HOARSENESS.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 23 August 1911, Page 3

HOARSENESS.

Hoarseness is either a temporary occurrence or a chronic affliction. Temporary hoarsness is usually caused by a cold and hardly lasts mere than a few days. There is no danger associated with it, although occasionally false croup sets in. Chronic hoarseness is an obstinate often serious affliction. Frequently it remains after an acute inflammation of the larynx, or develops in persons, such as teachers, singers actors, preachers, etc., who abuse their vocal organs. The hoarseness we occasionally meet in hysterical persons is not dangerous although very obstinate. Those cases of chronic hoarseness which are caused by tuberculosis are very grave.

People indulging in the use of alcohol very frequently become hoarse, as a result of a chronic inflammation of the larynx tnd vocal cords. The treatment of hoarseness depends upon the nature of the case. In acute cases, which, as a rule are the result of a cold, it suffices to put the patient to bed and make him perspire, and to treat the acute inflammation of the throat. If the fever which often accompanies an acute cold is very high, it is to be treated with cold ablutions, packings or baths.

The diet, of course, should be a very meagre one. Besides this general treatment it is essential for the patient to give the real organs absolute rest, i.e., to abstain from talking, singing, etc., until every sign of hoarseness or inflammation of the throat has disappeared. In acute cases the patient, therefore, should abstain from gargling, which causes a congestion to the throat, wherefore gargling is advisable in chronic cases.

It is of the greatest importance for a person suffering from chronic hoarseness to harden his skin by a methodical water cure, and thus protect himself against taking cold easily.