Restricting Fluids.—Fluid foods should be more or less limited in the diet, since they require more effort on the part of the intestines than the more concentrated foods.
Proprietary Foods.—Certain proprietary infant foods[94] are at times found to be exceedingly valuable, since they furnish food in a concentrated and digestible form. Among these Mellin’s Food, Racahout, and Imperial Granum may be mentioned.
CHRONIC ENTERITIS
The Stools.—When the diarrhea is chronic in character, the character of the stools indicates the seat of the inflammation. When there is a great deal of undigested food found in them the upper part of the bowel is more affected; when the stools contain more mucus than food the lower bowel is the chief seat of the trouble. The frequency and fluidity of the stools impose a great strain upon the entire body, causing a progressive emaciation and anemia.
The treatment is similar to that instituted in acute attacks. The starvation régime cannot be carried out for a long period. Efforts must be made to ascertain the cause of the trouble and to overcome it. This is, as a rule, more easily accomplished with adults than with infants and children.
Dietetic Treatment.—The diet is the chief point of observation and attention. The same care must be observed as is found necessary in the after-treatment of acute diarrhea. The patient must be cautioned not to eat indigestible foods or those which are known to cause trouble in this respect. She must be warned against eating when over-tired.
ENTEROCOLITIS
Enterocolitis is an inflammation of the lower intestines and colon. The stools contain more mucus than those occurring when the inflammation is higher up in the intestines and blood is also more frequent in these stools. The prostration is more marked and the fever apt to be higher than in ordinary diarrheal attacks. However, acute attacks of enterocolitis do not produce the marked anemia or the emaciation which are so common in the chronic cases of enteritis.