Mother's Remedies Part 34

[130 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

2. Gall Stones, Tried and Approved Remedy for.--"Drink about a winegla.s.s of olive oil at bedtime followed in the morning by a cathartic, as seidlitz powder, or cream of tartar and phosphate of soda; teaspoonful each morning in winegla.s.s of water. This treatment to be pursued several weeks. Ma.s.sage the part over the liver lightly night and morning. If the suffering is intense use an injection of thirty drops of laudanum to two quarts of water." In many cases the cathartic may not be needed as the olive oil will move the bowels freely. Ma.s.saging the parts over the liver will cause it to work better and has proven successful in many cases.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Gall Stones.--1. For the pain. Morphine must be used and by the hypodermic method; one-fourth grain dose and repeated, if necessary, and chloroform given before if the pain is intense, until the morphine can act. Fomentations can be used over the liver.

2. Soda.--The bowels must be kept open by laxatives, Sodium Phosphate or Sodium Sulphate, (Glauber's) salt.

3. Olive Oil.--Olive oil is used very extensively. I do not know whether it does any good; some people think it does. From two to ten ounces daily, if possible. The phosphate or sulphate of sodium should be taken daily in one to two teaspoonfuls doses each day. Some claim these salts prevent formation of gall stones.

4. Powder for the Itching.--For the intolerable itching you may use the following powder, dust some of it over the skin:

Starch 1 ounce Zinc Oxide 1/2 ounce Camphor 1-1/2 drams

Mix into a powder.

Diet.--This must be thoroughly regulated. The patient should avoid the starchy and sugar foods as much as possible. He or she should also take regular exercise. If a person afflicted with gall stones keeps the stomach and bowels in good condition, they will be better. Pure air, suns.h.i.+ne, exercise, and diet are big factors in the treatment of chronic diseases. A woman so afflicted should not wear anything tight around the stomach and liver, corsets are an abomination in this disease; olive oil if taken must be continued for months.

Surgery.--The operation is indicated when the patient is suffering most of the time from pain in the liver region or when the person is failing in health, or during an acute attack. When there are symptoms of obstruction or when there is fever, sweating shows that there is pus in the gall bladder. Also an operation is then necessary, and in most cases it results satisfactorily.

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CANCER OF THE GALL BLADDER, AND BILE DUCTS. Causes.--It usually occurs between forty and seventy years of age. The cases that originate here show no percentage in either s.e.x; but those that appear here as secondary cancers are three times as frequent in women as in men. Chronic irritation by gall stones is an important cause. They are hard to diagnose and, of course, fatal in the secondary kind. For the primary kind early complete removal may cure if you can get at them.

CIRCULATORY DISTURBANCES OF THE LIVER. (Acute Hyperemia or Congestion).--This occurs normally after meals, and in acute infections, diseases, etc.

CHRONIC CONGESTION OR NUTMEG LIVER.--This is due to an obstruction of the blood circulation in the liver by chronic valvular heart disease with failure of heart action. Lung obstruction in the trouble called Emphysema, Chronic Pneumonia, etc., may cause it. The cut section of a liver shows an appearance like a nutmeg, due to a deeply congested central vein and capillaries. In a later stage the liver is contracted, central liver cells are shrunk and the connective tissue is increased.

ACUTE YELLOW ATROPHY. (Malignant Jaundice).--This is fortunately a rare disease. There is rapid progress, and it is fatal in nearly all cases. The liver is very small and flabby. The symptoms are many and are hard to differentiate. You must depend upon your physician. The only thing for him to do is to meet the symptoms and relieve them if possible.

CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER. (Sclerosis of the Liver, Hobnail Liver, Gin Drinkers Liver, Hard Liver).--This occurs most often in men from forty to sixty years old. It is not uncommon in children.

Cause.--It is usually due to drinking of alcohol to excess, especially whisky, brandy, rum or gin. The liver is small and thin; hard, granular, white bands run through it and press on the liver cells and destroy them.

Symptoms.--These are few as long as proper circulation in the heart is maintained. Fatty cirrhosis is often found in post-mortems. The first symptoms are the same as those accompanying chronic gastritis, dyspepsia, They are:--Appet.i.te is poor, nausea, retching and vomiting, especially in the morning; distress in the region of the stomach, constipation or diarrhea. These increase and vomiting of blood from the stomach may occur early and late. Bleeding from the stomach and bowels, etc., cause the stools to look like tar. Nosebleed and piles are common and profuse; bleeding may cause severe lack of blood. The epigastric and mammary veins are enlarged. Ascites (dropsy in the abdomen) usually occurs sooner or later and may be very marked, and it recurs soon after each tapping. The feet and genital organs may be oedematous (watery swelling), jaundice is slight and does not occur until late. During the late stage the patient is much shrunken, face is hollow, the blood vessels of the nose and cheeks are dilated, abdomen is greatly distended. Delirium, stupor, coma or convulsions may occur at any time.

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PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT for Cirrhosis of the Liver.--It is usually fatal; sometimes even after temporary improvements. No coffee or alcohol; simple diet, bitter tonics, keep bowels open, A physician must handle such a case.

ABSCESS OF THE LIVER. Hepatic Abscess: Suppurative Hepat.i.tis.--This is a circ.u.mscribed collection of pus in the liver tissue. If there is only one abscess it is in the larger lobe in seventy per cent of the cases. The amount of fluid contained in such an abscess may be two or three quarts and its color varies from a grayish white to a creamy reddish-brown; when the abscess is caused by a type (amebic) of dysentery, there is generally only one abscess, occurring more often in the right lobe, whereas other forms due to septic infection give rise to many abscesses.

