TREATMENT:
The clothing about the neck, chest, and body, should be loosened, the head raised, the face sprinkled with water, and plenty of fresh air admitted. A warm bath (pp. 82-83), for about ten minutes, maintained at 98 degree by additions of hot water, is generally advisable; at the same time cold water should be gently poured on the head for one or two minutes, or a towel squeezed out of cold water applied to the head; the child should be quickly dried, and wrapped in warm flannel or blanket; then put to bed. A medical man should be summoned if possible.
Belladonna. Convulsions with determination of blood to, or inflammation of, the brain; hot or flushed face; dilated pupils, etc. Belladonna is especially useful in stout children, and should be given early, and repeated every fifteen minutes for several times. A drop of the tincture in a teaspoonful of water, or one or two crushed pilules on the tongue.
Gelsemium. When there is spasm of the throat, threatening suffocation, and general convulsions. When the brain is the seat of the affection, and Belladonna does not relieve, Gelsemium may be tried.
Chamomilla. Spasmodic twitching of the eyelids and muscles of the face, one cheek red and the other pale; clenched thumbs. It is most suitable for irritable children, and in fits from disorders of the digestive functions. Idiopathic brain symptoms require Belladonna
Opium. Convulsions from fright, followed by stupor, laboured breathing, confined bowels.
Cuprum. Red, bloated face; shrieking before an attack; convulsive movements, the paroxysms resembling an epileptic seizure, but the brain symptoms are less active than those that indicate Belladonna
Aconitum. Fever restlessness, flushed face and when convulsions are threatened.
ACCESSORY TREATMENT:
Diarrhoea during dentition, unless excessive, should not be interfered with. It may be regarded as an effort of nature to relieve congestion of the brain. “Keeping the head cool, and the feet warm,” washing the patient in cold water daily, and allowing him to be much in the open air, tend to prevent determination to the head. Purgatives are to be avoided, and the bowels regulated by suitable diet, or by homoeopathic treatment. Costiveness in infancy is due to errors in diet; if obstinate, or if worms be present, injections of water may be used. The mother or nurse should abstain from all indigestible food. For children brought up by hand, we strongly recommend Neave’s Farinaceous Food, referred to in the article on “Thrush.” If prepared according to the directions, it constitutes, in our experience, the most valuable diet for infants.
26. Spasmodic Croup Child-Crowing (Laryngismus Stridulus).
This affection is distinct from Croup proper, described further on, for it is a purely nervous disease, including Spasm of the glottis. It occurs at the youngest age, before the end of the first dentition.
SYMPTOMS:
It comes on suddenly, usually in the night, with a spasm of the muscle of the throat, so that the child struggles to get his breath, with a choking noise, and becomes livid in the lips. It generally occurs during dentition or from irritation of the stomach and bowels, occasioned by improper food or worms. Under proper treatment, the attack usually soon passes off, but sometimes it is premonitory of disease of the brain. It is distinguished from true Croup by the absence of barking cough, feverishness, anxiety of countenance, and distress between the attacks.
TREATMENT:
Aconitum, in alternation with Spongia, should be given every few minutes till improvement ensues.
Gelsemium is an excellent remedy when the above do not meet the case.
Administration. The remedy may be given in drop-doses in half a teaspoonful of water every ten minutes for three or four times. After the attack is passed, the medicine should be given three or four times a day, for two or three days, to prevent subsequent attacks.
ACCESSORY MEANS:
Fomentation to the throat, by means of a sponge wrung out of hot water; the warm bath (pp. 82-83); and the removal of any known exciting cause.
27. Headache.
Headache may be merely and incidental symptom of a general disease, such a Indigestion, common cold, Typhus, deranged menstruation, Congestion or Inflammation of the brain, etc.; or it may be a more or less local affection, resulting from some irritation of the cerebral nerves. The treatment of chronic headache should be regulated according to its cause, and be under the care of a homoeopathic physician. Headache from Congestion or Inflammation especially requires professional treatment.
