TALKS ON HEALTH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 26 November 1936, Page 10

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR V REMOVAL OF TONSILS If your child is to have an operation •for the removal of his tonsils the operation should be arranged to take place early in the . morning—say about nine o’clock. The. little patient has to be starved before taking the chloroform, and it. is not a very, great:.hardship.v to-go without breakfast ; but it is very trying to be kept on low rations until the afternoon. An aperient should be given on the morning of the day before the operation. If you give the, aperient the night before it may disturb the child just when he is expected to be prepared for the operation. I may add that the doctor orders the abstaining from food for a very good reason: it is inadviscable to give any patient an anaesthetic when his stomach is full. Therefore, be sure and carry out the instructions to give only a cup of milk or a little soup two of three hours before the operation.

AFTER-EFFECTS

I After the tonsils have been removed the child is immediately put back to bed ; his head is kept low; a square of mackintosh, covered by a towel, is put under his head. One word of comfort I and warning may be given . to the anxious mother. It is not a bad sign it-the child vomits up blood. I know it looks terrifying, but, as a matter of fact, it is only the bleed that has been swallowed I from the back of the throat; it does not mean that there is any- internal bleeding. The face and forehead may be bathed with cold water., No milk or any food should be given until all - vomiting has stopped. The child’s throat will be sore for three days, but ! it soon gets better. BREATHING THROUGH THE.NOSE

Do not forget that the removal of the tonsils and the adenoids which were blocking up the nose and throat 13 only one-half of the treatment. 1 Now comes the second arid more- important half. The child must .be taught; by patience and perseverance-, tp breathe through his nose. Wait for one week after the operation, and then begin the breathing

exercises. At first your little patient will object to the new’iriethod'of taking in the air; ’he has been, used, to breathr ring-' through his ’ mouth, - arid' lie finds that the easiest way of-doing it. He I will not exchange the. old, had method for the new. unless■ theymqther; and the nurse constantly watch and-encourage I him. The hardest work is to get-him I to. breathe- properly at, night. , If the blips are-found open they must he-gently | ! closed, land-this may have to be repeated ' ’ rtiany • times.’ I cari promise you. that success will be yours in the end; 'only I

'stick to it. ’ ’ ' ’ ‘ ‘ BLOOD PRESSURE It In youth a blood-vessel never hursts; t in old age the blood pressure increases land the blood vessel weakens until one -day it bursts. A large buret--causes instantaneous death; a small bur.st.eaiises giddiness" which may soon pass off. . The bull-necked, purple-faced alderman who never missos a dish all through the long- dinner and has an enormous waistcoat and lumps of- unnecessary, fat all over his body—he is the man to die early, of apoplexy! Most of us eat too. much.’ If- you wish to enjoy a.' hearty old. age, and laugh through life ■at eighty, take care of; your arteries. *(' “A STROKE” Apoplexy means a sudden seizure caused by the bursting of a blood vessel in the brain. As we grow older cur blood vessels lose their elasticity and suppleness—they begin to got stiff and chalky, until, instead 01 being like indiarubber, they are more like pipestems. When they are in this condition they are not so well suited to bear the pressure of blood inside the vessels. Tf any of you have seen an artery spurt out you will know under wliat high pressure 1 the blood works. The,brain is-so soft that it affords no support to the blood vessels running through it, and so ( it is in the brain that we-most often find l the vessels bursting/- 1 'Old ago' ie ;

the commonest cause of apoplexy, but the decay of the • walls of the arteries is hastened by drink, above .. all .things, and the process is helped by gout and a hard life. There are old men of forty .and young men of sixty. Obviously an avoidance of worry and loss of temper, is all to the good.

SHORT HA iR FOR ‘ SCFOOLBO i'S

Bovs at school should always have their hair kept short. They should be taught that it is wrong to wear another boy’s cap. The pegs in the cloak-room should be-wide apart, and-, if> possible, side by side, not one above the other, as scuff infected with ring-worm is liable to fall from one cap to; the .one below it. TfAthe hair is kept..short" a small patch of ringworm,is soon made obvious and can be cured; it may spread, if the hair is.thick and long, so that' the scalp cannot be properly seen. Money spent at the barber’s is well spentin many cases ringworm cannot be cured for months. The modern treatment is by means of the X-rays. V’i

RAILWAY TICKETS AS CHRISTMAS GIFTS " ~

(United Press Association— By Electric Telegraph—Copyright)

LONDON, 25th November.