TALKS ON HEALTH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 264, 6 November 1937, Page 3

TALKS ON HEALTH

NATURE S SKILFUL PACKING V. (By a Family Doctor.) If anyone has ever tried to pack a suitcase and failed until his wife came to help him he will be in a position to appreciate the skill of Nature in finding a place for all the organs of the abdomen in such a confined space. Liver, stomach, two kidneys, yards and yards of intestines, pancreas, and a number of other organs you have never heard of, are all nicely and neatly packed away. What is more, they do not fall out of place during a football match. And they remain in the same position whether you are walking along in the upright attitude for hours of lying on your back. Organs That Break Loose However as every conceivable accident can occur, and as doctors would themselves invent new complaints if they could think of any more, you may believe that the packing of the organs does sometimes appear at fault. Organs that break loose from their proper attachments arc termed “floating”; thus one reads of floating kidney or floating spleen. This does not mean that the organ in question is rattling about inside like dice in a dice-box. Every organ is bound down tightly in its place t>y a membranous sheet or bag. For instance, the liver is hung up by two or three foldings of this sheet because it is so heavy. The sheet is known as tne peritoneum, and inflammation of it is called peritonitis. In some patients we find this sheet becomes slack;'it is stretched, and as time goes on it gives way more and more. This stretching allows the organ to move about, and it can be felt as a lump in an unusual place. The kidney may be felt low down towards the groin. This condition may be gradually developed, or a baby may be born with it. Movable organs occur far oftener in the female sex, and especially in those who have born many children.

Kidneys on the Brain In the treatment of these conditions , three stages may be described. For slight degree of moveable kidney nothing need be done. It is not an infrequent occurrence for a doctor to discover that a patient has a movable kidney, and he discreetly keeps the knowledge from her. Many a woman will go cheerfully home if she is tolu that there is nothing to worry about, and that she is io come again if she has any pain later on. But tell a woman that she has a movable kidney, and it will ruin her life. “Oh, dear! the doctor says I have a kidney out of place; 1 shall die a horrible death to-morrow, I know I shall; 1 must die to-morrow; I mean to die tomorrow, even if the doctor says I shall live to be seventy.” I have seen many women with movable kidneys, and I feel equal to the task of creating them, but where I fail is when the kidney moves on to the brain. The nervousness associated with movable kidney is quite remarkable. In London there is a very long street where doctors do specially congregate, and a woman was known to start at No. 1, go all down one side of the street, and then up the other until she had asked every doctor on both sides about this wretched kidney. A Case for a Belt As I said above, slight degrees of mobility need no treatment. The next degree, rather more advanced, is when the patient has more or less acute pain which becomes a serious source of annoyance to her. She should then try a belt. There are belts and belts, and no patient should be satisfied until a doctor has passed the belt as well-fitting. A badly made belt will make matters worse instead of better. A pair of boots will protect the feet from the stones of the highway, but an ill-litting pair will cause corns, blisters, in-growing toenails, and bunions, and the feet would have been better off naked. It is better in the long run to make up your mind to buy a thoroughly good belt and pay for it; cheap belts and cheep false teeth arc a curse instead of a blessing. A Case for Operation You may find that the belt is entirely satisfactory; the pain may go, the dragging sensation disappear, and a general sense of well-being may be restored. well, we know where we are, and can be content with doing nothing more. If the symptoms persist or get worse, and the patient is unrelieved, a third measure must be considered—operation. The kidney may be replaced and stitched in position. An operation will replace the kidney, but the surgeon will not provide the patient with a new mind and a new disposition. A nervous and fidgety temperament cannot, alas! be stitched back in position. When it has slipped it has slipped until a mental effort restores it. When an operation has been decided on, have it at once and get it over; shivering on the brink is a most depressing business, and the longer you shiver the more miserable you get. First make up your mind, : and then plunge in. Keep Your Spirits Up 1 The mind has its effects on the body [ and a gloomy disposition impairs the health. We ought to do everything we can to keep our spirits up and to cheer those who are less fortunate than ourselves. In hospital it is an understood thing that everyone is to be merry and bright. I am sure that the number of deaths would be doubled if all the doctors and nurses turned up to their work in the morning with faces as long as fiddles. The best antidote for “the hump” is work. Idleless intensifies depression. To ge< ; through a job of work in the day and then sleep the sleep of the weary and the just through the night, is the way to forget worries. The cheery ones are much to be envied. A chubbyfaced old market woman gets into a tram and beams round on the assembly with a countenance like the

rising sun, and the whole tramload of weary travellers feels happier for her presence. ■ Wc must try fo imitate

Do Obtain Advice

It worries me that you will not consult a doctor when you have a suspicious lump; it worries me that you keep your decayed teeth in your mouth until you get cancer of the tongue; it worries me that ladies do not ask for help early enough when they experience irregularities in middle life. I exhort you, but you do not obey. By post some time ago I had a letter from a man who had a cancerous growth removed ten years ago; it was proved to be cancer by the microscope examination, and he wrote to me because he wished to insure his life. So that is a little bit of goods news for you.