Read Ebook: Tokology by Stockham Alice B Alice Bunker

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n with any other necessary measures, as follows: "Go to the closet at the appointed hour, sit for a few minutes, gently straining to effect a passage. The practice of forcing an evacuation by severe muscular effort is all wrong, and should never be indulged. Far better take an enema of water if necessary. The practice of sitting long at stool is also to be condemned. The bowels may be made lazy in this way, and it leads to waste of time, and to hemorrhoids. If not successful, go till next day at the stated hour if you comfortably can; then try again, and if you do not succeed, take an enema of water sufficient to produce the desired movement. The next day repeat this effort at the given time, and so continue."

Other simple measures will overcome constipation, especially if of recent origin or of mild form. Drinking one or two glasses of cold soft water before breakfast is often sufficient. Some eat ice for the same purpose. These are diluents, besides acting upon the nerves producing contractile effects of the muscular coats of the digestive tract.

In long standing, obstinate cases, these simple remedies will not suffice. There must be an entire and radical change in diet as well as other rational measures used to overcome the conditions.

Our native wheat meets the need for this change, perhaps more fully than any other food, provided the whole of the grain is used. Such preparations of it may be found in varied and attractive forms, first among which, because almost everywhere procurable and easily prepared, is graham flour. Complaints are sometimes made against this excellent and nourishing food, that it is too harsh for delicate stomachs.

The complaint should rather be made against careless and ignorant millers, who put upon the market an article ground from their lowest grade of wheat, often, too, without proper cleaning. When the best wheat is properly scoured and prepared by a skillful miller, very few will find difficulty in its digestion. Rolled or cracked wheat, wheatlet, and flour of the entire wheat, are very useful in establishing a correct habit.

In these the gluten which lies next the bran is preserved--this contains the nitrates that feed muscular tissues and the mineral product that nourishes and sustains the nervous system. For constipation, these foods are the natural remedy and preventive, as they give the ganglionic nerve centers nutriment, and hence enable them to preside over the functions of digestion.

Entire Wheat Flour, Franklin Mill Co., Lockport, N. Y., fulfills these conditions, and is one of the noblest additions to the foods of the world. The grain is denuded of the outside silicious bark and then ground into a fine flour, and all the elements of the grain are preserved.

Wheat, more than any other article of food, furnishes all the elements and in the right proportion required to nourish the body. In bolting the flour to make fine white flour, four-fifths of the gluten, the very most nutritious part of the grain, is taken out to be fed to cows and hogs.

The effect of this food in alleviating and curing constipation is something of which all should know. A family at one time came to live near me in which was a baby boy about sixteen months of age. I was attracted by his pretty ways, but saw that he was far from well, his skin being white and waxy, his flesh puffy. I said to the mother, "Your little boy is not well."

"Do you think so?" she answered in surprise. "Everybody thinks he looks so well."

"He certainly is not well with that appearance of his skin. What is the matter?"

"Why, nothing at all, except that he is dreadfully constipated, and has been for months. His bowels do not move oftener than once in two or three days, and then he suffers terribly, screaming and crying piteously. His rectum often protrudes, and blood comes with the passage."

"Poor little fellow. That will never do. What do you feed him?" "Mostly bread and milk."

"White bread?" "Yes, baker's bread."

"Did you ever use bread of the entire wheat flour?"

She had never heard of it but was willing to try anything that might give relief. I sent her a nice loaf, and not only the baby but all the family enjoyed it. The mother desired to learn how to make the bread, and Wally soon made his chief living off it, and was in a short time, without the use of any other means, entirely cured of his distressing ailment. After that, a sweeter, more joyous baby I never saw, hearty and happy; roses supplanting lilies on his cheeks, his flesh becoming firm and hard, and his fretful, nervous temper growing sweet and even. The happy mother could not sufficiently attest her gratitude, saying many times that she should always be glad that she moved into our neighborhood, simply on account of having learned of this one useful article of diet.

