Case 540. (Podiapolsky, August, 1917.)
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Southard, Elmer Ernest
A German prisoner, 33, was admitted to a Russian Hospital, November 11, 1916, with “a bad wound of upper right thigh, marked pains in right sciatic nerve especially affecting feet.” Morphine and pantopon did not abolish the pain. Insomnia. November 13, the sciatic nerve was surgically freed from a scar and laid in the midst of the femoral biceps. Every evening pantopon was injected; but the pains and insomnia persisted nevertheless.
November 19, he was hypnotized. The pain stopped. He had an excellent night, and the next day felt only a slight pain in the toes.
Curiously enough, while giving him suggestion in the German language, P. had said fingers instead of toes (inadvertently, since the Russian language uses the same term for both). He slept well to November 29 but still felt a slight pain in the toes. On November 29 another hypnotic sitting was given, and the toes this time were named correctly. The next day the patient said, “You have relieved me of all the rest of my pain.” He had no pain thereafter and the morphine and pantopon were dispensed with. Sleep returned.
Incidentally, this patient had his hair grow white in a few months of war.