THE MODERN DISEASE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8832, 19 January 1907, Page 3

THE MODERN DISEASE.

How to Cure a Nervous Breakdown, In neurasthenia, the nervous breakdown so common in these days.- feeding is the most important part ot the treatment. • Scarcely anyone is proof against this malady. The East End seamstress, *iving on bread and butter and tea, falls a victim through underfeeding ; the West End lady of leisure through choking the body-machine with too much food. Stockbrokers suffer beoause of the continuous emotional unrest. Sohool teachers are especially liable to it. Women disappointed in love lose flesh, grow colourless, and suffer from all the nervous symptoms characteristic of this disease. But even the physically robust do not escape. Dr Clifford AUbutt has found neurasthenia much in evidence among the colliers of Yorkshire. THE VALUE OF MILK. The symptoms are very numerous, but fortunately no one suffers from them all. There is the weary brain, the head feeling leaden or wooden or empty or painfully full. Memory becomes confused. A host of pains and aches are felt all over the body. There are sudden flushings and pallors. Fatigue and irritability are constant. The appetite fails. Generally the sufferer becomes very thin, after some time. Vision grows dim. Reading or writing soon, tires the eyes. Dull headaches prove very troublesome. Noises are heard in the ears. Nothing tastes right. Sleep is troubled, and one awakes not refreshed, but tired. The most serious consequence to most people is that sustained work becomes impassible. And in men of great conscientiousness this frequently leads to suicide. The cure is extremely simple. In the more severe cases, which may be accompanied by more or less hysteria, it is desirable to separate the patient from friends. In the less severe cases it is only necessary to go to bed at home, to keep the room rather dark, to avoid conversation, reading, and all mental effort, and to use the food prescribed by Dr Weir MitchelL or Dr Playfadr. For the first few days milk alon_vis allowed. This, says Dr Weir Mitchell, ' • dismisses, as by magic, all the dyspeptic conditions." After a few days a light breakfast is permitted, and gradu- . ally the food is increased until three t very large meals, together with abun-

dance of milk, are taken. After ton days of this wonder-working treatment the most delicate woman, who6e appetite had almost disappeared, will oe ieeding like a navvy. In the coirse oi five or six weeks they will have increased three Gtone or more in weight. And, as a rule, the cure of thb neurasthenia is complete and permanent. As an example of the diet ordered by Dr Playfair for a patient aged thirtytwo years the following is interesting: — First day : One and one-tenth pint of milk, in portions of three or four eurices each. Second day: Two and a halt pints of milk. Third day : Two and a half pints of milk. Fourth -day : lwo and a half pints of milk, one egg, some bread and butter. Sixth day : Two and •a half pints of milk, mutton chop, bread. Eighth day : Two and a half pints milk, porridge and a gill of cream, mutton chop and breads 'Tenth day: 6 a.m., half-pint raw meat soup; 7 a.m., cup of black coffee; 8 a.m., oatmeal porridge and gill of cream, a boiled egg, three slices bread and butter ; 11 a.m., half-pint cocoa and miik; 2 p.m., rump-steak, potatoes, oauliflower. a savoury omelette, halfpint of milk; 4 p.m., half-pint milk, three slices -of bread and butter ; 6 p.m., a cup of gravy soup; 8 p.m., a fried sole, three large slices of mutton, potatoes, French beans, stewed fruit and cream, half-pint of milk; 11 p.m., half a pint of raw meat soup. All this was consumed with relish ; there were no dyspeptic symptoms, and the gain in weight during six weeks was 431 b. , In addition to the dieting, however, massage, electricity, and one or two drugs were used.