The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English Part 36

Diaph.o.r.etic medicines are also indicated, and the use of Dr. Pierce's Extract of Smart-weed will prove very serviceable. Drinking freely of pleurisy-root tea, or of a strong decoction of boneset is frequently useful. After free sweating has been established, then it is proper to follow by the use of diuretic teas, such as that of spearmint and pumpkin seed combined, or sweet spirits of nitre, in doses of twenty to thirty drops, added to a teaspoonful of the Extract of Smart-weed, diluted with sweetened water.

To lessen the frequency of the pulse, fluid extract or tincture of aconite or veratrum may be given in water, every hour. During the intermission of symptoms, tonic medicines and a sustaining course of treatment should be employed. If the tongue is loaded and the evacuations from the bowels are fetid, a solution of sulphite of soda is proper; or, take equal parts of brewer's yeast and water, mix, and when the yeast settles, give a tablespoonful of the water every hour, as an antiseptic. Administering a warm, alkaline hand-bath to a fever patient every day, is an excellent febrifuge remedy, being careful not to chill or induce fatigue. If there is pain in the head, apply mustard to the feet; if it is in the side, apply hot fomentations.

The symptoms which indicate danger are a tumid and hard abdomen, difficult breathing, offensive and profuse diarrhea, b.l.o.o.d.y urine, delirium, or insensibility. Favorable symptoms are a natural and soft state of the skin, eruptions on the surface, a natural expression of the countenance, moist tongue, free action of the kidneys, and regular sleep. If the domestic treatment which we have advised does not break the force of the disease and mitigate the urgency of the symptoms, it will be safer to employ a good physician, who will prescribe such a coa.r.s.e of treatment as the case specially requires. It is our aim to indicate what may be done before the physician is called, for frequently his services cannot be obtained when they are most needed. Besides, if these attacks are early and properly treated with domestic remedies, it will often obviate the necessity of calling upon a physician. If, on the other hand, fevers are neglected and no treatment inst.i.tuted, they become more serious in character and are more difficult to cure.

To recapitulate, our treatment recommends evacuation through nature's outlets, the skin, kidneys, and bowels, maintaining warmth, neutralizing acidity, using antiseptics, tonics, and the hand-bath, and the fluid extract or tincture of aconite, or veratrum to moderate the pulse by controlling the accelerated and unequal circulation of the blood. It is a simple treatment, but if judiciously followed, it will often abort a fever, or materially modify its intensity and shorten its course.

FEVER AND AGUE. (INTERMITTENT FEVER.)

The description of fever already given applies well to this form of it, only the symptoms in the former stage are rather more distinct than in the other varieties. Weariness, la.s.situde, yawning, and stretching, a bitter taste in the mouth, nausea, less of appet.i.te, the uneasy state of the stomach and bowels are more marked in the premonitory stages of intermittent fevers. The cold stage commences with a chilliness of the extremities and back, the skin looks pale and shriveled, the blood recedes from the surface, respiration is hurried, the urine is limpid and pale, sometimes there is nausea and vomiting, and towards the conclusion of the stage, the chilly sensations are varied with flushes of heat. The hot stage is distinguished by the heat and dryness of the surface of the body and the redness of the face; there is great thirst, strong, full, and hard pulse, free and hurried respiration and increased pain in the head and back. The sweating stage commences by perspiration appearing upon the forehead, which slowly extends over the whole body, and soon there is an evident intermission of all the symptoms. In the inflammatory variety of intermittent fever, all these symptoms are acute, short, and characterized by strong reaction. Gastric fever, the most frequent variety of intermittent fever, is marked by irritation of the stomach and bowels, and a yellow appearance of the white of the eye.

CAUSES. The cause of the malarial fevers, intermittent, remittent, and congestive, is supposed to be _miasm_, a poisonous, gaseous exhalation from decaying vegetation, which is generally most abundant in swamps and marshes, and which is absorbed into the system through the lungs.

