Daily exercise in the open air is also of value, and the sleeping-room should be well ventilated, especially at night.
Menstruation Suspended During Pregnancy.—During pregnancy menstruation is usually suspended, although the regular monthly flow may continue for two or three months. Of course, suspension at this time is natural, and nothing should be done to bring on the flow.
If menstruation appears when there is a strong probability that pregnancy exists, then the person should remain quietly in bed and eat only light food, and every precaution should be taken lest a miscarriage be brought on.
Should a Mother Nurse Her Child While Menstruating?—Menstruation is also usually suspended during nursing, although not infrequently this function is resumed again three or four months after childbirth. The question here arises whether the mother should continue to nurse her child while menstruating.
If the child remains healthy, keeps steadily gaining in weight, and seems to be well nourished, and if the mother is not losing ground in any way, then there is no reason why the mother should not keep on nursing her child. If, however, the mother's health fails, or if there is evidence that the child is not prospering, then weaning should take place.
As a rule, a menstruating mother does not have good milk for her child; it is usually thin and watery; although, as I have said, under certain conditions nursing may continue.
Sudden Suppression.—Sudden suppression of menstruation is most generally due to a cold, mental shock, or undue exposure of some kind. It is always accompanied with pain in the back, headache, more or less fever, and other unpleasant symptoms. It should generally be considered as a dangerous condition, and every effort should be made to restore the menstrual function. Sometimes when menstruation is suddenly suppressed in this way, a so-called "vicarious" menstruation occurs, and there is hemorrhage from the lungs, the nose, the gums, the bowels, or from some other source.
Treatment of Suppression.—The treatment of sudden suppression consists of a hot foot-bath, or sitting in a tub of hot water. At the same time the person should drink a bowl of hot ginger tea, or hot lemonade, be covered well with blankets, and every effort be made to bring about a profuse sweating. Then have the person go to bed, and apply hot cloths across the lower part of the bowels. Place at the feet bottles of hot water, or hot bricks, and keep up the perspiration in this way for an hour or two. This is all that need be done in the great majority of cases.
Only One Medicine to be Taken.—As the shock to the system tends to disturb the menstrual function for some time to come, the person should begin at once with Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, and should continue it through the coming month, in order to insure that the next menstruation may be normal in every way.
Scanty Menstruation.—Often menstruation appears with perfect regularity and yet is greatly deficient in amount. As we have stated elsewhere, there is no rule about this, and yet when the menstrual function is scanty, it is almost invariably a symptom of anæmia, or poverty of the blood.