MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13325, 3 November 1906, Page 6 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

HARDENED WAX IN THE EAR. ' The accumulation of hardened wax in the ears is a frequent cause of deafness. In such cases the cause is easily removed, when the deaftness will be cured. Put into the ear each night a few drops of glycerine, then in the* morning use with.a hard rubber ear syringe the following: One heaping teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, dissolved in a pint of warm water. This solution will cut and dissolve the wax, also washing it out. The solution should be thrown .in with considerable force in order to force the hardened wax out. This should be done eyery morning for probably a week. If the wax is the cause of the deafness you .'will be-well, or at least much improved in -that time..' ~' '""..' '',;*^.L.;ll'r^".\.'".'' i ; .. ; ' ; 1' OVERWORKED BRAINS. We hear a great deal nowadays of the "rest cure" for overworked brains, but according to a medical man, in many cases the symptoms supposed to denote mental exhaustion do not arise from a tired brain so much as from a body enfeebled by want of exercise. When the.brain, is actively exerted there is considerable waste of nervous substances which should be thrown off from the body. This work would be performed by the bodily organs if they were in a healthy state, but a sedentary life results in the muscles becoming flabby, the digestion feeble, and the circulation sluggish, the result being that the waste products are retained, for sheer want of power to expel them. The remedy, then, is gentle physical exercise, gradually becoming more vigorous. By such means the brain will be invigorated and rendered able to perform it* work with ease: DIABETES. J Diabetes mellitus, or sugar diabetes is a disease characterised bv abnormal thirst emaciation, and the voiding of excessive quantities of urine which contains sugar The causes of the disease are rather obscure. There may be, in some cases, disease of the pancreas, or some trouble with certain parts of the brain ; but for the want of a better name the disease is said to be one of disordered " metabolism," whatever that may mean. The disease occurs in both children and adults, and in the former is in many instances hereditary. The most prominent symptoms are: Disordered digestion, general loss of vitality and those mentioned as characterising diabetes mellitus: There are often" other disturbances of the system, especially in the later stages of the disease. There" may be cramping of the muscles of the calf 'disorders of vision, irritability of the nerves sleeplessness, gangrene of the fingers or toes, and coma. There is a condition called "diabetes insipidus," in which large amounts of urine are voided, but the sugar is absent. These cases are due to disturbances of the nervous system, and usually recover. _ In children the course ot true diabetes is often rapid, and almost always fatal In adults it is of longer duration, and acute cases sometimes apparently entirely recover. Recovery, however, is not the rule in adults; but the patient, with proper care, may live for many years. The treatment consists in hygienic livinoand the exclusion from the'diet of all sugars and starches. If the sugar disa'npears from the urine, or the patient does not retain much strength, a careful observation may. bring the physician to allow" some of the less harmful of this class of foods. On the whole, the treatment is ( far from satisfactory.