Mother's Remedies Part 37

7. For one dose, or one capsule, the proportions would be:

ONE AMOUNT FOR CAPSULE ONE DOZEN Aloin 1/4 grain 3 grains Extract of Belladonna 1/8 grain 10 grains Extract Nux Vomica 1/4 grain 3 grains Powdered Gentian 3 grains 36 grains

Mix and put up in twelve capsules and take one at night.

There are many tablets and pills made that can be bought at any drug store. No doubt some of them are first cla.s.s, though perhaps not attaining to that high degree of virtue claimed in their advertising columns.

[144 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

ITCHING OF THE a.n.u.s. (Itching Piles) (Pruritus ani).Causes.--An inherited or an acquired nervous const.i.tution. Disease of the colon, r.e.c.t.u.m or a.n.u.s.

Improper diet. Skin affections in that region. Operations about the r.e.c.t.u.m and a.n.u.s with resulting discharge sometimes. Diseases in the neighboring organs. Disease of the general system. Diarrhea, discharge of mucus and pus, fissure, etc. Irregular habits and dissipation. Over-seasoned foods such as lobster, salmon, sh.e.l.l-fish and foods containing much grease or starch are especially conducive to it; the same is true of tea, coffee, cocoa, strong alcoholic drinks. Skin diseases, lice, pin worms often cause it.

After Operations.--Some part has not healed, and there is left an irritating discharge.

Symptoms.--There is intense itching at the a.n.u.s, increased by warmth, and contact of the b.u.t.tocks. The itching grows worse after the patient becomes warm in bed. It may spread and extend to the s.c.r.o.t.u.m, down the limbs and sometimes over the lower back.

PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT FOR ITCHING OF a.n.u.s. Preventive and Palliative.

DIET.--May Take.--Strong drink must be prohibited; tea, coffee, cocoa, if used at all should be sparingly used. A light diet such as bread, milk, eggs, nouris.h.i.+ng soups, k.u.miss and a little fresh fish, broiled steak, etc., may be used.

May Not Take--Hot cakes, pastry, parsnips, cheese, pickles, beans, cuc.u.mbers, cabbage, oatmeal, pork, sh.e.l.l-fish, salmon, lobster, salt fish, confectionery and starchy or highly seasoned foods are to be prohibited.

Regular meals, no lunches between meals, and the patient must not over-eat at any time. Long course dinners and over-indulgence in highly seasoned foods and wines aggravate it.

Remedies for Bath.--The bowels should move daily and the parts should be kept clean. The parts should be bathed with hot water or weak solutions of carbolic acid, alcohol or listerine, the heat being especially soothing.

Bathing the parts with bran, oatmeal, flaxseed, salt, rice, slippery elm teas, or tar water adds much comfort to these parts. Do not wash much with soapy water.

1. Separate the b.u.t.tocks with Gauze, a thin layer of cotton or a piece of soft cloth. This eases the soreness, pain and itching by absorbing the secretions and preventing irritations while walking. The patient should not scratch the parts. Direct pressure over the itching parts with a soft cloth, or by drawing a well oiled cloth across the sore parts several times gives relief.

2. Dr. Allingham Recommends the introduction of a bony or ivory nipple-shaped plug into the a.n.u.s before going to bed. It is self retaining, about two inches in length, and as thick as the end of the index finger. He claims it prevents the night itching by pressing upon the many veins and terminal nerve fibres of the parts. When the rawness is extensive and the parts are highly inflamed, the patient should be kept to bed and kept on his back with the limbs separated until the irritation is allayed.

3. Local Applications.--Soothing remedies: These can be used when the parts are inflamed and raw. Lead and opium wash, or boric acid, or linseed oil, or starch, or cocaine, and zinc stearate with boric acid. This form of zinc adheres to the parts when rubbed on, and is thus more valuable.

[DIGESTIVE ORGANS 145]

4. The following is good to dust in the parts:--

Boric Acid 2 drams Stearate of Zinc 2 drams Talc.u.m 1 dram

Apply as a dusting powder.

5. The following is good for the raw parts:--

Carbolic Acid 1 scruple Menthol 10 grains Camphor 10 grains Suet enough to make 1 ounce

Mix. Apply freely two or three times daily after cleansing the parts.

Melt the suet and when partially cold, add the other ingredients.

6. The following is good for the itching and to heal the raw surfaces:--

Carbolic acid 1 dram Zinc oxide 1 dram Glycerin 3 drams Lime water 8 ounces

Mix and apply once or twice daily to relieve the itching.

7. Carbolic acid 1 dram Calamin prep 2 drams Zinc oxide 4 drams Glycerin 6 drams Lime water 1 ounce Rose water enough to make 8 ounces

Mix. Keep in contact with the itching area by means of gauze or cotton while the itching is intense.

8. For injections into the r.e.c.t.u.m for rawness of the mucous membrane, the following is well recommended. Use three drams of this at one time.

Fluid extract Witch Hazel 2 ounces Fluid extract Ergot 2 drams Fluid extract Golden Seal 2 drams Compound tincture Benzoin 2 drams Carbolized Olive or Linseed Oil 1 ounce Carbolic acid 5 per cent

Mix and shake well before using.