WHEATLET, a new preparation which is manufactured by the Franklin Mill Co., of Lockport, N. Y., meets a demand for a food adapted to the relief of constipation. It is equally good for the use of dyspeptics and those who are nervously debilitated. It is rich in the nitrogenous and phosphatic elements of the wheat, and being highly nourishing, strengthens the nerve system which presides over the organs of digestion. For some stomachs in a diseased and highly sensitive state, it is preferable to cracked wheat or rolled oats, being more delicate than either. It is invaluable for children, especially when they are first weaned.

CRACKED OR ROLLED WHEAT STANDS with or above the entire wheat flour in its value to overcome torpid bowels. Often by making no other change in diet, but adding this one article properly cooked, constipation will be entirely removed. I have been recommending it for thirty years, with uniformly satisfactory results. In a family with whom I staid while lecturing in Southern Illinois, was a bright boy three years of age. The next morning after my arrival, the mother entered my room, her face the picture of despair.

"Can you, doctor, tell me anything I can do for Charlie? For nearly twelve months he has not had a natural passage. Strong cathartics have ceased to have any effect, and he has a terror of enemas."

I noticed the night previous that the child ate a late supper, consisting entirely of cold mutton and sweet cake. I wondered then if it was possible he could feed on such food and be well. I said to her, "Have you tried diet?"

"Only to give him figs, and these he dislikes. I don't know what to give him."

Alas, how many mothers do not know!

"Do you not ever use graham bread?"

"None of us like it."

"Have you ever given him cracked wheat?"

"I never heard of it."

"Send and get a package. I will show you how to cook it, and we will lunch upon it."

Charlie ate of it, not freely, for his lunch and supper. The following day he had two natural, easy evacuations. I counseled her to give him less meat and cake, have him eat the wheat at least once a day, and partake of more fruit. Months afterward she reported no return of the constipation. Oftentimes it is the simplest things that are the most effectual.

FEAST ON FRUITS! Would that this could be a motto upon the wall of every dining room in the land! Next to the whole of the wheat, fruit is the best laxative to the bowels.

Dr. Jackson says: "I advise the use of fruit in the morning if taken only once a day; but I heartily approve of its forming a part of every meal, though I strongly condemn the indulgence in fruit between meals."

For constipation some of the dried fruits well cooked are valuable. Of these peaches, plums, prunes, apricots, etc., that are rich in hydrocyanic acid, are preferable. Get the best, stew several hours. Never prepare a meal without it. Do not say it is expensive, and you cannot afford it. Take half the money you put in meat and lard, and purchase fruit. You will get interest and principal returned in health for yourself, in rosy, buoyant children, and noticeable absence of doctors' fees.

Most of the garden vegetables are also valuable. Rhubarb, onions, tomatoes, asparagus, green peas, squash, cauliflower, green corn, etc., etc., are good, and should be well cooked without butter. The fruits and vegetables supply water, laxative in its effects upon the mucous surfaces. They increase the residual matter of the excrement, and supply stimuli for peristaltic action.

LAXATIVE.

CONSTIPATING

Hot bread. White bread. White crackers. Black pepper and spices. Pastry made of white flour and lard. Bread, rolls, dumplings, etc., made with baking powders. Cake. All custard puddings. Salted meats. Salted fish. Dried meats. Dried fish. Smoked meats. Poultry. Cheese. Chocolate. Cocoa. Boiled milk. Tea. Coffee. Coffee made from wheat, corn, barley, toast, etc. Beans . Potatoes. Farina. Sago. Starch. Tapioca. Rice. Raspberries. Blackberries.

Lean fresh meats, fresh fish, eggs, raw milk, oatmeal, barley, buckwheat, corn meal, and sweet potatoes have no marked action either way, unless in exceptional cases.

APPROPRIATE AND SUFFICIENT EXERCISE is next in importance to having proper food, in overcoming constipation. General and habitual exercise is essential to promote good circulation, a healthy nervous tone, complete respiration, and also power and elasticity of the muscles. The stomach, liver and indeed all the alimentary tract require also local exercise in order that a healthy standard may be gained and maintained.

