The People's Common Sense Medical Adviser in Plain English Part 37

CHICKEN-POX. (VARICELLA.)

Chicken-pox is an eruptive disease, which affects children, and occasionally adults. It is attended with only slight const.i.tutional disturbance, and is, therefore, neither a distressing nor dangerous affection. The eruption first appears on the body, afterwards on the neck, the scalp, and lastly on the face. It appears on the second or third day after the attack, and is succeeded by vesicles containing a transparent fluid. These begin to dry on the fifth, sixth, or seventh day. This disease may be distinguished from variola and varioloid by the shortness of the period of invasion, the mildness of the symptoms, and the absence of the deep, funnel-shaped depression of the vesicles, so noticeable in variola.

TREATMENT. Ordinarily very little treatment is required. It is best to use daily an alkaline bath, and, as a drink, the tea of pleurisy-root, catnip, or other diaph.o.r.etics, to which may be added from one-half to one teaspoonful of the Extract of Smart-weed. If the fever runs high, a few drops of aconite in water will control it.

MEASLES. (RUBEOLA.)

This is generally a disease of less severity and importance than the other eruptive fevers, but it is sometimes followed by serious complications. The stage of invasion is marked by the symptoms of a common cold, sneezing, watery eyes, a discharge from the nostrils, a dry cough, chilliness, and headache. This stage may last four days. Then follows an eruption of red dots or specks, which momentarily disappear on pressure. On the fourth day of the eruption the redness of the skin fades, the fever diminishes, and the vesicles dry into scales or little flakes. The eyes may be inflamed and the bowels may be quite lax at this stage.

TREATMENT. The great object in the treatment is to bring out the eruption. To effect this, sweating teas are beneficial. The free use of the Extract of Smart-weed is recommended, and the skin should be bathed every day with tepid water. Sometimes when warm drinks fail to bring out the eruption, drinking freely of cold water and keeping warmly covered in bed, will accomplish the desired result.

FALSE MEASLES (_Rose Rash_) is an affection of very little importance and may be treated similarly to a case of ordinary measles.

ERYSIPELAS.

There are few adult persons in this country who have not, by observation or experience, become somewhat familiar with this disease. Its manifestations are both const.i.tutional and local, and their intensity varies exceedingly in different cases. The const.i.tutional symptoms are usually the first to appear, and are of a febrile character. A distinct chill, attended by nausea and general derangement of the stomach is experienced, followed by febrile symptoms more or less severe. There are wandering pains in the body and sometimes a pa.s.sive delirium exists.

Simultaneously with these symptoms the local manifestations of the disease appear. A red spot develops on the face, the ear, or other part of the person. Its boundary is clearly marked and the affected portion slightly raised above the surrounding surface. It is characterized by a burning pain and is very sensitive to the touch. It is not necessary for the benefit of the popular reader that we should draw a distinction between the different varieties of this malady. The distinctions made are founded chiefly upon the _depth_ to which the morbid condition attends, and not on any difference in the _nature of the affection_.

Suppuration of the tissues involved is common in the severer forms.

Should the tongue become dark and diarrhea set in, attended with great prostration, the case is very serious, and energetic means must be employed to save life. A retrocession of the inflammation from the surface to a vital organ is an extremely dangerous symptom. The disease is not regarded as contagious, but has been known to become epidemic.

TREATMENT. The treatment during the initial stage of this disease should correspond with the general principles laid down for the treatment of fever. The spirit vapor-bath, with warm, diaph.o.r.etic teas, or the Compound Extract of Smart-Weed may be given to favor sweating. The whole person should be frequently bathed in warm water rendered alkaline by the addition of saleratus or soda. The bowels should be moved by a full dose of the Purgative Pellets. Fluid extract of aconite in small and frequent doses will best control the fever. The specific treatment, which should not be omitted, consists in administering doses of ten drops of the tincture of the muriate of iron in alternation with teaspoonful doses of the Golden Medical Discovery, every three hours. As a local application, the inflamed surface may be covered with cloths wet in the mucilage of slippery elm. Equal parts of sweet oil and spirits of turpentine, mixed and painted over the surface, is an application of unsurpa.s.sed efficacy.

DIPHTHERIA.

