Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1913-12-10

the Home Health Club. or to David II.
cago. with name and address In full and
NERVES: ( Written for Home
Health Club by H. Lindlahr, M. d.
l. is safe to say that one.half the
patients who ask for consultation and
treatment have been told that they
suffer from nervousness. After they
have given q long recital Of their
aches and pains, they usually wind up
by saying, "All the doctors l have con-
suited tell me it is my nerves, or it
Is nervousness, or 1T is Neurasthenia.'
What do these terms mean? DO
they actually diagnose the nature and
the causes of the patients ailments?
They do not. They are merely con-
venient terms for covering ignorance.
A certain doctor in Chicago, who is
a we'll known nerve specialist, deltv-
cred lecture before a medical soci-
ETY. on the subject Of Neurasthe
Addressing the assembled physicians,
he began as follows: "A patient
comes to you complaining that he IS
suffering from headaches, physical
and mental weakness, pressure on top
of the head, ringing in the ears, in
somnia, irritability, and most of the
other symptoms of nervousness
known to medical science. After q
thorough examination, you find that
all his vital organs are in good con-
dition, that you can find nothing
wrong with him physically, that in
fact you do not know what ais him
That is Neurasthenia" i
There are many other Latin and
Greek names for diseases which serve
the same purpose-to cover ignor-
ance. Still, the patient who has
consulted the great specialist goes
home perfectly satisfied so long as he
gets a Latin name for his troubles.
neuralgia, or neurasthenia, he thinks
he knows what is the matter with
himself. ~. -.
It does not require a medical edu-
cation to tell patient that 1T is the
nerves., or rheumatism, or "neu-
rasthenia", when his body is racked
by aches and pains and when his
mind is on the verge of insanity. The
brain and the nerves will not give out
unless there is some good reason for
it, and the doctors diagnosis, in order
to be of any value to the patient,
should define the cause of the weak
ness and irritation. =
The cell membranes which cover
the digestive tract serve two pur-
poses, namely, assimilation and elm.
ination. The secretions of some of
the cells lining the stomach and bow
els contain important digestive fer
ments on which depends the proper
digestion of food materials. Other
cells and glandular structures in the
intestinal membranes absorb the d.
gested food materials and transmit
them into the blood and lymph
streams. On the other hand, the mem
branous Innings of the intestinal tract
throw off mucous secretions which lu-
bricate the bowels and facilitate the
discharge of the feces. Furthermore,
these membranes eliminate waste and
morbid matter and systemic poisons.
Thus it becomes apparent that an
abnormal, sluggish and atrophic con-
dition of the mucous membranes of
the digestive tract must have the fol-
lowing results: Q) a deficiency of di:
gestive secretions, resulting in indi-
gestion; (2) the food materials are
not properly assimilated, passing out
Of the body without being absorbed
and utilized; (3)the lack Of mucous
lubricants causes constipation; and
| "a the elimination of morbid matter
and poisons through the intestinal
membranes is seriously handicapped,
which results in their retention in the
system, in self-poisoning, or, as it is
called by the medical men, in "auto-
| intoxication."
| The brain and nervous system, as
we'll as the rest of the body, are starv.
ed. If the intestinal membranes dc
not absorb the food materials, the
blood and lymph streams are deficient
in nutritiye elements and cannot pro
perly feed the brain and nervous sys