Brain, Bread, Breast

Papers on Health
by John Kirk

(Page 9 of 19)

Cold cloths may now be gently pressed for some time over the head. If the pulse is violent and feverish, let several towels be well wrung out of cold or even iced water, fold one so as to cover the entire head and back of the neck, and have the others ready, similarly folded. Press the first on gently, especially at the back of the head, so that the cooling cloth covers the head all over and soothes the violently heated brain. As soon as one towel grows warm, take a fresh cold one.

Relief should come in an hour at least, but longer may be required. During the cooling see that the heat of the fomentation on the legs is well kept up; change if necessary. When the more painful symptoms abate, oil the lower part of the back, and place on it a bran poultice (as recommended in Bowels, Inflammation of). This will go far to prevent any relapse. If the symptoms recur, use the treatment again. See Brow, Weary; Eyes, Failing Sight. See also, for other brain troubles: Restlessness; Sleeplessness.

Brain Rest - The need for this is often indicated by irritability of temper. This coming on is generally a warning that a period of rest must be taken. An overheated brow is also another indication. If this shows itself in a child during or after school, together with listlessness and excitability, all idea of lessons should at once be laid aside for a time. It is nothing less than cruelty to work an overheated brain in such a case. Let the child go free from school till all the head trouble is removed. Also let the head be soaped (see Head, Soaping).

Sometimes pain in the head sets in from overwork. Even in the young, fainting may show itself. Rest is essential, and will prove a perfect cure, together with a little brain exercise of the kind described in article Brain Exercise, always avoiding fatigue. Let all readers remember that it is better to lose six months in rest than become permanently incapable, therefore let old and young take rest in time.

Bran Poultice - Get a sufficient quantity of good bran in an ordinary wash hand basin. Heat the basin before beginning operations. Have also a boiling kettle at hand. Pour the boiling water by little and little into the bran, and mix and stir it up until it is all a moist mass, but not wet. The thing is to avoid putting in more water than the bran can easily absorb and hold. Then have ready a flannel bag of the size and shape required for the poultice.

Fill this with the bran, and it is ready. The skin to which it is applied should first be oiled with olive oil. The poultice may be fastened on with flannel bands. In any case it must lie tightly on the skin. The patient must lie on it, if it be applied to the back. One or two tablespoonfuls of mustard may be added if great power is required, not otherwise.

Instead of this poultice, an India-rubber bag full of hot water may be used, with two or three ply of moist flannel between it and the skin. Our only reason for recommending bran is that many could not afford the India-rubber bag.

Bread, Wheaten - In some cases the bran in whole wheaten bread and Saltcoats biscuits is found to irritate the stomach and bowels. As diet for those able to digest the bran, nothing is better. Where it cannot be digested, ordinary bakers' bread boiled in water to soft pap is found to make a good substitute. This must not be boiled with milk unless where there is diarrhea to be cured, as milk tends to produce bile and costiveness. Oatmeal jelly (see Food in Illness) is also a good substitute for biscuits and wheaten bread.

Often the water with which bread is baked causes it to be difficult of digestion. Hard water is bad for this. For an invalid, bread baked with distilled water, or pure rain water, is often a means of great comfort and help. A slight admixture of pure cane syrup or licorice juice in the water will tend to prevent bile and costiveness. A sufficient action of the bowels is of great importance for where good nutrition is desired.

Bread, especially when fresh, is made much more digestible by slowly toasting it in the oven till it is a golden brown throughout. It is then known as "zweibach" (twice baked). When eaten dry, it requires considerable mastication, and for that reason is much better than soft bread. It can be also broken up and eaten with hot milk and sugar.

Breast with Corded Muscles - Often a slight hardness shows itself in a woman's breast, when the muscular tissue becomes what is called "corded." It is well, first of all, in all cases of breast trouble to avoid alarming the patient. Great anxiety is often endured through fear of cancer when there is no need. A "corded" breast may usually quite easily be cured, and the patient should be made perfectly easy in mind about it.

Take a good lather of soap (see Lather; Soap). Apply this night and morning, gently lathering the breast for some time. After this, each time, rub the back well with hot olive oil, so as to produce a thorough glow of heat all over it. Sometimes the swelling will disperse under this treatment. It may, however, grow larger and show a tendency to break. In this case treat as in next article.

We shall also probably find, on examining, that the skin was failing to do its part well. If rubbed with Cayenne lotion the clean, healthy skin will send off much more waste than was allowed to pass through it before.

Breast, Swelling in - A blow on the breast, or the drain of nursing a child, along with a chill, often produces swelling, sometimes hard and painful. This, if left uncured, may even develop into an abscess. As it sometimes arises from dirt being left on the nipples, all nursing mothers should be particular about cleanliness, which itself prevents many ills.

Printed by Hurst Bros., Shaw Heath, Stockport. 1904.