Iodine as counter-irritant, World War I

world war I veterans in hospital at Youngstown, Ohio

another snippet on counter-irritation with iodine for pain relief~

Another interesting class was the convalescent gassed patients, many of whom had the effort syndrome but the majority of whom were, especially the mustard gas cases, subject to a peculiar type of pain. They would report at sick call with a history of being unable to sleep because of a pain variously described as dull, short, lancillating, migratory, etc., somewhere in the neighborhood of the heart. It would be localized in various places from the left mid-axillary line to the right nipple line and from the clavicle to the level of the umbilicus but always radiating from the heart. No cause for this pain was ever found on physical examination, but the men were too positive in their statements for one to doubt that it was a real thing to them. Numerous remedies were tried but the only real results achieved were from generous counter-irritation with iodine applied over the whole pro-cardiac area, accompanied by the assurance that this pain was only a temporary affair which would soon disappear. We could never find that this pain in any way interfered with the man's work, but it was certainly a constant cause of complaint and quite trying to the sick call officer until the above treatment was instituted.

source:

published 1919