Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 September 1887 — Timely Hints on Diarrhea. [ARTICLE]

Timely Hints on Diarrhea.

Boston Medical Journal. I n diarrhea occurring suddenly and in a person previously in good health, the first thing to do, uuiess vomiting prevents, is to take a cathartic, and by that meanß clear out the intestinal canal, which in such cases almost always contains some irritant matter, such as indigested food, etc. Castor oil is one of the best agents to employ for that purpose, That it is a loathsome remedy none oan dispute. Those people to whom it is most abhorrent can generally take it easily if they will allow a druggist to prepare it for them. In a glass of end a water with lemon syrup it can scarcely be tasted. For those who will not take castor oil a Rochelle powder, or a magnesia is advised. When the oil is chosen the dose should be one ounce, that ip, two tablespoonfuls. To that quantity have the druggist add twenty-five droris of laudanum. After taking this mixture go home if yori can and lie down for a few hours at least. The “starvation treatment”must follow. Do not indulge m food for some hours, and only a little milk and linre water. Above all things let brandy and other stimulants entirely aloile. If thirsty, drink very sparingly of water, -and soda waier if a siphen of it can be obtained. It would be even better to forego water entirely and use cracked ice. Small bits of ice being allowed to melt in the mouth, or swallowed when reduced to the size of peas, relieve the thirst and add much to the comfort of the patient. When nausea is suffered from and there is danger of vomiting, thin ice only—no water —should he allowed. A person who has been threatened with an attack of diarrhea should confine himself to liquid foods, for two or three days at least, and those known to be easy of digestion should be selected. When all trace of the diarrhea has disappeared then solids may be indulged, but only sparingly at first. In ninecasesof diarrhea or dysentery out of teri, if the treatment advised is employed in the beginning of the attack no other medicine will be needed. Years agq the writer was for a long time in the South, in a district where the worst form of dysentery prevailed. The oil and laudanum mixture was the first given in all cases where patients conld “keep> it on .their stomachs.” As a rule, no subsequent medical treatment

was a very large proportion of the patients made rapid recovery under a restricted diet. In diarrhea, as in very many other diseases, absolutely the majority of people at once wheh an attack is coming on turn to the brandy bottle for relief, and cherry brandy is considered quite the remedy. It, is certainly the last thing to be employed, for it is no more suited to diarrhea in the early stage at least, than it is for an eye water in sore eyes. „ ■ I - ./