The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-11-10
What Medicine Knows Today

| Bright's disease and the errors of liv
ing which prevail in all civilized lands
! today. The malady is also caused,
now and then, by the presence of ma
lignant organisms in the kidney. or as
a result of infections in other organs.
Only too often Brights disease may be
traced with little effort to overeating,
overwhelming, over-coddling, or too
little exercise. 1t is a commonplace
| of observation, in fact, a great many
| of its victims are of the sort who take
| their ease.
There are no specifics for this dan
gerOus malady, and modern physicians
| employ few drugs in combating 1t,
and then only in an endeavor to re-
lieve the crippled kidneys of their bur-
den and to stimulate other organs to
help them out. The only course of
| treatment which is of avail is that
which attempts a complete reform in
the diet and habits of the sufferer. He
must get fresh DIR and he must eat
| simple foods. He must take no more
food and drink than is absolutely nee
essary for the nourishment of the
body. and he must forswear forever all
| ten-course dinners, highballs and late
| suppers.
Alcohol must be eschewed entirely,
and a ban must be put upon all foods
which are apt to produce alcohol in the
| process of digestion or by fermenta-
| ton In the stomach or intestines. 1t
may surprise many laymen to learn,
| by the way, that not a few total alb
stainers suffer the bad effects of alco-
hOl thus produced. Yet it is true. In
| the face of gastric insufficiency, excess
| food is apt to ferment, and one of the
products of its sugar is alcohol Thus
| it is not impossible TO become mildly
| intoxicated upon piece of apple pie.
Among Old-school physicians there is
still a tendency to prescribe excessive
water drinking in Bright's disease, on
the theory that the food of liquid will
wash out the kidneys" Modern ply
sicians know, however, that this is
fallacy, and palpable one. at that. In
Bright's disease, in fact. the kidneys
! have great deal of difficulty in get
ting rid of normal amount of water.
Therefore, overburdening them simply
means accentuating their incapacity.
Indeed, it is now common, in the eff
fort to alleviate Bright's disease, to put
| the patient upon very short rations,
| both/of food and of drink. A pint of
milk and cream a day. with rice and
cream interchangeable and a bit of
stale bread, zweiback or toast-this is
the common ration. A few fruits such
| as figs, grapes, prunes and apples, are
allowed, but all heterogeneous foods
meats, fish and poultry-are forbidden.
Alcohol, tea and coffee, of course, are
forbidden. too.
1t is best for the sufferer from
| Brights disease to eat small, frequent
and regular meals. Large meals, taken
at long or irregular intervals. are apt
| TO do q great deal of harm. and even a
small setback is likely to cause Sc
rious complications. In severe cases
starvation is often advised.
To relieve the crippled kidneys of as
much work as possible the modern
physician adopts devices to increase
the activity of the skin. That is to
say, sweating is induced. Purging,
too, has its uses.
| Whenever a physician makes a dag
nosis of Bright's disease. he is sure to
| be asked for some prophecy regarding
the probable duration of the patients
life. AS a rule It is impossible TO
make this with any accuracy. but it
may be said in general that. with
proper treatment, the average sufferer
is likely to live great deal longer
! than most laymen believe. If the dis
ease has not progressed very far, in
fact and the physicians orders re-
specting diet and habits of life are
carried out to the letter, there is no
reason why the patient should not live
on Indefinitely. But, unfortunately.
there are few patients with sufficient
force of will to carry out these orders.
The fine SAVIOR of a beefsteak is often
| irresistible, and the temptation TO
take q bracer of whisky cannot be
withstCod. Such disobedience always
carries it's swift and certain punish
ment.
AS will be noted by a study of the
theoretical cases roughly outlined
above, 1t often happens that a patient
is unaware of his condition until he
is at the very brink of the grave. Fully
half of all cases of Bright's disease are
not discovered, indeed, until 1t is too
late to arrest the progress of the mall
ady. man seems to be in perfect
health, when suddenly, one day, he
falls in commissions and dies at once or
| within week. Another man looks the
picture of health until one day he takes
a bad cold or is overcome by the heat.
Ordinarily his system would return to
its proper balance without difficulty,
but with long-crtppled kidneys it fails
to do so and the man dies.
The only certain way TO avoid
Bright's disease is to eat and live sim
ply. Unluc4Sily the conditions of ex-
istence make this regime well-nigh
impossible to a great many men. Not
one man in a thousand" said a high
authority recently, has time to keep
himself in the best possible physical
condition. To do so would consume
the largest part of his working day"
Therefore. Bright'S disease remains
1.-The Dalady of civilization and $4,000
Americans succumb TO it each year.
But It is always possible to make
some effort toward healthful living. 1t
is out of the question, perhaps. for the
average business man to train like an
athlete. but it is always possible for
him to avoid excuses. Over-eating
overwhelming and over work are
crimes against himself and his chill
dren. If he would live long he must
avoid them.
Copyright. 1907, by J. w. Muller)