TALKS ON HEALTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 4 May 1934, Page 2

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR

THE FIGHT AGAINST CONSUMPTION

If you are to fight an enemy you must first know what lie is like, where he is to bo found, what his habits are, and all about him. In the great fight against consumption it is most important that the people should have a good working knowledge of the disease. Let me first impress on you that it is only in the early stages that the disease is curable. It is not'the doctor’s business to call at your house every day and ask if there 'is anyone with consumption living there. That is one of our difficulties. We cannot go to tile consumptive; the consumptive lias to come to us. and he does not always do it, until it is too late. A PUBLIC DANGER

A good beginning has been made by the medical examination of school children. In that case the doctor does go to the consumptive, and, having found him, is enabled to deal with him on scientific lines. We have to regard as a public danger the bidden consumptive—that is, the man who is spreading the disease through his breath and through his sputum, and who is submitting himself to no treatment and to no laws of hygiene. Sorrow we should all feel for any man affected by this disease, but our hearts should not run away with our heads. It is thoroughly wrong that a man should be at large and every day subjecting the people around him to a dangerous risk. The clerk who sits in a room with six others every day and all day and is coughing the germs over his comrades is guilty of a misdemeanour. A SCANDALOUS THING

You know that in law it is no excuse to plead that you are ignorant that such and such a law existed. It is supposed to be your business to know something about the laws of your country. And it ought not to be a valid excuse if the clerk pleads that he did not know he had consumption when it first began. It is bis duty to know; it is his fault if he does not know, and if he cannot tell himself, he should seek the advice of someone who could enlighten him. To my mind it is a scandalous thing that a clerk should call on the sweetheart of the man who worked with him, and whom lie lias infected with consumption, and say: “I am really sorry, but I had no idea 1 was infectious in any way.” If I were that sweetheart I would give the clerk a piece of my mind. If you knock a mail down and then kick liim in the mouth you get! hauled up before the beak and imprisoned or fined. But a kick in the mouth is a trivial matter compared to infecting a man with phthisis. GET PROPER ADVICE

Heredity plays an important part, and any man with a. bad family history should be particularly careful. He would be wise to choose an outdoor occupation. And if lie gets a cougli he should bo more careful than tile ordinary mail. You must not fall into the error of believing that every consumptive shows the cardinal signs of dreadful wasting, languor, and blood-spitting in large quantities. I am trying to educate you to make a better fight than you do, and I want you to understand that you must not wait for all those advanced signs and symptoms before you think of asking advice. Remember that the early cases, when the symptoms are very slight are the very ones we want to' get hold of. You must get proper advice. I have no sympathy with tlie old paterfamilias whose own job is auctioneering, and who advises bis coughing daughter to buy a bottle of quack medicine. Down with such Pater Family Asses! Nothing strikes such despair into the heart of a doctor as to find, at his first examination, that the disease is advanced.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS A long-continued cough should always make one suspect phthisis. If the weight goes down or remains stationary in a growing adolescent, it is also a reason for careful inquiry and examination. Night sweats may be a symptom, but are not always reliable signs. The two great safeguards against allowing an early case of tuberculosis to develop secretly are: (1) An examination of the lungs by a doctor; and (2) an examination of the sputum that is coughed up.

CONSUMPTIVES AND SANATORIA

Let me tell you quite plainly that it is extremely difficult to be certain in very early cases. The signs may be doubtful, and no sensible doctor is going to frighten his patient by declaring he has consumption unless be is certain of his facts. Therefore, it is nothing agaist a doctor if he asks for a second, or a third opportunity of examining the lungs. And you must keep this golden fact ever before you in this connection—that it is better to take precautions in a doubtful ease and put the patient on a strict health regime than to do the other thing and neglect a possible case of phthisis. Concentrate on the early cases, ton sometimes think that the decision of a doctor agaist allowing a man with consumption to go into a sanatorium is harsh and cruel. You are wrong. Sanatoria are not homes for the dying. The bed that the dying man would occpy would bo much better filled by a young man whose chances of recovery—complete recovery —were rosy. There is to be no panic, no senseless fears. Only common sense and a determination that you, at least, will never run the risk of infecting others if it can be avoided.

THE BRAIN AND THE MUSCLES The movements of the limbs are governed by the brain. The left side of the brain looks after the right side of the body, and vice versa. That is why we can’ tell that when the left side oi' the body is paralysed the damage was done to the right side of the brain. The power of speech is a muscular speech. The breath is pumped out by the breathing muscles. The vocal chords are really little muscles which can be relaxed or pulled taut to produce the different sounds of whisperipg, speaking, or singing, and of course the tongue and lips are composed entirely of muscles covered by skin. All those muscles concerned in speech are under the control of a special part of the brain, and this centre of control is found on the loft side of the brain. For this reason it is more serious to have a fib of paralysis affecting the right side of the body, for in that ease the patient may be deprived of the power of speech.

CARE OF THE HAIR It is well to brush tile hair thoroughly night and morning, and to keep it clean without washing to too often. Always use perfectly clean brashes and combs. Hair should not be washed oftener than once a fortnight, and once in three weeks is usually enough. Stroking the hair with an old silk handkerchief after brushing it helps to give it a glossy anpearancc. Massage is also extremely good for the hair, and a few minutes should he spared every night massaging the head with the tips of the fingers and

moving the scalp under the fingers. Lot the hair be uncovered as much as it can, as sun and air do it a tremendous amount of good. When the hair becomes dull and lifeless give it a hot oil treatment before shampooing it. Brush and comb the hair well, then moisten some clean cotton-wool in hot olive oil and rub it thoroughly into the head, dividing the hair into strands until all is moistened with the olive oil. Wrap the head up in warm towels and leave it for about half an hour, then shampoo in the ordinary way.