TREATMENT. During the entire paroxysm the patient should be kept in bed, and in the cold stage, covered with blankets and surrounded with bottles of hot water. The Compound Extract of Smart-weed should be administered in some diaph.o.r.etic herb-tea. During the hot stage, the extra clothing and the bottles of hot water should be gradually removed and cold drinks taken instead of warm. During the sweating stage the patient should be left alone, but as soon as the perspiration ceases, from two to four of the Purgative Pellets should be administered, as a gentle cathartic. A second paroxysm should, if possible, be prevented. To accomplish this, during the intermission of symptoms, the Golden Medical Discovery should be taken in doses of from two to three teaspoonfuls every four hours in alternation with three-grain doses of the sulphate of quinine. If the attack is very severe, and is not relieved by this treatment, a physician should be summoned to attend the case.

REMITTENT FEVER. (BILIOUS FEVER.)

The distinction between _intermittent_ and _remittent_ fever does not consist in a difference of origin. In the former disease there is a complete intermission of the symptoms, while in the latter there is only a remission.

TREATMENT. The treatment should consist in the employment of those remedial agents advised in intermittent fever, the Golden Medical Discovery and quinine being taken during the remission of symptoms.

During the height of the fever, tincture of aconite maybe given and an alkaline sponge-bath administered with advantage. As in intermittent fever, should the course of treatment here advised not promptly arrest the disease, the family physician should be summoned.

CONGESTIVE FEVER. (PERNICIOUS FEVER.)

This is the most severe and dangerous form of malarial fever. It may be either intermittent or remittent in character. In some instances the first paroxysm is so violent as to destroy life in a few hours, while in others it comes on insidiously, the first one or two paroxysms being comparatively mild. It is frequently characterized by stupor, delirium, a marble-like coldness of the surface, vomiting and purging, jaundice, or hemorrhage from the nose and bowels. In America this fever is only met with in the Mississippi valley, and in other localities where the air contains a large quant.i.ty of malarial poison.

TREATMENT. This fever is so dangerous that a physician should be summoned as soon as the disease is recognized. For the benefit of those who are unable to obtain medical attendance, we will say that the treatment should be much the same as in intermittent fever, but more energetic. Quinine should be taken in doses of from five to fifteen grains every two or three hours. If it be not retained by the stomach, the following mixture may be administered by injection: sulphate of quinine, one-half drachm; sulphuric acid, five drops; water, one ounce; dissolve, and then add two ounces of starch water.

CONTINUED FEVERS.

The symptoms of these fevers do not intermit and remit, but _continue_ without any marked variation for a certain period. They are usually characterized by great prostration of the system, and are called _putrid_ when they manifest septic changes in the fluids, and _malignant_ when they speedily run to a fatal termination. _Typhoid_ and _typhus_ fevers belong to this cla.s.s. We shall not advise treatment for these more grave disorders which should always, for the safety of the patient, be attended by the family physician, except to recommend some simple means which may be employed in the initial stage of the disease, or when a physician's services cannot be promptly secured.

TYPHOID FEVER. (ENTERIC FEVER.)

In typhoid fever there is ulceration of the intestines and mesenteric glands. This diseased condition of the bowels distinguishes this fever from all others, and is readily detected by sensitiveness to pressure, especially over the lower part of the abdomen on the right side. The early disposition to diarrhea is another characteristic symptom of it, and there is also no intermission of symptoms as in intermittent fever.

The disease comes on insidiously, with loss of appet.i.te, headache, chilliness, and languor. It is usually a week or more before the disease becomes fully developed.

CAUSE. Typhoid fever is a specific form of fever developed from the action of a specific germ upon a susceptible system. The poison of typhoid fever is eliminated mainly through the bowels. The germs of typhoid can maintain life for months in water, and thus it happens that ponds, lakes, rivers and streams which receive sewage can spread the germs of typhoid fever. Well water often swarms with these poisonous germs. In some cases it has been found that privies, though twenty or forty feet away from a well, have yet drained into it--through a clay soil covered with gravel--and carried the germs to those drinking the water from the well. Next to water, milk is the most prominent carrier of contagion. Milk is apt to get infected with the germs if cooled in tanks of water which may receive drainage from outhouses and barns.

