Mother's Remedies by Thomas Jefferson Ritter (positive books to read txt) 📕

should not be eaten more than once a day and at noon time. A vegetable diet seems best. The patient should not go to sleep until the digestion is completed in the stomach.

Causes.—Should be removed if possible. Circumcision should be done, especially in the young. In case of a female child the "hood of the clitoris" should be kept free. Undue mental and physical excitement should be avoided. Systematic exercise should be taken. Baths in cold water in the morning, if possible, as the skin should be in good working condition.

Medicines.—The bromides are the best, and should always be given under proper supervision of a physician or nurse.

Caution.—I wish to add that parents should always attend to the seemingly harmless "fits" in their young children. It will not do to say they are due to teething or worms. If they are, the worms at least can be treated and that cause removed. They may be due to too tight opening in the penis. If that opening is small, or if the foreskin is tight it will make the child irritable and cause restless sleep. Attend to that immediately. The same advice applies to female children. The "cover" of the "clitoris" may be tight, making the little one nervous; loosen it. If your child keeps its fingers rubbing its private organs there is reason for you to have the parts examined and the cause removed as masturbation often starts in that way. The parts itch and the child tries to stop the itching. These little things often cause "big things" and I am sure "fits" can be stopped very often by looking after the private organs in both sexes.

[NERVOUS SYSTEM 291]

SHAKING PALSY. (Paralysis Agitans).—This is a chronic affection of the nervous system, characterized by muscular weakness, trembling and rigidity.

Causes.—It usually occurs after the fortieth year, and is more common in men than in women. The exciting causes are exposure to cold and wet, business worries, anxieties, violent emotional excitement and specific fevers.

Symptoms.—The four prominent symptoms are trembling, weakness, rigidity, and a peculiar attitude. It generally develops gradually, usually in one or the other hand. There is at first a fine trembling, beginning in the hands or feet, gradually extending to the arms, the legs and sometimes the whole body. The head is not involved so frequently. This trembling (tremor) consists of rapid, uniform "shakings." At first it may come in spells, but as the disease advances it is continuous. Any excitement makes it worse. It is very marked in the hands. The trembling generally ceases during sleep. The muscles become rigid and shortened; the head is bent and the body is bent forward; the arms are flexed (bent) and the thumbs are turned into the palms and grasped by the fingers; the legs are bent, movement soon becomes impaired and the extremities show some stiffness in motion. There is great weakness of the muscles and it is most marked, where the trembling is most developed. There is no expression on the face, and the person has a slow and measured speech. The walk is very peculiar, and in attempting to walk the steps are short and hurried. The steps gradually become faster and faster, while the body is bent forward and the patient must keep on going faster to keep from falling. It is difficult to go around in a short circle. The patient cannot change his position in bed easily. The mind is rarely affected.

Recovery.—It is an incurable disease. It may run on for twenty years or more. There may be times of improvement, but the tendency is to grow, gradually worse.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Shaking Palsy.—This is simply to make the patient as comfortable as possible. Regulate the diet. The patient should not worry or have much exercise. Frequent warm baths are sometimes beneficial with gentle massage of the muscles.

APHASIA.—A partial or total inability to express thoughts in words or to interpret perceptions.

Varieties.—Motor and sensory aphasia.

Causes.—Softening of the brain, tumors of the brain, lesions in syphilis especially, hemorrhage in the brain, blows on the head, and inflammation of the brain and its covering.

Symptoms of Motor Aphasia.—The patient cannot make the muscles of the larynx, tongue, palate and lips perform their functions and produce speech. The patient knows what he wishes to say, but cannot pronounce it. This may be complete or partial. Complete, when the patient can only utter separate sounds. Partial, when the words are only slightly mispronounced and when some certain words cannot be pronounced at all. In some cases, nouns only or verbs cannot be pronounced. Agraphia, means inability to write down the thoughts. Sensory aphasia: word deafness. This is an inability to interpret spoken language. The sound of the word is not recognized and cannot be recalled; but sounds such as that of an engine whistle, or an alarm clock, are heard and recognized. Word-blindness: the person cannot interpret written language. Pharaphrasia: cannot use the right word in continued speech; the patient uses words but misplaces them.

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Recovery depends a great deal upon the cause.

Treatment.—Treat the cause. If from syphilis, iodide of potash and mercury. If from an injury or tumors, operate if possible. Teach the patient how to speak, read and write. The result of this often gives you a pleasant surprise.

[Illustration: Hand Nerves.]

WRITERS' CRAMP. Causes.—This occurs much oftener in men than in women, and usually between the ages of twenty-five and forty. The predisposing causes are a nervous constitution, heredity, alcoholism, worry, etc. The chief exciting cause,—excessive writing, especially when it is done under a strain.

Symptoms.—It usually begins with fatigue, weight, or actual pain in the affected muscles. In the spasm form the fingers are seized with a constant or intermittent spasm whenever the person grasps the pen. The neuralgic form is similar in symptoms but severe pain and fatigue comes with writing. The tremulous form: In this the hand when used becomes the seat of the decided tremor. The paralytic form: The chief symptoms are excessive weakness and fatigue of the part and these disappear when the pen is laid aside.

Recovery.—If taken in time and if the hand is allowed perfect rest, the condition may improve rapidly. There is, however, a tendency to recur.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Writers' Cramps.—There must be absolute rest of the hand. General tonics, such as iron, strychnine, arsenic, and cod-liver oil may be needed to tone up the system.