This is an exceedingly grave, const.i.tutional disease characterized by a rapid breaking down of the powers of life, together with a peculiar affection of the throat, in which a disposition to the formation of false membranes is a prominent feature. The formation of these membranes, however, is not limited to the throat, but may occur on mucous surfaces elsewhere.

CAUSE. Infection with the specific germ of the disease by contagion or inoculation. It can be carried in milk or water, and the germs can attach themselves to furniture, walls, clothing, etc. A person with chronic diphtheretic sore throat can infect children or susceptible persons with the disease in its most acute type by kissing. All persons with sore throat should avoid kissing--as this disease is commonly spread in this way.

SYMPTOMS. The symptoms vary in different cases. In some the disease comes on gradually, while in others it is malignant from the first. The throat feels sore, the neck is stiff and a sense of languor, la.s.situde, and exhaustion pervades the system. Sometimes a chill is experienced at the outset. Febrile disturbance, generally of a low, typhoid character, soon manifests itself. The skin is hot; there is intense thirst; the pulse is quick and feeble, ranging from 120 to 150 per minute. The tongue is generally loaded with a dirty coat, or it may be bright red.

The odor of the breath is characteristic, and peculiarly offensive, and there is difficulty in swallowing and sometimes in breathing. Vomiting is sometimes persistent. If we examine the throat, we find more or less swelling of the tonsils and surrounding parts, which are generally bright red, and shining, and covered with a profuse, glairy, tenacious secretion. Sometimes the parts are of a dusky, livid hue, and, in rare instances, pallid. The false membrane, a peculiar tough exudation, soon appears and may be seen in patches, large or small, or covering the entire surface from the gums back as far as can be seen, its color varying from a whitish yellow to a gray or dark ashen tint. When it is thrown off, it sometimes leaves a foul, ulcerating surface beneath. The prostration soon becomes extreme, and small, livid spots may appear on the surface of the body. There may be delirium, which is, in fatal cases, succeeded by stupor, or coma. The extremities become cold; diarrhea, and in some cases convulsions, indicate the approach of death.

Sometimes the patient dies before the false membrane forms.

TREATMENT. The extremely dangerous character of this disease demands that the services of a skillful physician be obtained at once; and that his efforts should be aided by the most thorough hygienic precautions, good fresh air, bathing, and a supporting diet. Prior to the arrival of the physician, lose no time in using plenty of good brandy or whiskey to offset the extremely weakening effect of the disease. The employment of alcoholic stimulation in this disease is almost always used by physicians. Control the vomiting and allay the thirst by allowing the patient to suck small pieces of ice every five or ten minutes. Hot fomentations or spirits of turpentine should be applied to the throat.

If the physician does not take charge of the patient by this time, the use of permanganate of potash, triturated, in strength of one grain to the ounce, in a mixture of fine sugar of milk and gum acacia, and blown over the parts with an insufflater every few hours, brings the best results if thoroughly carried out; or the throat can be swabbed out with the following mixture: chlorate of potash, four drachms; tincture of muriate of iron, three drachms, syrup of orange, two ounces; water sufficient to make four ounces; administered every two or three hours.

Inhaling steam or lime-water from a steam atomizer is especially good.

The use of blisters, caustics, active purges, mercurials, or bleeding, should be condemned. Throughout the whole course of the disease the strength must be supported by the most nourishing diet, as well as by tonics and stimulants. Beef tea, milk, milk punch, and brandy should be freely administered. A competent physician should be called in as early as possible. The general results of the treatment with ant.i.toxin, if given on the first, second or third day of the disease, are usually favorable. There are rarely any immediately bad results from the injections, and the published testimony of careful observers would tend to prove that recovery has followed its use in a larger percentage of cases than under former methods of treatment.

QUINSY. (TONSILLITIS.)

This is an acute inflammation of the tonsils, which generally extends to, and involves adjacent strictures, and is attended with general febrile disturbance. Its duration varies from four to twenty days. It sometimes terminates by a gradual return to health (resolution); or by the formation of "matter" within the gland (suppuration.) When this latter is the case, the swelling sometimes becomes so great before it breaks as to require lancing.

CAUSES. It most frequently results from a cold. In some persons there is a predisposition to it, and the individual is liable to recurring attacks. Persons of a scrofulous diathesis are more liable to it than others.

