A step grandfather of mine had it. I just called my father (age 89) to verify what I thought I remembered and he said: 'Now it's known as congestive heart failure. Now they put one on Lasix (sp?) to remove water from the body where years ago they TAPPED THE STOMACH to remove excess fluid'. Anotherwards: It's excess fluid in the body from a bad heart. ... I remember my step grandfather had a tube in that drained fluid from his stomach area and at times it was a mess in the bed. .... Donna -----Original Message----- From: NatrLvrnMT@aol.com [mailto:NatrLvrnMT@aol.com] Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 9:22 AM To: OHHAMILT-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [OH-HAMILT] What is "dropsy?" Several of my family members in the 1800s and very early 1900s died of something called 'dropsy.' I heard somewhere that it had something to do with edema (swelling) but why would that be called "Dropsy?" The name would lead me to believe that maybe they dropped things, like Parkinsons, with the associated tremors, or maybe they fell down a lot, maybe from weakness?... but that sounds too simple. Does anyone know the exact meaning of the word in this context? Thanks for any help you can give. I'm curious what it is that killed so many of my ancestors. Donna ==== OHHAMILT Mailing List ==== DON'T send a message in ALL CAPS or UPPER CASE Letters except when typing a surname. It's shouting, and considered bad manners(Netiquette). ============================== Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx