Chronic Enteritis has the same general cause as acute enteritis, though its onset is slow and it takes a correspondingly longer time to correct.
A milk diet for two or three weeks may be necessary to rest the bowels.
When food is taken, if undigested particles appear in the stool, it may be necessary to use predigested foods for a while.
Dysentery
If acute, dysentery demands complete rest in bed. The diet, in both acute and chronic cases, must be confined to easily digested foods such as peptonized or pancreatinized milk (see pages [99] and [308]), boiled milk, meat juice, and the white of egg, beaten and served with milk.
Blackberry brandy and tea made from wild cherry bark tend to check the inflammation.
During convalescence, care must be taken not to overfeed. Fruits and vegetables should be avoided. Begin a more liberal diet with an increased amount of beef juice, gradually adding tender beefsteak, roast beef, fish, white meat of chicken, eggs, custards, jelly, dry toast, blancmange, well-boiled rice, and other easily digested food. The beef and egg are particularly valuable, because of the anemia occasioned by the loss of blood.
DERANGEMENTS OF THE LIVER
The liver is not, in a strict sense, a digestive organ, but the digested food must pass through it and undergo certain chemical changes.
For a fuller understanding of the reasons for the following suggestions regarding diet in liver derangements, the chapter on the “Work of the Liver,” pages [151-152] should be reread.