TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20283, 18 April 1934, Page 12

TALKS ON HEALTH.

Clothing for Feverish Patients. BY A FAMILY DOCTOR. Never make the mistake of heaping up clothes on a feverish patient. A man may have as many clothes on the bed when he is feverish as when he is normal; he does not want more clothes, and he generally wants less. The body is heated, and wants’ to get rid of some of its heat. The extra blanket and the two extra woollen vests that he is wearing are very oppressive and .keep him awake. The patient should have wool next to the skin and should be comfortably clothed; he should not be in a draught; his bed should be situated away from the line of fresh air from the window to the fire. It surprises visitors to a hospital to see the feverish patients lightly but warmly clothed. A multitude of coverings is weakening and unhealthy. Old people require more clothes, but even they do not need more than a sheet, one nice warm blanket, and a counterpane, when they are hot and feverish. Sometimes it is necessary to sponge the patient with cool water to reduce the temperature, and in typhoid fever lumps of ice way be slung over the bed with the patient almost naked to try and get the temperature down. But whatever you do, do not overload a poor little child struggling to get its breath in a case of bronchitis with several heavy blankets. Water as an Aperient. Water is a good aperient and a safe one. The* contents of the bowels get hard and dry, and cannot be passed if an insufficient quantity of water is taken. A large glass of water, hot or cold, taken at night and in the morning will act better than a pill. A very large amount of water leaves the body. Besides the action of the kidneys, there is the breath to remember. If you breathe on a glass you will soon see drops of water appear—there is much water in the breath. Then the skin is constantly giving off water. Even if you cannot see the perspiration in drops, it is nevertheless being given off from the skin and evaporating before it has time to collect in drops. The skin of a healthy man is always moist. So that a large quantity of water is needed to keep the body well supplied. Over half the body-weight is water. In a ten-stone man nearly six stone is water. Dry him up as a mummy and he will not weigh half as much. Milk for Invalids. Patients are always complaining that a milk diet is so sickly, and that they get so tired of taking nothing but milk that they hate the sight of the stuff. It is a most important maxim that the food a patient takes should be attractive; it helps both appetite and digestion. Therefore, the milk should be flavoured with all sorts of ingredients to make it more palatable. The first feed should be plain milk, the second flavoured with a little tea, the third with coffee or with cocoa, and after these vanilla or nutmeg may be employed. A clever nurse will disguise the milk and get the patient to take it down without grumbling about the sickly taste. Food should be served to invalids in the neatest, cleanest and most attractive form. The clean cloth, the pattern of the china, and the shape of the cups and jugs are all matters worth considering.