HYPER-ISTHESIA. — Hypenesthesia is usually observed in individuals whose pharynges are kept in a congested state through unhygienic habits, local disease, etc. Thus, drunkards almost invariably have very sensitive pharynges, while ton sillitis and pharyngitis, and certain gas tric and hepatic disorders tend to cause hypertesthesia through engorgement of the vascular system, etc. Pharyngitis sicca is frequently attended by marked hyperTsthesia.
PARiEsTnEsIA.—AbllOrinal sensations in the pharynx, heat, cold, the pres ence of a foreign body, enlargement, "tickling," and particularly the painful sensation that a scratch produces are commonly observed. While occasionally these subjective symptoms represent but hallucinations of sensation, a cause can usually be detected when a sufficiently careful search is instituted. A sensation suggesting the presence of a foreign body, for instance, is frequently due to an al most imperceptible laceration or abrasion of the mucous membrane caused by a spicule of bone, a small piece of crust, a seed, etc. Inflammatory tonsillar disor ders of almost any kind may also act as etiological factors; the lingual tonsils or mass of lymphoid tissue at the base of the tongue when enlarged being espe cially active in this particular. Among the general diseases capable of acting as sources of this disorder are the meno pause, the rheumatic and gouty diatheses, hysteria, and neurasthenia; among the local causes, elongation of the uvula, naso-pharyngeal catarrh, and pharyn gitis sicca.
Treatment.—In all these manifesta tions the cause should be sought after and corrected and the pharyngeal sur faces treated according to the character of the lesion noted (see TONSILS AND PHARYNX).
Paralysis of the Pharynx.—EzioLoor. —Paralysis of the pharynx is usually caused by diphtheria, or syphilis, or cerebral affections implicating the nerves which supply the pharynx. It is some times caused by local inflammation, espe cially when this is membranous. The paralysis may be limited to one constric tor muscle, or involve them all; it is an occasional complication of hemiplegia. It frequently occurs as a precursor of death in febrile diseases, especially typhus and pneumonia.
— Besides nasal speech, there is difficulty of deglutition, great effort being required to force the food down the oesophagus. Liquids are gen erally swallowed with less difficulty, but their frequent passage into the larynx, especially when the epiglottis is also paralyzed, renders their use dangerous. When the soft palate is involved, the food may be forced into the posterior nasal cavity, through the efforts of the tongue to assist deglutition. The accumulation of mucus on the pharyngeal wall is very troublesome.