TREATMENT. Scientific support has been given the treatment by cold tub baths (70 Fahrenheit) and it is advised by many physicians. Experience has proved that sponge baths and tub baths are of the utmost importance, when the temperature of the patient is at or above 102.5 Fahrenheit.

Every three hours the tub bath is given for twenty minutes at 70 Fahrenheit. These may be tepid at first, gradually cooling to 70.

Frictions are applied to patient in the bath, and he is wrapped in blankets when taken out to avoid danger of chill, and then given a warm drink or stimulant. Treatment should be directed by an experienced physician to suit the symptoms. The evacuations from the bowels should be thoroughly disinfected with chloride of lime or carbolic acid, that they may not convey the disease to others. All the sewerage and drain pipes in the house should likewise be disinfected.

SCARLET FEVER. (SCARLATINA.)

This fever takes its name from the scarlet color of the eruption on the surface of the body. Sometimes it is comparatively mild, and is then called _Scarlatina Simplex_; when it is accompanied by a sore throat, it is termed _Scarlatina Anginosa_; and when the disease is of a low, putrid type, it is called _Scarlatina Maligna._ This disease has three distinct stages: (1), the stage of invasion; (2), the stage of eruption; and (3), the stage of desquamation. In the first stage there is pain in the head, increased heat of the skin, redness and soreness of the throat, and sometimes nosebleed, diarrhea, or vomiting. The average duration of this stage is twenty-four hours. The eruptive stage generally begins on the second day, though sometimes it is delayed longer, and the scarlet rash rapidly diffuses itself over the whole body. The redness is vivid and has been compared to the appearance of a boiled lobster. The stage of eruption reaches its maximum of intensity on the third day, and it is important that it does not recede. Redness of the tonsils and throat is one of the early symptoms which precedes any cutaneous eruption. The tongue also is finely spotted with numerous red points which mark its papillae, presenting an appearance which has been compared to that of a strawberry.

The thirst is urgent, there is no appet.i.te, and vomiting and mild delirium are common. This stage continues from four to six days, and sometimes longer. Desquamation (scaling off of the skin) commences at the decline of the eruption, in the form of minute, branny scales. The duration of this stage is indefinite, and may end in five or six or may continue ten or twelve days.

If the inflammation in the throat is very severe, it may terminate in an abscess, which may also occur in the glands of the neck, and sometimes the inflammation extends to the lips, cheeks, and eyelids. Gangrene within the throat occurs in rare instances. The disease is easily communicated, and usually develops in two to five days after exposure.

It occurs most frequently in the third and fourth years of life. There is no other disease so simple, and yet so often liable to prove fatal, as scarlet fever; and for this reason we shall advise the attendance of the family physician.

Domestic treatment may be given as follows, until a physician can be obtained: Catnip, pennyroyal, or pleurisy-root tea, containing one teaspoonful of the Extract of Smart-weed, may be given, to drive the rash to the surface. Cold drinks are suitable to allay the thirst, nausea, and fever. The sick-room should be kept at a temperature of about 65 Fahr., and fresh air admitted freely. The patient ought not to be overloaded with bed-clothes; and the skin should be sponged over twice daily with tepid water, different parts being exposed successively, and carefully dried with soft cloths. Soda may be added to the water, but no soap should be used. The diet should consist of milk, extract of beef, and soups. Injections may be employed to relieve constipation, but purgatives should be avoided. We repeat that this disease is one which requires the attendance of the family physician, and great care should be exercised during recovery, that no bad results may follow.

SMALL-POX. (VARIOLA.)

Small-pox is produced by a specific poison, which is reproduced and multiplied during the progress of the disease. It is contained in the pustules, and in the excretions and exhalations of affected individuals.

