TALKS ON HEALTH

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17408, 10 December 1924, Page 13

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR.

A CONSUMPTION SCARE. j I wish to protest against the idea that j e veryone who looks ill has consump • tion. Aou would be surprised if I told | you how many jieople came to see me j m the course of a year who have been j told that look as though thev have i consumption. It is mosA unkind to say j ! that about anybody, even behind his i \ back. It is sure to get round to him j through some kind friend. A man may 1 be run down from any cause, and to ■ suggest to him that he is to be one j more victim of the white scourge is j enough to make him very miserable j and depress his health still further. j GETTING FAT. Loss of weight is certainiy an import- j ant symptom, but it is utterlv false to j say- that every case of diminishing ; weight is a case of consumption. It j inay be, but it is ten to one against it. ! First with reference to loss of weight in children. Follow the child through 1 its earthly career tor the first few years-. To begin with, the future Prime - Minister, or whatever he is going to be when he grows up, lies in his cradle and divides his time pretty equally between eating and sleeping. Indeed, with some of us this habit becomes so j ingrained that it is carried on into ! ; adult life. The result of this manner 1 of living is that rolls of fat are collected j jail over the body; the bigger the rolls j j the prouder is the young mother. I GETTING THIN. | baby' has grown to be ;j splendid ,-pevi- ' ! men at three years old. Into his life j ] of eating and sleeping has now been in- I I troduced a third factor • rnrnin" .l-.-.jjt 1 I 1 need not dilate on this habit of voung I j human beings. M thev are r in i i; ( 1 (bathroom thev are inside the ! {scuttle, or pulling the iam-pot oC the J I shelf. Ad da-- long, it is one continuous movement ; directb- after a huge ! i meal, thev no sooner escape from their | . than they arc going through some j , gvmr.astjc exercise over the ba< k of it. , Now. you can t do that sort of tiling j j without losing fat. Try it yourself if j | you are grown up. Directly after Sun- ; i day dinner, instead of going to sleep in j j the arm-chair, try rushing twenty times j i round the garden, enjoy a romp ‘for an j j hour or two, and then stand on your I j head or rush round the garden again 1 j until tea time. Yon would lose weight j i after six months of it. -ah, he:" j At this age. the poor mother ex- | i claims. “ Where arc those rolls of fat ! now.' Ah, me, my little son is dying; j Ihe is wasting. I was told the other day he must have consumption; I won- j der which is the cheapest undertaker; j i let’s all have a jolly good cry." Enter I j the wise physician on the scene. lie j j points out that a child who eats well, ! ; sleeps we'l. has no cough, and looks I well, cannot have consumption, and the ; | explanation of the loss of fat and the j j muscular appearance of the body b i { easily explained by the rushing about. j | And so all is peace again, and the dis- j j xnal voice of evil prophecy is silenced, j j i A COMMON CAUSE OF WASTING. : We may* inquire what causes wasting lin o’der people. It is no use jumping lat conclusion,:. It may be something j serious and it may not. One of the ! commonest causes of wasting is some defect in the digestive apparatus. Before our food can really* be used to maintain our body weight, several things must happen. First of ail the

[ food must be bought in exchange for I cash. If there is insufficient cash there is insufficient food, and wasting results. | But after tile food has been bought, it I must be properly cooked. Badiyt cooked food is not nourishing. Having been cooked, it must be put in the mouth and chewed. Food that is not chewed cannot be used to keep up the standard of health. THOSE BAD TEETH. Among the most common causes for wasting and turning the scale at a low weight in comparison with the height, ! j a mouth full of rotten teeth. Over and over again have - 1 seen men and > \\onion, put ou weight when they have had their mouths cleansed of their foulness. One despairs of a man whose intelligence is of such a, low order -that lv: is incapable of understanding that* teeth that smell with a tilthy reek are Bad for his health. The unpleasant effluvium trom a- man's breath is often detected across the width of a tramcar -> be ought to be looked up. Thousands of patients complain of wasting and attribute it to “weakness,'’ when the truth is. it is due to the sucking, of foul teeth bathed in a poisonous discharge A . the mouth G, so is the stomach. When von detect the horrible odour of a foul mouth. you have a small idea of ; the horrible condition of the stomach. A ,-lean mouth means putting on two stone of healthy, wholesome flesh. A D 1 >l. URI3ED DIGE>TION. When the- food has been chewed it must be swallowed arfcL digested, and v. hen it has been digested, if must ho absorbed and made into good blood. I'iiim" too fast is a common cause M v.a-tiog: constipation opsMs the whole functions oi the bowels being properly ! performed. Eating too much may so |(!-.ourh the digestive apparatus that | jvi|k. wo v. i? 1 not- necessarily bcj lievo that cvri\ person under weight j i~ dying: the wasting ma\ be only a -; 11 that some plain and obvious vo--1 1,; ,Jv 1 11 :1 * ■ 1" -■-* T*|>l: i-* 1. WASTING MSEASLS. j Of the more serious causes of wasting ! may.- be mentioned the following. You • are not to believe you have every 1 disease mentioned in this column. I ! only mention these complaints on the j strict understanding that you agree : not. to jump to conclusions. Consumption.---The germs of consumption can he found in the sputum ! that is coughed up; if the sounds in : the chest art- doubtful, the doctor will j send some of the sputum to he examined. I Diabetes. -This complaint is accomi panied by thirst and the passing of ai large quantity of water in which sugar jis found. When you go to consult a ■ doctor, it) is a good plan to take a i sample of water in a perfectly clean I l.oft.le ; if he docs not wish to examine : i there is no harm done, j tfincer.- Remember the golden rule that caneev i* curable in the early j stages, and is hopeless, it you give it a chance. You must consult a doctor | without delay in cases of tumour of the breast, female irrcgularieis in elderly folk, ulcers of the tongue and other chronic ulcers. Mental Worry, This is a fruitful source of loss of weight:. If depends on what the worry is. Sit tight, put a he.ld face ou if, and trust that the short lime. But do not say you think aon have consumption.