TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 June 1930, Page 9

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY”DOCTOR

NOSE BLEEDING

The nose bleeding of schoolboys is not a very serious matter. it maj’ mean that the lad has plenty of bxood and to spare. It can generally bo stopped by such simple measures as ; bathing the face and necit w.di com water. Do not let the child hang am head over a basin ,as that attitude encourages the blood io run to ilia head. A frequently repeated bleeding from tho nose may owe its origin to an incur or some small growth. 'inis condition can be uetected only by shaiiug a ago. inside the nose with a special mirro.. Tho application of the cautery or the removal of the little growth will bring about a cure. Occasionally we find that nose bleeding is accompanied by other symptoms, such as headaches, lassitude, and a general reeling or de pression. The nose bleeding observer ; in these circumstances should be taken 'seriously. It may be a premonitory sign of typhoid fever. Take the patient's temperature, and never accept I further responsibility. You must let ithe doctor see the case, as a patient with typhoid fever runs a very grave risk if he struggles back to work. Moreover, he is a danger to others —one case may start an epidemic, me Medi- : cal Officer of Health must be informed at the earliest possible moment.

AGE AND THE ARTERIES. Nose bleeding in old people is quite a different matter to nose bleeding in (schoolboys. The older we get the more brittle our arteries become. The day comes when the old vessel is no long .er able to bear the strain; it bursts, and out gushes the blood. The com monest place for the burst to take place is the head. The burst may be •; outside the skull on the top of the ,'nose, or it may be inside the skull in I the substance of the brain. The nose j bleeding of old people is severe, and ■ may have to be stopped by plugging the nose, but it may give relief to the I high blood pressure, and the patient’s (head may feel clearer 1 after it. It is i also fortunate in the sense that if the bleeding had not come outside it might have taken place in tne brain and caused an apopletic stroke. Severe haemorrhage from the nose .of an old man may be a warning of an approaching apoplectic stroke. , CAUSE OF PILES.

Piles are varicose veins, and the most important causes are constipation, congestion of the liver from overfeeding, a sedentary life, and perhaps heredity. The only possible way of preventing them is to prevent constipation, and this precaution must begin with efforts o i the part of the nurse and the mother from the day the baby is born. No child is born with piles; they come as the result of carelessness in nine cases out of ten. A mother who carefully watches that all the important functions of the body are properly performed in hei’ babies, infants, and children of any age, is adopting the best means of preventing piles in future years when the, children are grown up. Regular habits should be ensured by correct diet, rather than by swallowng a host of pills, powders, and drugs in various forms. i,

THE BEST APERIENT

Aperient medicines cause constipation in the end, and they therefore cause piles. Ask anyone you know who suffers from piles, and they will tell you they have been taking opening medicine as long as they can remember. Drugs are not necessary if proper care is taken, but one is sometimes compelled to order them when the patient has been brought up by a careless mother and has been more or less constipated for twenty years. It is most difficult to treat a young man of twenty who has been constipated for twenty years. I should want another period of twenty years to get him into good order again. ■ If a drug must be used, I find the best aperient for pile: is made by mixing equal parts of con fection of senna and confection of sulphur; a teaspoonful or more to be taken at night. To soothe inllamma tion apply a pad of cotton-wool smeared with boracic ointment.

DON’T EAT TOO MUCH.

I have seen many men put in the. dock and fined for drinking too much but I have never seen a string of fat men file through the dock to receivi due punishment for eating too much It might sound strange to hear a police constable say that he found the prison er walking along the High street obvi ously suffering from having eaten too much; sdeing that he was under the influence of food, he was arrested am taken to the station, here, after being warned that anything he might say would be taken down and used n evidence against him; he was put on the weighing machine and turned the scale at eighteen stone. The magistrate would take a serious view of the matter, would warn the man that his conduct in eating too much was setting a bad example to his young family, and that he must either reduce his weight by his own efforts or go to prison, where the diet of bread and water, coupled with daily exercise on the treadmill, would have the desired effect. Why, you will hardly believe me, but I saw a man who had had too much to drink put off a tram the other day .while a man who weighed nineteen stone sat by him as safe as a house from interference by the conductor. When shall we have justice?

A SAFE OPERATION. There are only two methods of treating a rupture, the truss and an operation. Of these two the operation is far and away the better course to adopt, and the earlier it is done the better. In the future there will be no men going about with ruptures; they will all be operated on in infancy or childhood. It is a safe operation. It means that the patient is in the hospital for about a fortnight or three weeks. He then returns home and lies up for another three weeks, and he can gradually get back to his full work. He ought not to do any work involving a heavy strain for about six months after the operation. The disadvantages of a truss are that it never cures; it only keeps the lump back. The rupture may at any time become “strangulated ’ a very dangerous acoident. The _ truss has to be worn all the life, and it is a source of expense, as it lias to be frequently renewed. And, finally, the rupture may get bigger and give no end of trouble in advanced age. Scores of babies are cured once and for all by operation in every children’s hospital every week. The only precaution to take is to submit to a medical examination to make sure the general health is good.