The woman unaccustomed to these baths should under no circumstances go to a Turkish bath without consulting her physician, as great harm might result. The bath should not be taken oftener than twice a week, unless by special orders of the physician. Care must be taken not to overuse them, as frequent and prolonged exposures to the sedative influence of heat is very debilitating. The wise woman will provide her own bathing cap, bath-brush, and straw sandals.
The use of the Turkish bath is indicated in rheumatism, toxemia, chronic dyspepsia, biliousness, obesity, sciatica, and lumbago.
The contraindications to its use are, in Bright’s disease of the kidneys, in most pulmonary affections, in the advanced stages of arteriosclerosis, and in diabetes with emaciation.
The Electric-light Bath.—This is now frequently used instead of the hot-air room of the Turkish bath, and possesses many advantages. A cabinet is lined on three sides with mirrors, on which are arranged 50 or 60 electric-light bulbs; the mirrors multiply the number of lights by reflection. A stool is placed in the cabinet for the patient to sit on, while the head protrudes above the top, which is closed. By means of switches and a proper, grouping of the lamps in wiring, the number of lights, and so the temperature, can be instantly and perfectly controlled. The heat is derived by radiation, so that it is not necessary to have the air confined. In this form of light bath the body is directly exposed to the effects of radiant light and heat.
The incandescent electric-light bath is superior to every other form of heating procedure in which the only object is the preparation for the cold bath. The time required is not more than from three to five minutes. When it is desired to produce profuse perspiration, the patient may remain in from eight to fifteen minutes. A longer stay than this is apt to produce an overstimulation of the nervous system and an excessive elevation of temperature.
The electric-light bath possesses the distinct advantages that, while the body is exposed to a high degree of heat, the air of the room in which the head is, and which one is breathing, may be cool, and unique advantages in the exactness of the dosage as regards time and intensity. It can also be used in a much greater number of diseases than the hot-air room of the Turkish bath.
The finishing treatment on leaving the cabinet is identically the same as that for the ordinary Turkish bath.
Indications for Its Use.—While the electric-light bath is not a complete substitute for sweating produced by exercise, it comes nearer to that than any other heating procedure, and, when followed by some vigorous cold application, it possesses a hygienic value which cannot be overestimated.
It is especially valuable in cardiac disease and diabetes. It stimulates oxidation, and is thus valuable in obesity and the toxemia of chronic dyspepsia; also in malarial cachexia, syphilis, neuritis, neuralgia, sciatica, habit chorea, hysteria, rheumatism, and anemia.
It is superior to all other treatment in chronic rheumatism and all diseases dependent on uric-acid diathesis or diminished metabolism, by the combined action of the elevation of temperature and the vigorous cutaneous activity. The elevated temperature stimulates the oxidation of the proteid wastes and augments vital combustion, while the increased skin activity carries off all waste-products prepared for elimination.