MEDICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15900, 24 April 1915, Page 6 (Supplement)

MEDICAL NOTES.

CATARRHAL DEAFNESS. In cases where deafness is in any way connected with catarrh, tho treatment' must be directed to the eustachian tube, the nostrils, and throat. But it is impossible to form a decided opinion without a careful examination. Should there be giddiness as well as deafness, there may be a tendency to "Meniere's disease." A specialist should be consulted at once. FAINTING FITS. Fainting proceeds from different causes, the commonest being a disturbance in the circulation of the blood in. the brain. For an ordinary fainting lit lay the patient flat. Great harm has often resulted from the treatment of ignorant people in trying to mako the patient sit up, or propping up the head with pillows. To send the blood back from the heart to the brain, the flat posture is absolutely necessary. Let the patient lie so that the feet are higher than the head, throw the clothes about tho chest and throat open, sponge the face with cold water, and give some cold water to drink. TREATMENT OF DIARRHEA. Never treat diarrhoea with a dose of diarrhoea mixture. When nature is trying as hard as she can to rid the body of some poisonous matter, do not interfere with her; she knows her own job bet*. Instead of taking a mixture, take a dose of castor oil. Only when the illness has lasted a day or two must you take a dose of the mixture;- is the last thing to do, not the first. And be sure and starve yourself while the attack is on; it is no good putting food into an inflamed intestine. You might as well put a heavy saddle on a galled back. Rest is the treatment. Water may bo taken freely, and perhaps a little arrowroot, but nothing in the way of ordinary food.

CORRECTING OBESITY. Dieting and exercise, with special mineral waters thrown in, are the principal agents employed in the cure. To a great extent similar treatment in the home is possible to any sufferers from this pretalent troubleover-stoutness. To these tho following hints aro given. Take a daily brisk walk— necessary begin with short distances, and gradually increase to about five miles per diem. Abstain from all rich, greasy dishes; give up pastry, potatoes, new bread, and much butter. Half an hour after each meal drink a tumblerful of hot water with the juice of half a lemon in. it. Boforo breakfast take a glass"of hot water with a quarter• of a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda added.

SCIATICA-AND ITS RELIEF. This very painful "affection is a form of neuralgia. The pain is generally situated in tho hip and the back of tho thigh. Sometimes it extends to tho knee, and even foot. Over-exertion is often the cause, also cold anil wet. All persons with a tendency to rheumatism or gout should avoid sitting on clamp 6eats, or gettinc the feet wet, or sciatica will probably be the result. Two grains of iodide of potassium with ten grains of bicarbonate of soda ie a good mixture l to take. The affected parts may be rubbed with aconite as a liniment, provided there is no broken skin. If tho treatment recommended does not substantially relieve the pain very roon medical aid should be sought. ' In very obstinate and severe cases surgical help may be necessary.

DYSPEPSIA. i Dyspeptics should visit a dentist—bad teeth are responsible for many internal troubles. Also wrong feeding is largely answerable for this very common complaint. The symptoms aro a sense of fullness and general discomfort, with flatulence and acidity. Sometimes there is pain and sickness owing to the undigested food. Meals should be regular, and not too frequent. Care should bo taken in having only what is light and nourishing. Food should be eaten slowly, and in cheerful company. A good laugh is a fine dinner pill. All food should be well masticated. We read that the late Mr. Gladstone so well employed his teeth that he never swallowed a mouthful which had not been masticated forty times. Careful eating, combined with fresh air and exercise, is a champion preventive of dyspepsia. The drinking of hot water also help?.

DEPRESSION. Few ]>oople do not suffer from periods of alternate exaltation and depression, which in both cases may, perhaps, be duo to the .state of the weather, but which frequently are not explainable at all on a barometric basis, and are actually tho result of a condition of health. In tho case of " livery" people, -this is a frequent condition, which a dose of calomel or good liver pills may relieve. But there are other people who find themselves becoming low-spirited and depressed for no apparent reason. In such cases the illness of the person—for it is often an illness—is due to some obscure cause. \vhich can bo removed by a careful consideration of the surroundings of the patient. For example, it is now pretty well established that bad drains have a very detrimental effect on the health, but in any case causing a sort of poison, which acts incidentally on the liver. In such cases, while tho drains are being cleaned up a few days' holiday and a reduction in the quantity of food taken will probably effect a cure, or a glass of water on rising, or a couplo of hours,' exercise daily, will greatly improve matters. Some people are greatly affected by tho wallpaper in a room without any knowledge of the fact, except that tho paper has an irritating effect. The writer has this peculiar pathogenic condition, which is shared by Sir T. Lauder Brimton. a famous London physician, who admits* that he once laughed at the idea of people being so affected. But ho I now thoroughly believes in it on his own experience. He states that " a very short time indeed after a new wallpaper was hung I began to 6uffer from dysenteric symptoms, with intense langour and weakness. I at once submitted a piece of the paper to a professional analyst, and ho sent back the report: ' Tho paper is loaded with arsenic' Whenever," says Dr. Brunton, "the symptoms of weakness, weariness, and depression disappear on leaving home, and aro again felt very shortly after returning, the sufferer should at once have tho drains and wallpaper examined."

ASTHMA. Asthma is a disease which is due to a variety of causes, and these are not always easy to diagnose. But it is stated by a prominent London physician (Dr. Latham, physician to the St. George's Hospital) that the form most frequently mot with depends upon tho interaction of an abnormally sensitive na-al mucous membrane, and in this respect an abnormally excitable condition of a portion of the nervous system. Wo know, of course, in everyday experience that residence in a particular suburb, or even in a particular house, is a predisposing cause of asthma, and that change of residence may often result in cure. In the same way a person prone to asthma may leave one suburb for another, and nt onco develop the trouble. Again, certain people are influenced by the presence of certain animals or birds. * Persons have been known who, with an asthmatics! tendency, can at once detect the presence of a cat in the room, without seeing it, and caoes are quoted of persons whose first attacks of asthma coincided with the purchase of a parrot, which have ceased when the parrot was sold. Dr. Latham is of opinion that, asthma is probably caused in such cases by an impalpable dust, du'e, ■perhaps, to tho shaking by the cat or the' parrot of itself, which acts in the same way as the pollen of certain plants will do upon people with a tendency to hay fever. In cases of asthma, therefore, it may bo well to ascertain whether there are such cases in tho house which may heretofore have been overlooked.