009, 10:32:29 AM by Alixz »
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Offline Helen

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #307 on: January 10, 2009, 02:37:50 PM »
Thank you for the information on antibiotics.

The other thing that struck me was that she was just pregnant with Alexei when this happened, and I wondered if the otitis media were used as a cover for not moving her while she was suffering badly from morning sickness, but without making an official announcement (since her previous pregnancy had been the one that disappeared, for whatever reason).
She certainly suffered from something, but you may be right and it may have been used as an excuse to allow her more rest.
"The Correspondence of the Empress Alexandra of Russia with Ernst Ludwig and Eleonore, Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse. 1878-1916"
"Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine in Italy - 1893"
"Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine - Gebhard Zernin's Festschrift"

Offline Tdora1

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #308 on: January 11, 2009, 02:59:32 PM »
Well, we know that she suffered from sciatica, and that can be extremely painful to the point of not being able to walk. And the nerve damage in her legs from the glass incident also would have added to that. I think she also suffered from CFS. But, I'm no doctor, that just my 2 cents.

Sciatica is merely a descriptive term; it is not a medical diagnosis. It describes some class of pain and/or altered sensation down the sciatic nerve diagonally across the buttocks and down the nerve through the backs of the thighs. There would have to be a source of damage or deficit for such disability - pain enough would cause a lameness but would not cripple one in the sense that the limb(s) were useless.

It is exacerbated by direct contact with cold etc. Nerve "pain" is known as neuropathy - this does not in itself cause disabilitity. MS is a stripping away of the myelin sheath covering nerves and so is a separate pathology.

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Offline Tdora1

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #309 on: January 11, 2009, 03:05:20 PM »
In pre-antibiotic days, severe infections  introduced into minor wounds or skin probes in ways that seem incredible to us now.

John Brown died of a superficial streptococcal infection of the face. for ex.

Ear, nose and throat infections then could go very serious very fast (this is not the same pathogenic behaviour of the otitis media bacteria that worries all these days).
« Last Edit: April 29, 2009, 10:33:25 AM by Alixz »
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Offline Helen

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #310 on: January 11, 2009, 03:49:13 PM »
Alix was a regular taker of the first generation of barbiturate tranquilizers. Which, interestingly, seemed to exacerbate her myriad physical health problems - notably with her sofa-sitting, her complaints of 'heart cramps' and the lamen which was severe enough that even during her engagement, Nicolas had to push her around the streets of Windsor in a bath-chair. As well as stress and emotional excitement setting of the symptons, barbiturates are considered the most angerous precursor of an attack and are thus absolutely contraindicated for porphyria

On an other thread, Janet Ashton wrote that Alexandra was tested negative for porphyria.

Alexandra had been pushed around in Harrogate too, but not because her limbs were useless - her leg hurt, but she could walk. In Windsor, she may simply have followed the advice the doctors in Harrogate had just given her, i.e to sit, or better, lie on a sofa to allow more blood to flow to her painful leg.
"The Correspondence of the Empress Alexandra of Russia with Ernst Ludwig and Eleonore, Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse. 1878-1916"
"Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine in Italy - 1893"
"Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine - Gebhard Zernin's Festschrift"

Offline Tdora1

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #311 on: March 05, 2009, 06:48:48 PM »
So Alix "tested negative for porphyria" ?!

There absolutely were no tests whatsoever for this illness when she was alive. Indeed, porphyria (an inherent disorder of metabolism) itself had not even been identified when Alix died in 1917.

The historical porphyria theories for all these royals - whether George III or Princess Charlotte of Prussia - have ALL been made posthumously. The only exception is that of Prince William of Gloucester who was diagnosed in 1969. This was upon examination based upon his symptoms and the suggestive family history. It was 1969 - same year as the study by the Macalpines of George III - although the RAF Dr who first diagnosed William already knew that it was in the family as it is almost certain that the old 1st Duke Of Gloucester - Prince Henry son of George V  - had the illness.
 
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Offline Helen

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #312 on: March 06, 2009, 01:44:03 AM »
barbiturates ... are thus absolutely contraindicated for porphyria
On an other thread, Janet Ashton wrote that Alexandra was tested negative for porphyria.
So Alix "tested negative for porphyria" ?!
...The historical porphyria theories for all these royals - whether George III or Princess Charlotte of Prussia - have ALL been made posthumously.
Yes, of course it was posthumously.  My point was that tests have shown that Alix did not suffer from porphyria.
"The Correspondence of the Empress Alexandra of Russia with Ernst Ludwig and Eleonore, Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse. 1878-1916"
"Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine in Italy - 1893"
"Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine - Gebhard Zernin's Festschrift"

Offline Olga Maria

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #313 on: March 09, 2009, 11:59:09 PM »

Yes, it is. She often had problems with walking and was sometimes meant to stay in a wheelchair. She suffered from sciatica.

Alix's health was never really that good.

Olga somehow complained about her mother's ill health in one of her letters to an aunt.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2009, 10:33:47 AM by Alixz »

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Offline nena

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Re: Re: Alexandra and her Health Part 2
« Reply #314 on: March 10, 2009, 09:51:52 AM »
Olga's 1913 diary shows how many often Alexandra was ill, or in bed. Didn't read it, only read here.
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