TALKS ON HEALTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 19 April 1934, Page 9

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR ABOUT THE KIDNEYS The function of the kidneys is to examine the blood that passes through them and throw out what is useless or poisonous. The kidney is like a magistrate carefully examining all who are brought before him, punishing the guilty, and allowing the innocent to go free. The kidneys keep the blood in order. If too much water or other fluid is drunk the blood might become too dilute if the kidneys did not cast out the extra water. Our object should be so to regulate the diet that there ,;s not a great accumulation of waste products for the kidneys to remove. An important cause of kidney disease is poisoning of some sort. T his you will not believe, so it is not much good my tolling you. 1 find that firmly fixed ill your mind is the idea that every organ in the body is completely separated from every other organ, and that each one must be considered by itself. Must I always be reminding you of the circulation of the blood? The blood is the medium that connects the whole body together. The drop of blood flow.ing the kidney at one moment was m the gums a SCCO.id or two before, and then in the walls of the bowels, and then in the brain. POISON IN THE BLOOD Kidney disease often shows itself first by weak sight, and when you come to cbnsult me about your eyes I ask to examine the wafer. That makes you angry, and you exclaim against the stupidity of doctors who adopt some out-of-the-way method of examination when all vou want is a pfiir oi glasses. No, some poison at a remote part of the body may be carried round in the blood aiid attack the kidneys. Foul breath is. due to septic gums; the blood flows all round the dirty teeth and their still more dirty sockets, and, having been thoroughly bathed in. (lie discharge, takes it off to tire kidney. The kidney exclaims, “Hullo! this won't do—poisons lloating in my blood. Out you go!” And the poison is taken out of the blood into the kidney substance, and, being of harmful action, it has a bad effect on the kidney. The effect produced in one hour may be almost negligiblo, but the effect iu five years ip. of great importance. THE DANGER Cflf CHILLS Then chills must not be overlooked. A fired man, ovOr-fatigued with a hard day’s work, wanting liis dinner, gets wet through; lie then mounts on tlv; ton of a tram and sits in a draught when he has been hurrying and is rather hct. A chill is the result, ana the. kidneys are very likely to suffer. It is a- common mistake to think that a. pain ip the back is a kiclney-acho. Kidney disease is very rarely shown by a pain in the back; that pam is in the muscles, and not in the kidneys at all. So if you want to avoid Bright’s Disease you must avoid alcohol in excess, avoid eating too much.- keep your bowels regular, clean your teeth, anti avoid chills MOVABLE KIDNEY The kidneys are situated right at the back of the abdomen, and tile ligaments that keep them in place occasionally grow lax and allow the kidney to fall out of its place. This is called movable, or floating, kidney. If is a strange circumstance that tins defect is generally associated with mental symptoms. The subject, who in nine cases out of ten is a woman, and one who has borne children, will burst into tears without any cause; she will be easily upset by trifles, and will be unreasonably badtempered and fidgety. A small amount of ’ movability is not of much consequence, but the results in advanced cases are rather serious. Pain in the kidney 1 may be absent for a long time, and then come on in a paroxysm of acute distress. A large quantity of water may; be .passed as though it had been stored up in the system and suddenly released.' . ■' ;. - ■> ■ METHODS OF RELIEF There are two methods of relieving this condition: ohe by wearing a belt, and another by operating. I am not c. great believer iu bolts'. ' The kidney is so far back that it takes > too great pressure to keep it in place,; and pros sure to ’so great ’an extent may interfere with other organs, notably the bowols. Nevertheless, a belt’ may be tried for a' monf h'„6r 'so to test- the result. It should he made by a skilleu instrument-maker, as it is 3 difficult task-to fit a kidpev belt perfectly, if at the end of a period of trial the symptom? are no better, then tho subject of mi operation may be discussed. It is ••• safe operation to stitch the kidney into its place; it means lying in bed for about a month, until tile woijnd is healed up and the kidney has had a chance to settle down into its new bed and get fixed there. - It is a mental relief to file patient to know that the organ js fixed, and thin knowledge often has a beneficial effect. The right kidney is by -far tile commoner kidney to "clout of place, tile left very rarely does; so there.-need not be any anxiety about tli e - other kidney whop, tiio right one has taken ,jt ipto its head .to . move’ its quarters. , If the wafer-has an altered appearance a specimen should .bo taken to the/doctor for examination. MOTHERS AND INFANTS The ouiy real food for an infant is mother’s milk? A moment’s thought would convince you of ii,. The universe ib so well arranged, the human body is such a marvel the eye. the ear, tho brain, and all the organs of the body are such marvellous pieces of'living mechanism—how could tho demands of the growing infant be forgotten or arranged on an inferior plan; Of course mother s milk is the best, and do nof lie put off with something that is “just as good.” An inquiry was carried out in a large town in France into the health of a thousand babies. The babies were divided into two groups—those who had been ursed by their mothers, and those who had been brought up on some substitute. It was conclusively proved that the mothers’ babies were much healthier than the chemist's shop babies.. . THE NEXT BEST THING I know quite well there arc mothers who cannot nurse tlfeir little ones. U is said The growing infant is deprived of. tlic one food which is necessary ;o give ib full vigour and health. The next best tiling to . mother’s milk : s iow’s riulk. Infants are such peculiar liHlo mortals that it is not. always possible to hit on the right kind of mixture to suit them It is best to begin with a mixture of one part of milk to three of water, gradually increasing tli amount, of nTilk and decreasing the water. , If many undigested curds of milk pare; passed through the hotly the amount of milk should bn slightly decreased. .'Unfortunately, the milk sunply is pot always satisfactory.- -Milk is often’ tainted, and it is safer,'unless you kntnv exactly where tho milk - comes from, vo raise it to the scald in a 'water-jacket saucepan.