TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 June 1934, Page 10

TALKS ON HEALTH

STROKES AND THEIR CAUSES (By a Family Doctor). A stroke is the bursting of a bloodvessel in the brain. Sometimes the blood-vessel bursts just outside the brain and in the top of the nose. It is not unusual for an old person to suffer from a severe haemorrhage from the nose. It is not altogether a bad thing: it may relieve tension, and the patient is to be congratulated on escaping with nothing worse than a few drops of blood on the carpet, when a difference of an inch or two in the position of the burst would have caused him to be paralysed down one side of the body. It may be necessary for the doctor to plug the nose; the loss of a small quantity of blood may be beneficial, but it cannot be allowed to go on indefinitely. The nose-bleeding may be a warning. The patient should ‘avoid being' in the hot sun with the head uncovered; he should be careful to avoid excess of alcohol; he should not run for a train; he should not lose bis temper or fly into a violent rage. He may go quietly on. leading a placid life, for many years. In the end lie will have a stroke, but he need not look for it, and expect it. and worry about it.

RABY’S LITTLE EYES One of the troubles a new baby is exposed to is inflammation of the eyes. I am glad to say the number of reported cases is decreasing; but I set a high standard and I do not think there ought to be one case. The inflammation. may be slight, or it. may be serious and end in blindness. It is a ver.y melancholy fact that the children in the blind asylums owe their pathetic loss of sight to inflammation at birth more than to any other cause. When you expect, a baby you must go to that dear nurse with the nice smiling face and ask her about the drops to put in the eyes of the baby when it is born. She may say she will come and do it. herself if you will let her know; or she may give you the drops with careful instructions how to put them in. Or you can ask mother to carry the baby round to the clinic if it is not far away and the weather is warm. Do anything rather than neglect the eyes of the new-born. WHEN SCARLET FEVER COMES When your child has been taken suffering from scarlet, fever the men from the medical officer of health come in and disinfect the rooms. I do not want you to put all the responsibility on the local authorities; I want you to do your share of carrying out the disinfection. All the things that can be burnt should be pul on the tire; such things as papers old picturebooks, rag dolls, hair-ribbons, etc. Clerms hate being burnt. Then our old friend, snap and water, may be called in to help. Let the rooms have i spring-cleaning. You can gel. from ■he medical officer of health, a supply ■ f Lysol or some such disinfectant,! md you can put some in the pail of r.ater. Old cupboards should be turn’d out; chests of draws opened and mi in order and washed. Il may be a inisanco, hut it is better Ilian having I second case of scarlet fever. Your rwn bodies should be carefully cleanid; if you have been nursing the in-' cctcd child you should have a warm l >ath, and you should shampoo your •

hair, as hair is a happy hunting ground for disease germs.

SUNSHINE AND DISINFECTANTS

I have mentioned chemical disinfectant's. but fresh aid and sunshine may be used in abundance, and they are well-known enemies of disease. Open all the doors'and windows, and let a good strong draught of air rush through the house. If you have the l chance,’expose the bedding to the rays of the sun. Sluice the backyard and the area with buckets of weak antiseptic. If we all combined we could make a fearful onslaugnt on infectious diseases. I cannot allow you to look on these diseases as things which are inevitable; you must not say, “I suppose my children will have to go through their childish diseases.” In some houses the mother almost welcomes measles as an old friend that is bound to come. Fight the germs; your weapons should be fresh air, sunshine, good well-cooked food, • clean bodies; above all, clean mouths and teeth. >

COUGHS AND COLDS There are two kinds of coughs which are of opposite natures. One is the dry. hard, barking cough, in which no phlegm is brought up, and the other is the loose cough which results in a copious expectoration. In the latter case the bronchial tubes are choked up with phlegm, and the cough should be encouraged, because if the bronchial tubes remain blocked up the patient will not be able to breathe. It is clain that these two kinds of cough.s require two different kinds of medicine. The loose cough must be encouraged; the harsh, dry cough must be stopped. This points out one very real danger in taking a cough mixture which was ordered for somebody else the prescription of which has been handed on. Suppose you have a cough which should be encouraged in order to clear the tubes, and you take a cough mixture which was intended for the other kind of cough, you run the risk of getting your bronchial tubes blocked up worse than ever. Each patient must be studied carefully, and thfen the medicine ordered—a haphazard swallowing of any old cough mixture may do harm.

, HEMORRHOIDS If you suffer from hemorrhoids try . the following: — 1. Get. up ten minutes earlier than usual and go through some simple exercises. Bend up and down and from side to side, pressing the hands well into the sides —that has the effect of rubbing and massaging the liver. Drink a large tumblerful of water on an empty stomach. That has the effect of washing out the stomach and cleansing it as a good start of the day. You wash your face—why not your inside? Water is valuable inside as well as outside. 3. Eat your breakfast very slowly; avoid bacon (hat is too fat, and avoid greasy things, such as fish done in oil. I. Regular habits. The human organism appreciates time-keeping. 5. Reduce the quantity of food taken |by one-third. Only one meal meal a j day. G. Attention to teeth. 7. Avoidance of alcohol. S. The dietary should include plenty of fresh fruit. HUNT'S FOR EVERYBODY Home of you would do very foolish things if I did not look after you. Here are a few “Don’ts”; —

Don’t, use for yourself a prescription which (he doctor wrote for somebody els’e. Don't wear spectacles which were ordered for somebody erne, and don t. buy spectacles from the market; but have your eyes properly tested; .me two eyes arc seldom of equal strength. Don't, put tobacco in your ears to stop pain. Don't have false teeth put in over rotten stumps; have the slumps taken out first. Don't forget, to take your tooth-plate out every night and wash it.

He: “I'm going to apply my talents, but 1 don't know whether to go in for art or poetry.” She: “Oh. poetry.” Ho: ‘‘Oh you've heard some of my verse';?” She: ‘‘No: but I’ve seen some of your art.” ‘‘There was a stranger in the kirk to-day," said the minister when he returned home after the morning service. “How d’ye mak’ that not?” asked hi.-, wife. “Because there was a twa. shilling piece, in the collection plate,” replied the minister.