It is established after a period of incubation varying from nine to thirteen days after infection.

There are two varieties of this disease, known as _confluent_ and _distinct_ variola; in the former, the vesicles run together, in the latter, they are separate.

This fever has three stages. The first is that of _invasion_, distinctly marked by a chill or a series of chills, which alternate with flushes of heat. In this stage the tongue becomes coated, there is also nausea and vomiting, pain in the limbs, back, and particularly in the loins, the latter symptom being of diagnostic importance. This stage continues about two days, and if the symptoms are light, it may be expected that the disease will be comparatively mild, and of the _distinct_ variety.

_The stage of eruption._ The eruption begins to appear on the skin, generally on the third day following the attack, though in the throat and mouth may be discovered round, whitish, or ashy spots, several hours previous to the appearance of vesicles on the surface of the body. These are first seen on the face and neck, then on the trunk and upper extremities, and, lastly, on the lower extremities. The eruption at first appears in the form of small, red or purple spots, which change the texture of the skin by becoming more hard, pointed, and elevated. On the fifth day of the eruption they attain their full size, being softened and depressed in the center, and hence are called _umbilicated_. Now a change takes place, and the vesicles fill with "matter" and become pointed, and there is a rise in the fever.

_The stage of suppuration_ commences thus: the pulse quickens, the skin becomes hotter, and in many cases of the confluent variety, swelling of the face, eyelids, and extremities occurs. Frequently there is pa.s.sive delirium in this stage, and if diarrhea sets in, it is an unfavorable sign. The duration of this stage of the eruption is four or five days.

_The stage of desication_, or of the drying of the pustules, commences between the twelfth and fourteenth day of the disease. In the confluent variety, patches of scab cover all the s.p.a.ce occupied by the eruption, and the skin exhales a sickening odor.

THE TREATMENT should have reference to the determination of the eruption to the surface. If there is thirst, allow cold drinks, ice-water, or lemonade. Bathing the surface with cold water, breathing plenty of fresh air, using disinfectants in the room, and taking antiseptic medicine internally, are proper. Add one part of carbolic acid to six parts of glycerine, mix from two to three drops of this with an ounce of water, and of this preparation administer teaspoonful doses frequently. A few drops of carbolic acid and glycerine may be rubbed up with vaseline, and the surface anointed with it to prevent pitting. The malady is so grave that it should be intrusted to the care of the family physician.

VARIOLOID. (MODIFIED SMALL-POX.)

Varioloid is a modified form of small-pox. There is less const.i.tutional disturbance, and very little or no pitting of the skin. Varioloid generally occurs in persons who have not been fully protected by vaccination. A person suffering from this modification of the disease may, by contagion, communicate to another genuine small-pox. The _treatment_ is the same as that recommended in variola.

VACCINIA. (COW-POX.)

The important discovery of vaccination is due to Dr. Jenner, who ascertained that when the cow was affected by this disease and it was then communicated to man, the affection was rendered very mild and devoid of danger, and at the same time it proved a very complete protection against small-pox. Like most other valuable discoveries introduced to the world, it encountered bitter prejudice and the most unfair opposition. Now its inestimable value is generally known and admitted.

In a few cases, in which the quality of the vaccine virus was deteriorated, its effect is only to slightly-modify small-pox, and then the disease resembles that caused by inoculation. The operation of infecting the blood with the _kine virus_ is called _vaccination_. All that we know is that when the cow becomes affected with this disease, and it is then transferred to man, it loses its severity and serves as a protection against small-pox. In a great majority of cases this protection is absolute, and only in a very few does it leave the subject susceptible to small-pox, materially modified. The protection it affords against small-pox is found to diminish after the lapse of an indefinite number of years, and hence it is important to be re-vaccinated once or twice, for instance, after an interval of five years. Between the second and third months of infancy is the best period for vaccination, and the place usually selected is the middle of the arm above the elbow-joint.