Papers on Health

by John Kirk

Flushings, Hot.—These are often a really serious trouble, especially to women, at certain stages of life. Most often they come about the age of fifty, but in weakly persons may occur at any time. A disturbance in the nervous system, due to lack of energy, is the cause of such feelings. They are often accompanied by depression (see). Any treatment ought to be directed to strengthening the nervous system. A good plain diet, easy to digest, is a most important matter. Soaping with soap lather over all the body (see lather) will greatly restore the tone of the nerves of the skin. This may be done every night, and the cayenne lotion (see) rubbed all over every morning for a week or two. This treatment will usually prove successful in curing.

Fomentation.—Some general remarks on this important treatment we give here. First, no fomenting should be done for at least an hour after a meal. And it should usually be followed by a period of complete rest. A very good way to foment any part of the back or front of the body is by an india-rubber bag of hot water of the proper size and shape, with two or three ply of moist flannel between the bag and the skin. These bags can now be had of very various sizes and shapes, and one or more should be in every house. In fomenting a knee, foot, or ankle, a good sized half or even whole blanket is necessary. Fold this one way until it is twenty inches broad. Lay it out on a clean floor or table, and sprinkle sparingly boiling water across one end. Roll this end over and sprinkle the roll, turn over again and sprinkle again, and so on until the whole is rolled up. Thoroughly knead and twist it, so that all is penetrated by the moist heat (see illustration, page 32). Or it may be prepared by soaking the blanket in boiling water, and wringing it out with a wringing machine. It may then be unrolled and unfolded so as to permit proper wrapping round the limb to be fomented. Care must be taken not to burn the patient, or give any shock by applying the fomentation too hot. It must be comfortable. See Heat And Weakness.

Sometimes fomentation may seem to increase the pain, say in a swelled limb, and yet we should persevere in the treatment. This may seem to contradict our dictum that we should be guided by the feelings of the patient. The reason is that if some dead matter has lodged deep down in the limb, it will have to be brought up to the surface ere the diseased state can be remedied. If strong fomentation is used in such a case, it is not unlikely to increase the painfulness of the limb, and a swelling may appear. It will at once be said that the disease is "getting worse." This is quite a mistake—the increased pain is arising from such stirring of life as will bring about a complete cure. If the treatment is continued, the swelling will by-and-by come to a head and burst, and can be treated as in Abcess.

Fomentation, Armchair.—This is applied as follows. Over a large armchair spread a folded sheet. Provide a good large blanket prepared as above in Fomentation. Then rub the haunches, thighs, lower back and abdomen of the patient with a little olive oil. Wrap these parts in a warm dry towel. Open up the hot blanket and spread it (still some three-ply thick) on the sheet on the armchair. Let the patient sit down upon it as soon as it is cool enough not to hurt. Fold the blanket all round the patient's lower body and thighs. Draw the sheet over all, and cover up well to retain the heat. At the end of an hour, or such less time as the patient can endure, a smart washing with hot vinegar, and a gentle rub with warm olive oil, will complete the treatment. This is best done at bedtime, as the patient must go to bed immediately after it.

In cases of failure of the large hip-joints, or of the lower limbs, in sciatica and lumbago, the armchair fomentation is of great use; also when running sores exist from one of the hips or lower back, or even in numbness or lack of vitality in the feet and toes. It is referred to under the headings of the troubles in which it is of advantage.

Suppose that we are dealing with lack of vitality in some organ in the lower part of the body. We argue that the nerves supplying this organ are needing in some way to be increased in force. This is to be done by getting them heated. There is an arrangement in nature which hinders this being quickly done. The rapid circulation of the blood which is going on all round these nerves tends to keep them about the same temperature. The heat, as it is applied, passes off rapidly in the stream of the blood. But if the heating process is carried on long enough, the whole blood of the body becomes gently raised in temperature, and by-and-by the heat applied to the surface reaches the roots of the nerves, not only by means of the circulation, but by gradually passing through the skin muscles, and the bones that are near it. New life is infused, and that where it is specially required. The flagging organ soon shows that it responds to this true stimulant. After a few such fomentations it begins to act as perhaps it has ceased to act for months, and even for years. We speak of what we have seen again and again in cases where distress was caused by what is called "sluggishness" in some important organ, or when such an organ was altogether ceasing to act properly. The armchair fomentation is more successful than the hot sitz-bath, though this is by no means to be despised.

Food and Mental Power.—Unsuitable or ill-cooked food has a most serious effect on the mental powers; and when we take the case of a mental worker, we see that, in order to carry this power right on through a long life, proper diet is of great importance. Also many good mental workers are more sensitive than ordinary men: they are more easily destroyed by strong drink or opium. The nip of brandy, the soothing draught, are terrible dangers to such. Instances of brain power continued far into old age are always lessons in plainness of diet and temperance. One such temperate man will do as much work as ten who are luxurious eaters, tipplers, and smokers. Diet for mental workers should be light and easily digested, with a preponderance of proteid food (see Diet). Rich, tough and fatty foods, and hot stimulating drinks should be avoided. As mental work is generally sedentary work, and consequently having a constipating tendency, some of the vegetable foods giving a stimulus to the muscles of the intestines should form a part of the diet, such as green vegetables, fruits, and oatmeal.

Food in Health.—As will be seen from many of these articles, the question of diet is one of the greatest importance, in health as well as in disease. The onset of disease is, in fact, often due to long-continued abuse of the whole digestive system through the use of unsuitable food. By unsuitable food, we mean not so much food that is bad in itself, but rather that which is not suited to the temperament or work of the eater, or to the climate and circumstances in which he finds himself. A ploughman or fisherman, for example, may thrive on diet which will inevitably produce disease in the system of one whose work confines him to the house for the most of his time. One condition of a healthy life is, therefore, careful consideration of our work and circumstances before deciding on our diet. Also, a man of excitable and irritable temperament will need different diet from one of a slow and quiet nature. The food which will only stimulate the latter will over-excite the former, and may even make him quite ill. What is commonly called bad temper is often only the result of wrong diet, and will disappear under a milder course of food. It will, of course, be seen at once from this, that the case of every man must be considered by itself. A decision as to proper diet can therefore only be made when all the facts about a case are known, and in this matter the man himself must decide a good deal for himself; nevertheless some general directions can be given which will help our readers to a decision in their own case.

In the first place, we would guard against a very common error—viz., that a smaller quantity of food, chemically of a less nutritive kind, means less nourishment to the body. On this head we refer to the articles on Digestion and Assimilation. It may only be remarked here that what the body actually uses, and what is taken into the stomach, are two very different things. It is often the case that food containing less actual nourishment will give greater nourishment to the body than chemically richer food, because the former fits the state of the digestive system better. What each one must consider is, not what food has most of the chemical elements needed by the body, but what food will give up to his own body the most of these elements.

Another error is that the use of medicine can for long assist the body to use heavier food. In a case of disease, medicine often is of the greatest value as a temporary aid to digestion, but its continual use is the parent of great evils, and at last defeats the very end for which it was given. If a person needs continually to use medicine, there is probably either some organic disease present, or, more commonly, great errors in the diet taken. Avoiding medicine, then, except as a very temporary resource, and remembering that food is to be judged more by the way it agrees with us than by its chemical constitution, what rules can we give for diet in certain common cases?