TALKS ON HEALTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 82, 7 April 1934, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

(By A FAMILY DOCTOR).

MENTAL DISEASE.

The physical side of mental disease must not be overlooked. ’The brain requires nourishing blood to keep it in

good working order. If the brain is exhausted and cannot be revived by rich blood, all sorts of fancies arise in the brain. If, at the very onset of the disease, the patient can be taken care of, fed up, protected from worry, iu an institution where all the thinking is done for him and he has no bother about money or anything else, it is almost certain that a cure can be brought about. No course should be neglected which might obtain the patient food and rest. Above all. ask a doctor’s advice either at Lis house or at a hospital, because he will very quickly understand the meaning of the fanciful ideas or delusions that the patient describes. Worry is the dominant cause of insanity and, naturally, our first desire is to protect the patieut from worry. No one can escape worry altogether, but, broadly speaking, the steadier the life, the greater care and economy exercised, the more particular a man is about his health, the less likely is he to fall a victim to worry.

The Usual Delusions.

It is important that you should recognise the very earliest onset of insanity. A few of the usual ideas or delusions may be mentioned as danger signals. First of all there are delusions of persecution. The man complains that everyone is against him; people in the street arc talking against him as they walk along; the preacher especially singles him out to preach at him; paragraphs in tho paper are directed ajainst his character; and in a hundred other ways the man shows he is the victim of delusions of persecution. Such a man, goaded beyond endurance by the treatment he fancies he is receiving, commits some crime which horrifies society. He should have been under care. Then there are delusions about food; complaints are made that someone is secretly poisoning him. This mysterious poisoner follows him about and poisons his food at home and in the public eating-houses. Such a delusion is a danger signal, if left alone the man will fix on some innocent person and do him or her some terrible harm. Then there arc a very large number of cases in which the chief symptom is the hearing of voices. This is most dangerous, because they may tell the patient to commitc sonic crime, and he dare not refuse. In answer to an inquiry about the commission of a crime, such a man will often answer, “The voices told me to do it.” Another type is the religious form of insanity, when nothing will induce tho patient to believe otherwise than that there is no hope of salvation for her; morbid beliefs of unpardonable sin fill her mind, and tho whole day is spent in lamentations.

Delay is Fatal.

For the sake of the patient, for your own sake and for the prevention of crime, ask for medical advice early in the case. Delay is fatal. The responsibility does not lie wit/h the patient, who is not in a position to judge soundly; the responsibility rests with the relatives and friends. Thagedies 1 have heard described in courts of justice might have been prevented; crime might be diminished and the world made sweeter if only the friends would understand the imperative necessity of placing early cases of mental ‘ disease under control. Improvement will follow. If I can persuade- you to fear the tragedy more than the act of placing the patient under care I shall have done a great deal to prevent crime, and these paragraphs will not have been written in vain. To Help the Doctor.

I want to tell you about a few little drops of oil that make things work smoothly for doctor and patient. If you want a doctor to call, be sure and send for him early in the morning. I quite understand that an urgent case must be attended to at any time of the night or day. But the less urgent cases, of which there are a great number, do not need the doctor’s immediate attendance. It is rather disheartening when a doctor goes a long round to see a dozen patients, and tlnen finds I I when he gets home that there is a mes- I \ for bim. to seo someone wbose door \ Ihe passed on his rounds. It means / that he had to do the whole journey i \ over again for the one patient, and \ j that is a groat hardship to a busy man. J Then I should like to impress on you 1 (that you should give the doctor some ( ’ / cannot make a diagnosis yourself, of | course, but you can at least tell the I I doctor that it is a ease of a deep cut, ’ j or a broken leg. or a fit, or a feverish I attack, or a toothache. The doctor can | bring something with him if he knows, but he may have to go borne again to fetch what he wants if he is not prepared for the particular kind of case he is summoned to. History of the Case. When you call on a doctor for the first time, try and give him all the information he can want to help him to I the complete understanding of the case. Let him know if there is anything of importance in the family, such as consumption, or fits, or lunacy, or any facts which might have any bearing on your own case. Then tell him what bad illnesses you have had in your life. You may think that your present trouble has nothing to do with your former illnesses, but the doctor may think otherwise. L have not infrequently talked for *ome time with a patient before 1 could got out of him some important piece of information which materially helped me to understand the case. Boots That Cause Deformity. Ingrowing toe-nail is a condition which is always tinkered with instead of being treated thoroughly from the outset. You clip bits off and dig bits out, and you cut V-shaped pieces out of the nail, and your last state is worst than the first. To prevent in-growing toe-nail, your boots should bo straight along the inner border; tho boots which help the surgeon to earn his living by causing deformity of the toes and nails

are those which turn to a point and forcibly distort the big too inwards in the direction of the little toe; in some feet the bug toe is found on top of the second toe instead of lying by its side. Look at tho perfect toes of a baby’s foot, and thou feel ashamed of your own. Badly shaped, pointed boots are bad for you, but do me a lot of good; 1 make quite a nice little sum every year out of the deformities of tho feet. A San all Operation, The term “ingrowing toenail” Is a wrong name; it is not the nail that grows in, but the flesh which grows up around the nail. You try various expedients on your own behalf, but I prophesy that you will not cure tho nail until you wear proper boots. When the skin has ulcerated and a nasty discharging wound exists around the nail, then it is time to send for me. Do not delay any longer, or you may get a poisoned foot. A small operation will generally be necessary; the redundant piece of flesh and part of the nail must be removed. Tho wound made will soon heal if it is kept clean, and then you can start afresh. If you wear the same boots you will get the same bad toe again, and you will get no 1 .sympathy from me.