Rest is important in these diseases. In severe cases, the patient should be kept in bed.
At the onset of an attack of diarrhea or dysentery, if there be reason to believe that the intestinal tract contains irritating matter, a dose of castor oil, with a few drops of anise oil added to render it palatable, should be administered. After all irritating ingesta have been removed, Dr. Pierce's Compound Extract of Smart-weed should be given in doses proportionate to the age of the patient, and the severity of the case. Being composed of the extract of smart-weed, or water pepper, Jamaica ginger, camphor, and genuine French grape brandy, it exerts a most wonderful effect not only in those diseases but in cholera morbus and intestinal colic. It allays the irritation and inflammation of the affected mucous surfaces, and soothes the nervous system. In the great majority of cases, the above course of treatment will be found sufficient, but in the more severe forms of these diseases additional remedies may be required.
In dysentery, accompanied with severe pain and straining, injections of starch water and laudanum, from two to four ounces of the former to from twenty to fifty drops of the latter should be used.
Hot fomentations applied to the abdomen are beneficial. If the discharges contain much blood, a flannel cloth moistened with the spirits of turpentine should be laid over the lower part of the abdomen, and kept there until slight irritation is produced.
Lime water, bicarbonate of soda, bicarbonate of potash (saleratus), chalk, and the subnitrate of bismuth are valuable agents to correct the secretions, and allay irritation of the diseased mucous surface. The above-named preparations of soda, potash, and bismuth may be taken in doses of from five to twenty grains every few hours.
Blackberry root and cranesbill (Geranium Maculatum), in the form of fluid extract or infusion, are beneficial in acute cases in which the discharges are profuse and watery, and in the chronic forms of these affections.
In cholera infantum subnitrate of bismuth should be given in doses of from five to ten grains at intervals of from two to four hours. If the discharges are very profuse, the fluid extract of cranesbill may be administered in from two to ten-drop doses alternately with the bismuth. The camphorated tincture of opium (paregoric) is required in doses of from two to twenty drops, depending upon the age of the child and the severity of the case, if there is much pain, but great caution should be exercised in administering the preparations of opium to children. A single drop of laudanum given to a young infant has caused convulsions, coma, and death in more than one instance. To check the vomiting of cholera infantum, mild irritation over the stomach is sometimes effectual. For this purpose a weak mustard plaster, or a cloth moistened with turpentine, may be laid over the stomach for a few minutes at a time. If the child is old enough to suck pellets of ice, these are beneficial, or a piece can be wrapped in a cloth and sucked.
COLIC.
Colic is a term applied to griping pains in the abdomen, which are sometimes accompanied with nausea and vomiting. The derangement is recognized in several forms, some of which we shall briefly describe.
Bilious Colic. This may be the result of a morbid condition of the liver.