Treatment.—This is chiefly dietetic, and the same foods and substances as are mentioned under prophylaxis are used also for the cure of scurvy. In addition, scurvy patients should be kept in bed, given plenty of fresh air, and have the affected parts massaged. Tonics and mouth-washes are indicated, and a liberal diet with plenty of fat in it should be provided. Where fresh fruit cannot be obtained raw meat and raw fresh eggs in milk form a good substitute.
Sea-Sickness.
Take a saline aperient on the day before embarking, and a light plain meal at least three hours before going on board. A cup of good tea or black coffee soon after starting is often of use.
Those liable to sea-sickness should go to bed directly they get on board: the head should be kept low and the room darkened. A mustard leaf applied to the pit of the stomach is of value in diminishing the tendency to vomit. An abdominal belt is useful from the gentle support it gives. A hot-water bottle may be applied to the feet.
A mixture containing fifteen grains of bromide of soda and five grains of antipyrine to one ounce of water is often of great value. The first dose should be given immediately the patient is in bed, and may be repeated every six hours if required.
Whitla states that the best of all remedies is bromide of ammonium. It should be given in twenty-grain doses for a day or two before embarking. Morphia may be found necessary: a third of a grain may be injected under the skin of adults, but it should on no account be given to children.
I have found that three or four drops of chloroform, dropped on to loaf sugar and sucked, often prevents vomiting.
Those who are vomiting severely should take plenty of hot water or milk, so as to prevent them from straining on an empty stomach.
Very often raisins or raisin tea can be taken when other nourishment is rejected. A recent method of treatment which has sometimes been found effective is to plug the ears firmly with cotton-wool, but this should only be done by a medical man. It is, however, worth trying.