Part 49 (1/2)

_HOME TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA._

DEFINITION.--Acute, specific, const.i.tutional disease, with local manifestations in the throat, mouth, nose, larynx, wind-pipe, and glands of the neck. The disease is infectious but not very contagious under the proper precautions. It is a disease of childhood, though adults sometimes contract it. Many of the best physicians of the day consider true or membranous croup to be due to this diphtheritic membranous disease thus located in the larynx or trachea.

SYMPTOMS.--Symptoms vary according to the severity of the attack.

Chills, fever, headache, languor, loss of appet.i.te, stiffness of neck, with tenderness about the angles of the jaw, soreness of the throat, pain in the ear, aching of the limbs, loss of strength, coated tongue, swelling of the neck, and offensive breath; lymphatic glands on side of neck enlarged and tender. The throat is first to be seen red and swollen, then covered with grayish white patches, which spread, and a false membrane is found on the mucous membrane. If the nose is attacked, there will be an offensive discharge, and the child will breathe through the mouth. If the larynx or throat are involved, the voice will become hoa.r.s.e, and a croupy cough, with difficult breathing, shows that the air pa.s.sage to the lungs is being obstructed by the false membrane.

HOME TREATMENT.--Isolate the patient, to prevent the spread of the disease. Diet should be of the most nutritious character, as milk, eggs, broths, and oysters. Give at intervals of every two or three hours. If patient refuses to swallow, from the pain caused by the effort, a nutrition injection must be resorted to. Inhalations of steam and hot water, and allowing the patient to suck pellets of ice, will give relief. Sponges dipped in hot water, and applied to the angles of the jaw, are beneficial. Inhalations of lime, made by slaking freshly burnt lime in a vessel, and directing the vapor to the child's mouth, by means of a newspaper, or similar contrivance. Flour of sulphur, blown into the back of the mouth and throat by means of a goose quill, has been highly recommended. Frequent gargling of the throat and mouth, with a solution of lactic acid, strong enough to taste sour, will help to keep the parts clean, and correct the foul breath. If there is great prostration, with the nasal pa.s.sage affected, or hoa.r.s.eness and difficult breathing, a physician should be called at once.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

DISEASES OF WOMEN.

_DISORDERS OF THE MENSES._

1. SUPPRESSION OF, OR SCANTY MENSES.

HOME TREATMENT.--Attention to the diet, and exercise in the open air to promote the general health. Some bitter tonic, taken with fifteen grains of dialyzed iron, well diluted, after meals, if patient is pale and debilitated. A hot foot bath is often all that is necessary.

2. PROFUSE MENSTRUATION.

HOME TREATMENT.--Avoid highly seasoned food, and the use of spirituous liquors; also excessive fatigue, either physical or mental. To check the flow, patient should be kept quiet, and allowed to sip cinnamon tea during the period.

3. PAINFUL MENSTRUATION.

HOME TREATMENT.--Often brought on by colds. Treat by warm hip baths, hot drinks (avoiding spirituous liquors), and heat applied to the back and extremities. A teaspoonful of the fluid extract of viburnum will sometimes act like a charm.

_HOW TO CURE SWELLED AND SORE b.r.e.a.s.t.s._

Take and boil a quant.i.ty of chamomile, and apply the hot fomentations.

This dissolves the knot, and reduces the swelling and soreness.

_LEUCORRHEA OR WHITES._

HOME TREATMENT.--This disorder, if not arising from some abnormal condition of the pelvic organs, can easily be cured by patient taking the proper amount of exercise and good nutritious food, avoiding tea and coffee. An injection every evening of one teaspoonful of Pond's Extract in a cup of hot water, after first cleansing the v.a.g.i.n.a well with a quart of warm water, is a simple but effective remedy.

_INFLAMMATION OF THE WOMB._

HOME TREATMENT.--When in the acute form this disease is ushered in by a chill, followed by fever, and pain in the region of the womb.

Patient should be placed in bed, and a brisk purgative given, hot poultices applied to the abdomen, and the feet and hands kept warm. If the symptoms do not subside, a physician should be consulted.

_HYSTERIA._