SYMPTOMS. Difficulty of swallowing, soreness, and stiffness of the throat, are the first monitions of its approach. There is fever, quick, full pulse, and dryness of the skin; the tongue is furred, and the breath offensive. The tonsils are intensely red, swollen, and painful, the pain often extending to the ear. Sometimes but one tonsil is affected, though generally both are involved. In severe cases the patient cannot lie down, in consequence of the difficulty of breathing.

TREATMENT. In the early stage of the disease, the spirit vapor-bath is invaluable. The sweating which it produces should be kept up by the use of the Compound Extract of Smart-weed in some diaph.o.r.etic infusion. Hot wet-packs to the throat, covered with dry cloths, are useful. The inhalation of the hot vapor of water or vinegar, or peppermint and water, is beneficial. A carthartic should be given at night. When the disease does not show a disposition to yield to this treatment, the services of a physician should be obtained. When pus, or "matter," is formed in the tonsil, which may be known by the increased swelling and the appearance of a yellowish spot, the services of a physician will be required to lance it.

ENLARGED TONSILS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 147.

_A A._--Enlarged Tonsils. B.--Elongated Uvula.]

Chronic enlargement of the tonsils, as shown in Fig. 147, _A A_, is an exceedingly common affection. It is most common to those of a scrofulous habit. It rarely makes its appearance after the thirtieth year, unless it has existed in earlier life, and has been imperfectly cured. Both tonsils are generally, though unequally enlarged. A person affected with this disease is extremely liable to sore throat, and contracts it on the slightest exposure; the contraction of a cold, suppression of perspiration, or derangement of the digestive apparatus being sufficient to provoke inflammation.

CAUSES. Repeated attacks of quinsy, scarlet fever, diphtheria, or scrofula, and general impairment of the system, predispose the individual to this disease.

SYMPTOMS. The voice is often husky, nasal or guttural, and disagreeable.

When the patient sleeps, a low moaning is heard, accompanied with snoring and stentorian breathing, and the head is thrown back so as to bring the mouth on a line with the windpipe, and thus facilitate the ingress of air into the lungs. When the affection becomes serious, it interferes with breathing and swallowing. The chest is liable to become flattened in front and arched behind, in consequence of the difficulty of respiration, thus predisposing the patient to pulmonary disease. On looking into the throat, the enlarged tonsils may be seen, as in the figure. Sometimes they are so greatly increased in size that they touch each other.

TREATMENT. The indications to be carried out in the cure of this malady are:

(1.) To remedy the const.i.tutional derangement.

(2.) To remove the enlargement of the tonsil glands.

The successful fulfillment of the first indication may be readily accomplished by attention to hygiene, diet, clothing, and the use of the Golden Medical Discovery, together with small daily doses of the Pleasant Purgative Pellets. This treatment should be persevered in for a considerable length of time after the enlargement has disappeared, to prevent a return.

To fulfill the second indication, astringent gargles may be used.

Infusions of witch-hazel or cranesbill should be used during the day.

The following mixture is unsurpa.s.sed: iodine, one drachm; iodide of potash, four drachms; pure, soft water, two ounces. Apply this preparation to the enlarged tonsils twice a day, with a probang, or soft swab, being careful to paint them each time. A persevering use of these remedies, both internal and local, is necessary to reduce and restore the parts to a healthy condition.

Sometimes the enlarged tonsils undergo calcareous degeneration; in this case, nothing but their removal by a surgical operation is effectual.

This can be readily accomplished by any competent surgeon. We have operated in a large number of cases, and have never met with any unfavorable results.

ELONGATION OF THE UVULA.

Chronic enlargement or elongation of the uvula, or palate, as shown at B, Fig. 147, may arise from the same causes as enlargement of the tonsils. It subjects the individual to a great deal of annoyance by dropping into and irritating the throat. It causes tickling and frequent desire to clear the throat, change, weakness, or entire loss of voice, and difficulty of breathing, frequently giving rise to the most persistent and aggravating cough.

TREATMENT. The treatment already laid down for enlarged tonsils, with which affection, elongation of the uvula is so often a.s.sociated, is generally effectual. When it has existed for a long time and does not yield to this treatment, it may be removed by any competent surgeon.

ANaeMIA.