TREATMENT:
Belladonna. Throbbing, tearing pains, shooting from one point to another; fulness, pressure, and heaviness above the eyes, aggravated by noise, light, or mental efforts; congestion to the head, with redness of the face, glistening of the eyes, and excessive sensitiveness. A dose every hour until relieved; after- wards less frequently. Belladonna is often useful after, or alternately with, Aconite
Aconitum. Heat in the head from excitement, and aggravated by motion, with a sense of coldness in the rest of the body; sensation as of a tight band round the head; pain accompanied by swelling; cold water to the head gives relief; also in headache, with sickness, vomiting of bile, etc. In rheumatic bilious, and apoplectic headaches, the strong tincture of the root is recommended. A dose every half hour or hour; but less frequently when the symptoms are modified.
Iris. Sick-headache, with much vomiting of bile, pain in the forehead and right side of the head, aggravated by movement.
Nux Vomica. Headache from intoxicating drinks, sedentary habits, too close attention to business, stupefying headache with giddiness and heaviness in the morning after unrefreshing sleep, or after meals, with other symptoms of Indigestion. It is well indicated by a dark, bilious complexion, irritable disposition, and irregular action of the bowels. Headache caused by alcoholic beverages may require the strong tincture.
Pulsatilla. From rich food, with acidity, heaviness of the head, pain on one side of it, shooting into the ears, paleness, fretfulness, and shiverings. Also in women from suppressed period.
Bryonia. From cold, most troublesome in the morning, or after a meal; digging or tearing pains, and a feeling as if the contents of the head would protrude on stooping. Rheumatic headache; headache during hot weather; also with bleeding of the nose, or torpor of the bowels.
Opium. Headache with stupor, heaviness, a wandering expression, sluggish action of the bowels, and after a fright.
Ignatia. With Hysteria, or from grief.
Chamomilla, Coffea, Mercurius, Glonoine, etc., are additional remedies sometimes required. 1 For headache during pregnancy, see “Lady’s Manual.” 11th edition, also Dr. W. Morgan’s signs and derangements of “Pregnancy.”
PREVENTIVE TREATMENT:
An attack of headache may sometimes be warded off by a dose or two of Nux Vomica (if from Indigestion), or of Aconitum (if from Catarrh), if taken immediately the first symptoms are observed.
ACCESSORY MEANS:
The hands and feet should be plunged in hot water for ten minutes; the temples baths with vinegar and spirits of wine in equal parts; food should be abstained from for a time to give the stomach rest and quiet the nerves, if the headache be brought on by dietetic errors; simple nourishing food should be taken frequently, if the headache be nervous.
GENERAL TREATMENT:
This cause should, if possible, be ascertained and removed. In cases of difficulty, an observant physician can generally detect the cause and, almost as often, point out the cure. Highly stimulating food and drink, especially spirits, strong tea, and coffee, should be avoided; there should also be regularity of meals, adaptation of clothing to the changes of the seasons, a healthy action of the bowels, and a sufficient amount of daily open air recreation.
28. Sick Headache.
This, the headache of Indigestion, is often erroneously called Bilious Headache.
SYMPTOMS:
Giddiness, dizziness, swimming in the head, sickness, etc. The headache is stupefying or agonising, generally commences in the morning, and is often confined to one spot on the side of the head, on the forehead, or over the eye.
CAUSES:
Errors of diet; indulgence in wine, sedentary habits; or it may occur in a person whose digestion has been previously impaired without any immediate dietetic infraction.
TREATMENT:
Bryonia, Ipecac., Iris., Pulsatilla, Nux Vom., Mercurius, or Belladonna See the preceding Section, and also that on “Indigestion.”
CHAPTER IV
DISEASES OF THE EYES, EARS, AND NOSE
For many important diseases affecting these organs, not even mentioned in this small Manual, the reader is referred to The Vade Mecum of Modern Medicine and Surgery, or to the fuller work, The Text Book.
29. Inflammation of the Eyes (Ophthalmia).
Ophthalmia is a general term for inflammation of the mucous membrane which lines the eyelids and the front part of the eye- ball. There are several varieties, such as Catarrhal Ophthalmia, from cold; Strumus Ophthalmia, from a strumous (scrofulous) habit, marked by extreme intolerance of light; Purulent Ophthalmia, of several varieties, and from different causes; Gonorrhoeal Ophthalmia, from direct contact of gonorrhoeal matter.