SHOULD PATIENTS SMOKE?

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9306, 6 January 1896, Page 5

SHOULD PATIENTS SMOKE?

Dr. Jankau, in a-i article in the Zeitsthrift fur Krankenpjltge, trioj to answer the question so often asked by patients and convalescents— "May I smoke, doctor?" Ai a general rule there is no need to forbid then., of tobacco in surgical affections and during convalescence altar operations, with the exception of those ou the eyes, the abdomen and the bladder. Doe 3 the use of tobacco play any part iv the pathology of cancer at tho li;.. and of the tongue ? Nothing certain can be said on this point. It should bo forbidden as a general rulo in sffections of the throat and of the pharynx, and with certain restrictions iv catarrh of the naso-pharynx. Tho toxic action of tobacco must not be forgotten, and those sulferirig from internal affections should ouly be allowed to smoko with circumspection. Fortunately, however, most of tho affections in which the use of tobacco is injurious aro just thoso which came tho patient to dislike it; indeed, attention is often drawn to the fact that a man is unwell by his evincing a duinclination for smoking. Therefore, it is occasionally a good sign when the convatescsnt again feels a desire to smoke.. Tobacco should be strictly forbidden in c***es of peritonitis, typhlitis, and perityphlitis. Tobacco has a favourablo influence on the central nervous system, both on account of its slightly narcotic action and by distracting the patient's thoughts from himself and Ms illness to his smoking and the associations which it brings with it. It ia most important that phthisical patients should be prevented from continually thiukiag of themselves and their malady.— Lancet.