Starvation Treatment is instituted in order that the work of the kidneys may be lessened. This treatment consists of abstinence from food with a definite reduction in the fluid intake. It is found to be necessary during the acute stage of the disease.
Extreme Thirst, which is apt to be an annoying symptom at this time, is relieved, as far as possible, with small sips of water or ice pellets held in the mouth.
Nephritic Cures are devised, as far as possible, to relieve the acute symptoms and to prevent the disease from developing into a chronic condition. Milk is the basis of most of these cures. It is given in definite amounts at stated intervals; the quantity and frequency with which it is given being adjusted to the state of the disease and the condition of the patient.
The Karell Cure is one of the best known diet cures used in the relief of acute nephritis. It consists of the giving of skimmed milk three or four times a day in doses ranging from three to six ounces for one week, at the end of which time, provided the stools remain solid, an increase to two quarts a day is made.
Constipation under the circumstances is a favorable symptom, indicating as it does the agreement of the milk.
Diarrhea as a result of gastro-intestinal disturbances has directly the opposite indication. In these cases the milk must be reduced. Karell advises the boiling of milk and relieving the constipation by means of mild laxatives or enemas.
Duration of the Karell Cure is from four to six weeks, after which a gradual return to a normal diet is made.
Hunger is apt to be prominent at this stage of the treatment and is relieved during the second or third week by giving a small piece of dry bread and milk, soup thickened with a cereal, once a day.
Functional Kidney Tests are made to determine the character and extent of the impairment of the functions of the kidneys. The diets used in these tests contain definite amounts of certain diuretic substances, and the analysis of the urine voided during the twenty-four-hour period required by the test shows the nature of the impairment and furnishes, in a measure, a means of determining the amount of food and fluid which is safe for the patient to take. It likewise shows the extent to which the restrictions in the salt and proteins are necessary.
Salt-free, or Salt-poor Diets are necessary in some cases. While restriction in the amount of salt used in the preparation of food for the nephritic patient is always advisable, if there is a tendency to edema, the salt shaker should be left off the tray, and when there is a definite amount of salt prescribed, it should be weighed or measured for the day rather than for the meal, and the amount consumed recorded after each feeding.