9. For the same purpose:-- Ichthyol 1 dram Olive oil 1 ounce

Mix and apply in the r.e.c.t.u.m on a piece of cotton.

[146 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

PILES. (Hemorrhoids).--Hemorrhoid is derived from two Greek words, meaning blood and flowing with blood. "Pile" is from a Greek word meaning a ball or globe. Hemorrhoids, or piles, are varicose tumors involving the veins, capillaries of the mucous membranes and tissue directly underneath the mucous membrane of the lower r.e.c.t.u.m, characterized by a tendency to bleed and protrude. They were known in the time of Moses.

Varieties.--There are the external (covered by the skin) and the internal (covered by mucous membrane).

Causes.--Heredity. More frequent in males. Women sometimes suffer from them during pregnancy. Usually occurs between the ages of twenty-five and fifty. Sedentary life, irregular habits, high-grade wines and liquors, hot and highly seasoned and stimulating foods. Heavy lifting. Those who must remain on their feet long or sit on hard unventilated seats for several hours at a time. Railway employees, because they take their meals any time and cannot go to stool when Nature calls, causing constipation. Purgatives and enemata used often and for a long time. Constipation is perhaps the most frequent cause: when a movement of the bowels is put off for a considerable time the feces acc.u.mulate and become hard and lumpy and difficult to expel. If this hard ma.s.s is retained in the r.e.c.t.u.m, it presses upon the blood vessels interfering with their circulation and by bruising the vessels may induce an inflammation of the veins when the hardened feces are expelled; straining is intense, the ma.s.s closes the vessels above by pressure and forces the blood downward into the veins, producing dilatation when the force is sufficient. One or more of the small veins near the a.n.u.s may rupture and cause a b.l.o.o.d.y (vascular) tumor beneath the mucous membrane or skin.

External Piles.--Two kinds, venous piles and skin or simple enlarged tags of skin. Venous piles usually occur in robust persons. They come on suddenly and are caused by the rupture of one or more small veins during the expulsion of hardened feces. There may be one or more, and may be located just at the union of the mucous membrane and the skin. Their size is from a millet-seed to a cherry, livid or dark blue in color, and appear like bullets or small shots under the skin. At first they cause a feeling of swelling at the margin of the a.n.u.s; but as the clot becomes larger and harder, there is a feeling of the presence of a foreign body in the lower part of the a.n.a.l ca.n.a.l (or ca.n.a.l of the a.n.u.s). The sphincter muscle resents this and occasionally contracts, spasmodically at first, producing a drawing feeling; later these contractions become longer and more frequent, and there is intense suffering caused by the pile being squeezed, and this suffering may be so great that sleep is impossible without an opiate. Because of the straining, irritation of the r.e.c.t.u.m and pain in the sphincter, the piles soon become highly inflamed and very sensitive. The clot may be absorbed without any treatment. Occasionally it becomes ulcerated from the irritation, infection takes place and an abscess forms around the margin of the a.n.u.s terminating in a fistula.

[DIGESTIVE ORGANS 147]

Skin Piles. (Cutaneous).--These are enlarged tags of the skin. They frequently follow the absorption of the clot in the venous piles where the skin is bruised and stretched. There may be one or many and usually have the skin color. These cause less suffering than the venous variety, and sometimes they exist for years, without any trouble, providing care is taken; but when bruised from any cause, such as a kick or fall, sitting on a hard seat, stretching of the parts during stool, or when they become irritated by discharges from the r.e.c.t.u.m or v.a.g.i.n.a, they become inflamed and cause much annoyance and pain. When they are acutely inflamed they swell greatly, are highly colored, swollen, painful, and extremely sensitive to the touch and cause frequent spasmodic contractions of the sphincter muscle and may finally result in an abscess. The pain is usually confined to the region of the a.n.u.s, but may go up the back, down the limbs or to the privates.

MOTHERS' REMEDIES FOR PILES. Sulphur and Glycerin for.--"Equal parts of sulphur and pure glycerin. Grease parts." This preparation is very healing, and will often give relief even in severe cases.

2. Piles, Strongly Recommended Remedy for.--

Extract Belladonna 15 grains Acetate lead 1/2 dram Chloretone 1 dram Gallic acid 15 grains Sulphur 20 grains Vaseline 1 ounce

Mix.

In protruding, itching and blind piles, this ointment will give you almost instant relief. If kept up several days it will promote a cure."

3. Piles, Good Salve for.--"Red precipitate two and one-half drams, oxide of zinc one dram, best cosmoline three ounces, white wax one ounce, camphor gum one dram." It is much better to have this salve made by a druggist, as it is difficult to mix at home. This it a splendid salve and very good for inflammation.

4. Piles, Smartweed Salve for.--"Boil together two ounces of fresh lard and half an ounce smartweed root. Apply this to the piles three or four times a day." This is very healing, and has been known to cure in many cases when taken in the early stages.

5. Piles, the Cold Water Cure for.--"Take about a half pint of cold water and use as an injection every morning before trying to have a movement of the bowels." This simple treatment has cured many cases where the stronger medicines did not help.