For constipation, those exercises must be taken that develop the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles, that strengthen the muscles of the abdomen and trunk as well as the muscular tissue of the intestines themselves.

SPECIAL EXERCISES FOR CONSTIPATION.

Nos. 5, 10, 11 and 12 should not be attempted by a weak person until the others have been practiced at least a month, and then begin with caution. All these exercises should be taken in a loose wrapper. There must be no restraint upon any part of the body. One walking or working need not be deterred from taking them. They bring into action unused muscles, and consequently rest those that have been overworked. I knew a lady who did much of the heavy labor of a large greenhouse. She never retired without performing gymnastics similar to the above. She claimed that they rested her by the derivative effect, and the sleep that followed was more satisfactory.

In constipation, until permanent benefits can be obtained by the means proposed, if it is necessary to have temporary relief, resort to enemas in preference to drugs. A small quantity of tepid water will usually remove the contents of the rectum. If a thorough evacuation is desired, follow directions on page 48.

Retaining a pint of warm water over night has proved beneficial in many cases. Very obstinate impaction in the rectum can be relieved by injecting from one to two ounces of linseed oil in the rectum, and retaining it over night. Use a rubber piston child's syringe for this purpose.

Making one meal of raw grains often proves invaluable in constipation. Many persons are adopting for diet, what they call Edenic food. They live entirely upon uncooked food, claiming that it gives natural nutriment, and overcomes morbific conditions. For many years I have occasionally recommended the use of raw grains, rolled oats or wheat, for constipation, nervousness, sleeplessness, etc. It serves its purpose best by being eaten dry, but may be taken with honey, fruit juice or milk.

DISEASES OF PREGNANCY.

Headache in pregnancy is caused either by uterine irritation, by derangement in digestion, or by both combined.

For this, take warm sitz baths daily, apply hot fomentations to back of the head, and keep in a reclining position as much as possible.

SICK HEADACHE is a severe pain in the forehead and through the temples, accompanied by nausea and vomiting, often, too, by coldness of the extremities and great prostration. The attacks are irregular in frequency and duration. The causes are indigestion, biliousness, constipation, fatigue, anxiety, etc.

"This latter, with many other facts contained in the article, has often been observed," says the doctor, "not only on myself but on others, for I had inherited the disease from my mother. It had been the plague of her life as well as my own. We had both been not excessive but regular tea-drinkers; and although she lived to be over eighty years of age, she was never exempt from an attack of greater or less severity, for more than a few weeks at a time, for a period of nearly or quite half a century.

"Knowing this fact, and that from my earliest recollection I had been similarly affected, I was content when the pain returned, to relieve it with the appropriate remedies, with little hope or thought of ever being able to eradicate it. Some twenty years ago I had abandoned the use of coffee and green tea, using only the black and Japan. Pork, pastry, spices, acids and most kinds of raw fruits were sure, if indulged in, to bring on an attack of my old trouble; and this weakness of the stomach seemed to be gradually on the increase, besides a train of nervous symptoms, such as sleeplessness, palpitation of the heart, unsteadiness of the hand when writing, etc., etc., giving me no little annoyance.

"After reading the article referred to, I concluded some three months ago, to use no more tea, substituting in its stead hot water with a little milk. The result for the first week or ten days was much as I had anticipated, being, during the whole of that time, scarcely ever free from headache. At length the pain became lighter and when it did return, was of short duration. My nervous symptoms grew less, palpitation left entirely, my stomach became much stronger. I can now eat with impunity many things which for years had been sure to disagree. The headache now very rarely returns, and never with severity; besides, within the past two months my weight was increased sixteen pounds."

For many years I was subject to sick headaches at irregular intervals. They would come on from a cold, from want of sleep, or under mental strain. When I began to travel and lecture I gave up the use of butter because I could not always get that which was good. Since that I have never had a severe attack of headache. I have recommended many others to deny themselves of butter and other fats with good results, using honey, fruit juice or milk instead.

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