Causes.--This disease is rare even in tropical climates. When it is excited by gall stones, it is invariably septic in character and the infecting material reaches the interior through the liver vessels or bile pa.s.sages. Stomach ulcers, typhoid fever, appendicitis, may bring on such an abscess. Pus wounds of the head are sometimes followed by a liver abscess. The most common method of infection is through the portal vein.

Other causes that may be mentioned are foreign bodies traveling up the ducts, as round-worms and parasites.

Symptoms.--Hectic temperature, pain, tenderness, and an enlarged liver, and often slight jaundice. In acute cases the fever rises rapidly, reaching 103 or 104 in twenty-four hours. It is irregular and intermittent, and it may be hectic, that is, like the fever of consumption. Shakings or decided chills frequently are present with the rise of fever and when the fever declines there may be profuse sweating.

The skin is pale and shows a slight jaundice, the conjunctiva being yellowish. Progressive loss of strength with disturbance of the stomach and bowels is present. The bowels are variable and constipated and loose.

Dropsy of the abdomen (Ascites) may develop, on account of pressure on the big vein, inferior vena-cava. Lung symptoms, severe cough, reddish-brown expectoration are often present.

THE ABSCESS.--May break into the pleural cavity, bronchial tubes, lungs and stomach, bowels, peritoneum or through the abdominal wall.

Recovery.--The result is unfavorable as it generally goes on to a rapid termination. The abscess should be opened and evacuated when its location can be detected. The death rates ranges from fifty to sixty per cent.

Treatment.--Open it if you can, Sponge liver region with cool water. For the pain, mustard poultices, turpentine stupe or hot fomentations prove beneficial. Keep up strength by stimulation and quinine.

[DIGESTIVE ORGANS 133]

Diet in Liver Troubles sent us from Providence Hospital (Catholic), Sandusky, Ohio:

May Take--

Soups--Vegetable soups with a little bread or cracker, light broths.

Fish--Boiled fresh cod, ba.s.s, sole or whiting, raw oysters.

Meats--Tender lean mutton, lamb, chicken, game, (all sparingly).

Farinaceous--Oatmeal, hominy, tapioca, sago, arrowroot (well cooked), whole wheat bread, graham bread, dry toast, crackers.

Vegetables--Mashed potato, almost all fresh vegetables (well boiled), plain salad of lettuce, water-cress, dandelions.

Desserts--Plain milk pudding of tapioca, sago, arrowroot or stewed fresh fruit (all without sugar or cream), raw ripe fruits.

Drinks--Weak tea or coffee (without sugar or cream), hot water, pure, plain or aerated water.

Must Not Take--

Strong soups, rich made dishes of any kind, hot bread or biscuits, preserved fish or meats, curries, red meats, eggs, fats, b.u.t.ter, sugar, herrings, eels, salmon, mackerel, sweets, creams, cheese, dried fruits, nuts, pies, pastry, cakes, malt liquors, sweet wines, champagne.

ACUTE GENERAL PERITONITIS. (Inflammation of the Peritoneum, Lining of the Abdominal Cavity).--Causes. Primary; Occurs without any known preceding disease, and is rare. Secondary; Occurs from injuries, extension from inflamed nearby organs, such as appendicitis or infection from bacteria, without any apparent lesion (disease of the bowel). Perforation causes most of the attacks of peritonitis. Peritonitis may accompany acute infections or accompany chronic nephritis, rheumatism, pleurisy, tuberculosis and septicemia. Peritonitis occurs from perforation of the bowel in typhoid fever also, and it frequently occurs after appendicitis and sometimes after confinement.

Symptoms.--This is often the history of one of the causes mentioned above, followed in cases with perforation or septic disease by a chill or chilly feeling and pain, varying at first, with the place where the inflammation begins. The patient lies on his back, with the knees drawn up, and the body bent so as to relax the muscles of the abdomen, which are often rigidly contracted,--stiff at first on the side where the pain starts. The pain may be absent. The abdomen becomes distended, tympanitic (caused by gas). An early symptom is vomiting and it is often repeated. There is constipation; occasionally diarrhea occurs. The temperature may rise rapidly to 104 or 105 and then become lower; it is sometimes normal. The pulse is frequent, small, wiry and beats 100 to 150 per minute; the breathing is frequent and shallow. The tongue becomes red and dry and cracked. Pa.s.sing the urine frequently causes pain; sometimes there is retention of urine. The face looks pinched, the eyes are sunken, the expression is anxious, and the skin of the face is lead colored or livid.

Hiccoughs, muttering, delirium or stupor may be present.

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Recovery, Prognosis, etc.--The action of the heart becomes weak and irregular, respiration is shallow, the temperature taken in the r.e.c.t.u.m is high, the skin is cold, pale and livid, death occurs sometimes suddenly, usually in three to five days; less often thirty-six to forty-eight hours; or even after ten days. The results depend mainly upon the cause of the inflammation, and the nature of the infection, infectious disease that produces it, being usually very bad after puerperal sepsis (after confinement), induced abortion, perforation of the bowel or stomach, or rupture of an abscess.

LOCAL PERITONITIS.--This may come from local injury, but it is usually secondary to empyema, tuberculosis, or cancer, abscess, perforation of the stomach or bowel, ulcer, etc.

Symptoms.--Onset is usually sudden. There is sudden local pain, increased by any movements; tenderness, and vomiting; then chills, irregular fever, sweating, difficult breathing, emaciation.

TREATMENT OF THE ACUTE PERITONITIS.--There must be absolute rest, morphine by hypodermic method, one-fourth to one-half grain to relieve the pain.

Ice cold and hot fomentations with some herb remedy like hops, smartweed, etc.; or cloths wrung out of hot water with five to ten drops of turpentine sprinkled on them. This is very good when there is much bloating from gas.