TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 September 1927, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

ABOUT APPENDICITIS. BY A FAMILY DOCTOR. Let us try to understand something about appendicitis.' Home people refuse to believe in i..; they think it is an imaginary complaint invented by a secret society of medicine men. Alas! this simple way of dismissing the subject will not. hold water. Ask the sister of the operating theatre if "She believes in the existence of appendicitis, when sc ires of times she has seen the foul abscess from the appendix gush forth at the operation. We must remind ourselves that the appendix is pari of the intestines, therefore catarrh of the intestines is the same thing as catarrh of the appendix. If there w no such thing as intestinal catarrh, appendicitis would vanish. Tne next item is to understand that the appendix is a cul-de-sac—a. blind alley. You may have noticed a stream of clear water keeping sweet so long as it continues to flow along; if the water is caught in a backwater where it. remains stagnant, fermentation begins, bubbles form, grease collects, and a nasty smell may arise. The same reasoning applies to the conditions under discussion; so long as constipation is avoided and the contents of tire bowel are kept moving, health remains; it is when stagnation occurs that fermentation, inflammation, and catarrh result; and since stagnation is more likely to occur in a blind alley than anywhere else, that affords the explanation of the frequency of inflammation of the appendix. Seed Fruit Bogey. The fear of eating seed fruit because the seeds are sure to drop straight into the appendix is rather overdone. To refrain from eating that nice raspberry jam that mother made, after having all that trouble' to get. the sugar, is unreasonable. Life would not. be worth living if we had to give way to fears of that nature. W.e may eat and enjoy with a good conscience all fresh fruits and jams and preserves, whether they have seeds or not. If the fruit happens to be unripe, or if a greedy person gobbles down a superfluity, he may get intestinal catarrh and appendicitis, but that would be because a law of hygiene -was disobeyed, not because of the seeds. I hold no brief for the gentlemen who earn their livelihood by manufacturing artificial raspberry seeds out of old boards; food adulteration is like a red rag to a bull to me. When I catch a man who adulterates the food of the poor, I am going to tie him down to an ant’s nest and let him be slowly eaten to death by the poisonous ants.

Cases and Causes.

There is every variety of case of appendicitis. The mildest form is a trivial pain passing off in a few hours; the worst form, happily much rarer, may prove fatal in thirty-six hours. Some people have two or three attacks of appendicitis in a. year; they would be well advised to have the offending organ removed; it is a source of danger. I want you to remember that everything that goes in at the mouth has to pass by the appendix. You have read about the epidemic of enteric that ravaged the village in the valley because the stream that supplied them with drinking water had been befouled higher up by the discharges from a typhoid patient. The appendix may be affected by the discharge from septic teeth in the mouth. The organisms in the mouth and the organisms taken from the diseased appendix have been investigated and found to be identical. A clean sweet mouth is a good protection against appendicitis. Bad food, badly cooked food, hurried meals swallowing unchewed lumps, irregular meals, too much alcohol, excessive smoking—all these are predisposing causes of appendicitis. And perhaps the most important caftise of all is constipation. You need not fear appendicitis if you follow the ordinary rules of good health; appendicitis is a disease of civilisation, and the more natural your life the less likely are you to suffer. A Bad Habit. Many people have a bad habit of always suspecting consumption if the patient is at all weak or pale. I am always having to correct this idea, especially in regard to children. Consumption is common, but not nearly as common as some of you seem to imagine. Never let a child hear you say that you think he is weak; children have sharp ears, and remember everything. It is very wrong to let a child grow up with the fixed idea that he is weak. Always pretend that he is strong. When you go to the doctor leave the child outside while you describe the case, and then call the child into the room afterwards; and never despair about a child’s health. Marvellous cures are brougght about by time and care. Splinter under the Nail.

If you get a splinter, under the nail you must not try to pick it out with the tweezers until you have cut the hail down as far as you can. The object is to get a good hold on the wood, and the more nail you cut away the more wood is available to afford a hold for the tweezers. What generally happens is that the kind friend who offers to remove the offending splinter wears away the end that is sticking out by futile picking at it, and then the patient comes round to the doctor. 1 like to have first shot, if you don’t mind.

Illnesses that can be Prevented. Digestive disturbance provoked by overloading the stomach or by eating indigestible food or badly cooked food. Diseases that could have been prevented by a liberal use of soap and water. Diseases due to overdose of nicotine and other drugs, especially the use of aperients. Rickets. The graver forms of blood-poisoning which could be wiped out for ever if we led straight lives. Hereditary disease. Disease of the eye of new-born children. There are heaps more, but these will do to go on with. As good citizens we must strain every nerve to maintain our own health and our children’s health at the highest pitch. One clean little girl sets a good example to the whole class. One man leading a sane, sensible, wholesome life is an example to all around him. He need not say a single word, but his life is a sermon. A Mother’s Responsibility. According to my observation, a deplorable lack of discipline exists in

many homes. Mother knows what is best, but she does not always enforce her views on her recalcitrant offspring. The child is told to go to bed, and strongly resents obeying; a domestic scene follows, and the mother, for the sake of peace and quietness, allows the child to have its way, and the parent is responsible for much mental, moral and physical harm to the child’s growing mind and body. Stiffen your back, mother dear You must look after your boys and girls, for they are too young to have sense enough to know what is best. Do not shrink from the duties' of parental responsibility. Always teach your children obedience, and they

will be a pleasure and a joy in your house, and when they are grown up into healthy men and women they will bless your name.