APOPLEXY. (Cerebral Hemorrhage). (Brain Hemorrhage). Causes.—Bleeding (hemorrhage) into the brain substance is almost always due to an affection of the walls of the large or small arteries of the brain, producing rupture and subsequent bleeding. Persons of fifty or over are more subject to it, and it is more common in men than in women. Any disease that will cause degeneration of the arteries, helps to cause it, such as nephritis, rheumatism, syphilis, gout and alcoholism. Nephritis is one of the most certain causes, because arterio-sclerosis (hardening and decaying of the walls of the arteries) and hypertrophy of the heart are associated with nephritis, etc.

[NERVOUS SYSTEM 293]

Direct Causes.—Straining at stool, heavy lifting, anger, rage, fright, etc.; paroxysm of whooping-cough or convulsions may cause it in children.

Symptoms.—Sometimes the patient experiences headache, dizziness, paleness or flushing of the face, fullness in the head, ringing in the ears, etc., temporary attacks of numbness or peculiar tingling in one-half of the body. When the bleeding takes place there is usually loss of consciousness. In the attack:—If the bleeding is extensive the patient falls suddenly into coma, and this may soon prove fatal. If the bleeding is slight at first and gradually increases, the patient is delirious at first, then one arm, then one side, and finally the whole body may become paralyzed, and unconsciousness, and even death may come from the paralysis of the heart and breathing nerve centers. In many cases the patient falls unconscious without previous warning. The face is red, the eyes injected, the lips are blue, the pulse is full and slow, and the breathing is slow and deep. The head and eyes may be strongly turned to the injured side. The pupils may be unequal. The paralysis may not be noticed while the patient is unconscious and is quiet. The urine and the bowels contents may pass involuntarily or the urine may be retained. Sometimes when the case is very grave the patient does not awake from his deep sleep (coma); the pulse becomes very feeble, respiration becomes changed, mucus collects in the throat, and death may occur in a few hours or days. In other cases the clot in the brain is gradually absorbed, and the patient slowly returns to consciousness. Sometimes relapses occur. In mild cases instead of deep coma, there may be only headache, faintness, nausea and vomiting.

Subsequent Symptoms.—When the patient improves, consciousness returns, but there remains a half-side paralysis, hemiplegia, on the side and opposite to that of the seat of the injury in the brain. It may not take in the whole side, only a part. The gait is peculiar. In walking the patient supports the paralyzed arm. In many cases the paralyzed parts gradually regain their functions in a few weeks, but not always complete. The leg improves more than the arm. There is danger of other attacks. When the sleep (coma) is very deep, the breathing is embarrassed, with vomiting and prolonged half-consciousness and extension and complete paralysis, the danger to life is great.

What can I do at once? Loosen the clothing around the neck and waist. Raise the head and shoulders and put cold to the head (ice bag if you have it) and warmth to the feet, legs and hands. Watch the bladder closely. The urine must be drawn frequently in this disease, especially if there is much paralysis. It may dribble away, but that is not enough. Look out for bed sores, especially if the sickness is a long one.

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APOPLEXY. 1. Mothers' Remedies, Simple yet Effective Remedy for.—"Place the feet of the patient in hot water and mustard," This is a very simple treatment for such a serious disease, but very often will relieve as the hot bath will cause a reaction, take the pressure of blood from the brain and by this means has been known to save many lives.

2. Apoplexy, Simple Injection for.-"Place dry salt on the tongue and give an injection as follows:

    Warm water 1 quart
    Common salt 2 teaspoonfuls
    Brandy 1/2 ounce

    This injection is recommended for any kind of a shock which affects
    the circulation."

    The injection of the bowels will relieve the congestion by drawing the
    blood away from the brain.

Medical treatment must be to regulate the diet, bowels, kidneys, and stomach. Restore the general health.

Caution.—A person who has had an attack of this kind may have another. The mode of life must be changed in most cases. The patient must take things easy. The bowels, kidneys, stomach, and liver must work naturally and the stomach must not be overloaded. Too much meat must not be eaten; alcohol must be let alone; rich foods are prohibited. Hurry, worry, anger, fright, excitement, etc., are bad. Be lazy, take life easy, do not get over-heated, and sleep, sleep, SLEEP,—in a room where there is plenty of good air. Do not lift or strain to have a passage of the bowels. Stooping is injurious. The blood must be kept from the head. Take proper care and you are likely to live years longer. And now you may wonder why I give such cautions. Apoplexy is directly due to a breaking of the wall of a blood vessel, large or small; due to a weakening, or decay, or degeneration of the wall. This lets the blood into the substance of the brain and presses upon the nerve centers, causing the trouble and paralysis. Any wrong action tends to fill the blood vessels very full and the weakened wall bursts.

PALSY. Paralysis.—A loss of movement, entire or partial, in the voluntary muscles of the body. When this loss of power is complete it is called paralysis; when it is not complete, paresis.

Causes.—Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, tumors in these parts, accidents and injuries, poisons, apoplexy, etc.

Symptoms.—The patient cannot make all the usual motions of the part. The affected muscles may waste after a time.

Different Varieties.—

(a) Paralysis of the ocular (eye) muscles.—The vision becomes double, the eyelids do not act normally, may droop. The eye may not move in every direction as it should.

(b) Paralysis of the muscles of mastication (eating). Symptoms.—If paralysis is only on one side, it is difficult to chew; if on both sides, chewing