A hot sitz-bath should be taken in case of inflammation of the ovaries or uterus. (See [page 184].) This may be taken every day for a week, and then every other day. In case of hemorrhage this bath is invaluable, and will relieve it when all other means have failed. It can be taken during the hemorrhage or at frequent intervals between times.
Hot or tepid vaginal injections are invaluable for controlling hemorrhage and removing congestion of the uterus. For this it is best to use a fountain syringe, hung very high so as to get good force to the water. This measure alone often removes many of the unpleasant symptoms of the meno-pause.
Hot fomentations may be applied twice a day for pain in the back. The hot water bottle is the best for this. Should be very hot and continued thirty or forty minutes, or even longer. If there is pain at base of the brain or in the pelvic region this same application is invaluable.
The Thermal bath ([page 118]) taken three times a week will be found invaluable in all the ailments of the meno-pause.
Sanguinaria, 2d, will give temporary relief from hot flashes. Dose, six pellets every two hours.
Alcohol and aqua-ammonia, equal parts, heated over steam, as hot as can be borne, and applied with the hand, relieves profuse perspiration. Or rub the entire surface with very hot fine salt. Hot baths will be found useful for this also.
The diet during the change of life should be simple, consisting largely of fruits and grains, moderate in quantity. These can be prepared in many palatable and dainty dishes. (See Dietetics.) If one has been accustomed to high living, to rich and greasy food, composed largely of the carbonaceous starch, sugar and fat, a change to a simple diet will work wonders in a short time.
The habit once established for a diet that furnishes the nutriment demanded for the system, one cannot be induced to return to that which gorges, stimulates and fattens, but does not nourish. The real relish and gustatory pleasure found in a fruit and grain diet can never be appreciated by those who indulge in inconsistent mixtures of stimulants and disease-producing elements. If there is no appetite, wait for its bidding; do not coax it by stimulants and appetizers. Rest of the digestive organs is often the best and surest cure for many diseases.
Let the woman who is a sufferer from hot flushes, dizziness, neuralgia, etc., give up strong tea and coffee, hot bread, pork, and rich pies and cake. Eat only what the appetite demands; and until the severest symptoms are relieved, partake of food not more than twice a day, and possibly only once. In fasting, if the stomach has a feeling of goneness or craving, drink a cup of hot water, hot lemonade or thin gruel, made from wheat, barley or oats. A sense of faintness and the inability to omit or postpone a single meal is almost a sure indication of dyspepsia. In hundreds of cases all the symptoms and diseases of change of life will yield to treatment for this common ailment. (Page 42.)
Look to it that a constipated habit is entirely overcome. Study and follow the hints in Chap. V., and the cases are rare that torpidity of the bowels cannot be removed. For any serious illness accompanying the change of life, a physician should be consulted. In all ordinary cases, however, one can be relieved entirely and that in a short time by religiously following the foregoing advice. Nature is kind and heals all our maladies if we only give her the shadow of an opportunity. In the climacteric period put yourself in harmony with nature’s laws and you will have no occasion for the physician’s potions.