TALKS ON HEALTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 111, 13 May 1933, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

BY A FA LIU.Y DOCTOR.

THE KIDNEYS. The kidneys are paired organs, and lie right at the back of the abdomen. Byhind the kidneys is the spine, and on each side of the spine is a large mass of muscles used in keeping the spine erect and in performing the movements of bending and twisting the spine. It is a common error to call a backache a pain in th c kidneys. The pain is in the muscles of thc back. Even when the kidneys are actually diseased there is often no pain. When you take a. kidney pill for a pain in thc muscles of the back you think you are very clever, but you arc making a great mistake. An Important Duty. Entering one side of the kidneys is a large blood-vessel, an artery, and by its side is a vein which brings the blood back again from thc kidney. The kidney has a most important duty. It has to examine all the blood that passes it, and throw out poisons and allow thc good blood to pass through. The kidney is like a wise magistrate sitting on the bench, who examines the people brought before him, sends the evil ones to prison, and lets the good ones free. Poisoning the System. ’ The bad products that would poison the system if left in the blood are in thc form of crystals dissolved up in the blood. You take a piece of sugar out of the sugar-basin and put it in your tea. It disappears, but it has not gone; it is there in solution. Thc crystal poisons are dissolved in the water. Sometimes these crystals refuse to remain dissolved, and are deposited as hard, sharp crystals inside the kidney. That iS the beginning of a stone in the kidney, and from a small beginning a very large concretion may form, blocking up nearly the whole kidney. A little I piece of stone may travel down into the ■ bladder. There is a reciprocal action between the kidneys and the skin, or, rather, the sweat glands of the skin. In summer, when a large quantity of water is lost through the perspiration of the skin, less water leaves by the kidneys. How to Get Kidney Disease. At the present day the kidneys are much-abused organs. Kidney disease is very common. There are two forms: the acute and the chronic. The best way to catch an acute attack of inflammation of the kidneys is to have a drinking bout in a hot, stuffy room, and then go out in the cold night air and get soaked through by the rain or the pond into which you may happen to fall. Unless you are very lucky you will, under those circumstances, get an acute attack. You will bo very ill; and even when you have recovered your kidneys will have been harmed and made more susceptible to another attack. Every doctor has seen plenty of cases of this kind, and every one began with a chill. So when a doctor sees a young lady going from a hot ballroom into the cold garden to admire the moon, or whatever it is she does admire, the doctor warns her, gets called an old stick-in-the-mud for his pains, and retires hurt. We cannot govern the weather; we cannot help going into the cold; but we can exercise our common sense and take a little care to avoid chills. Studying the Subject. You know how to study medicine, don’t you? We make post-mortem examinations; not always a pleasant job, but it has to be done if we are to learn anything. In every case where the kidneys are found to be diseased wo make a careful inquiry into the sort of life the patient led. Tn that way wo can find out what habits lead to disease of the kidneys. We warn the great British public against these habits, and, of course, they all obey us to a man—sometimes. That is how we banish kidney disease from our tight little island. It is wonderful how the dear public respond to our efforts. Overworked Organs. Well, after all the doctors in all countries of the civilised world have collected their facts about men and women who die of kidney disease, what do we discover? As a broad general rule, they are people w r ho have drunk too much, eaten too much, and led a strenuous life of rush and bustle. Your successful business man who has lived well—too well —and worked at high pressure of physical strain and mental anxiety, is putting a great load of work on the kidneys. I am so glad it was discovered that eating too much was just as commonly a cause of breakdown of the kidneys as drinking too much. It gives me a good text to harp on. You see, the kidneys have to clear out of the blood all that is not wanted, and when an excess of food is taken in, far beyond what is really necessary, the poor old kidneys have thc heavy job of casting it out. Thc unfortunate organs arc worked to death. At the age of 40 thc unfortunate kidneys feel as though they were a hundred. They have been steadily overI worked, and they show it. In the mu--1 scum of my hospital 1 was shown, in order that I might mark and learn and hand on the information to you, a kidney of a youngish man of 38 to 40. anil, side by side, thc kidney of an old man of 70;. and, believe me, they had the same appearance. And why? Ah! Printed by the side of the young man’s kidney was a rough history of his case. The life he had led had given him old man’s kidneys when he ought to have been in the prime of life. To Sum Up. In children, scarlet fever and some of the other children’s complaints may attack thc kidney:-. Never get into the habit, of saying, “It is only mOasles, and that doesn’t matter.” All the children’s diseases should be taken seriously, if for no other reason than because they sometimes lead to an attack of inflammation of the kidneys. To sum up, avoid chills, ent in moderation, and, especially keep clear of an excess of meat; drink in strict, moderation, and remember that if the fives ■ ®f ton thousand total abstainers are :

compared with thc lives of teu thousand average people, the abstainers live longer and arc healthier. That is why insurance companies give better rates to abstainers. Kidney diseases are marked on my list as preventable, and we aro going to prevent them. Rupture Operation and After. After an operation for rupture, plenty of time must be given for the wound to heal and the scar to grow firm. The disappointment that sometimes follows an operation is generally due to hurrying back to work too soon. After three weeks, the patient feels perfectly well in himself; there is no pain in the wound, and it is very irksome to remain idle when there aro good wages to bo earned. It can generally bo arranged to give the man a lighter job that will not strain the scar for tho first few weeks. If there is a sitting down job just to keep him going while tho scar consolidates internally, all well ami good. If a man has a good character and shows himself willing, a special job can bo found for him, I have no doubt. Even foremen are human. But if a heavy strain, such as lifting sides of mutton in the moat market, is going to be tho lot of the patient convalescent from tho operation, ho ought to wait several weeks before risking it.