The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-10
HOME HEALTH CLUB

1 CBy Dr. David HI. Reeder, Chfcago.) NERV VES:-CWritten for Home Health Club by H. .Lfndlahr M.D3 It 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 1 long recital of their aches and pains, 1 they usually wind up by saying, "All the doctors I have consulted tell me
 it is my nerves, or it is Neurasthenia' l What do these terms mean? Do l they actually diagnose the nature and 1 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 l well known nerve specialist, delivered | a, lecture before a medical society on 1 the subject of fNeurasthenia. Ad-
 dressing the assembled physicians, he 1 began follows: A patient comes 1 to you complaining that his suffering
 from headaches, physical and mentha1
 weakness, pressure on top of the head, 1 ringing in the ears, insomnia, irrit- | ability, and most of the other synp- l toms of nervousness known to medical
 science. After al thorough examination you find that all his vital organs are | in good condition, that you can find | nothing wrong with him physically, 1 that in fact you do not know what ai1s him-That is Neurasthenia." There are many other Latin and
 Greek names for diseases which serve | the same purpose-to cover ignorance. | Still, the patient who has consulted ] the 'tgreat specialist goes home per- l fect1y satisfied so long he gets l Latin name for his troubles When he is told he has rheumatism, neur- algia, or neurasthenia, he thinks he knows what is the matter with himself. It does not require a medical edu- 1 cation to tell a patient that ''it is the l nerves or fsrheumatism,' or t'neur- Iasthenia,'' when his body is racked
 by aches and pains and when his mind l is on the verge of insanity. The brain and the nerves will not give out un- | less there is some good reason for it, 1 and the doctors diagiosis, in order to be of any value to the patient, should 1 define the cause of the weakness and | irritation.
 The cell membranes which cover the EdigestiTe tract serve two purposes,
 namely, assimilation and elimination. | The secretions of some of the cells
 lining the stomach and bowels con 1 tain important digestive ferments
 which depends the proper digestion of
 food materials. Other cells and glan-s
 du1ar structures in the intestinal mem
 branes absorb the digested food mat
 eria1s and transmit them into the 1 blood and lymph strenms. On the. | other hand, the membranous Things of the intestinal tract throw off mucous secretions which 1ubricate the ] bowels and facilitate the discharge of the faces. Furthermore, these mem l branes eliminate waste and morbid matter and systemic poisons.
 Thus 1t becomes apparent that an abnormal, sluggish and atrophic con dition of the mucous membranes of the digestive tract must have the fol- lowing results: CD a deficiency of di- gestive secretions, resulting in indi- gestion; @ the food materials are not properly assimilated, passing, out of the body without being absorbed and utilized; C3) the lack of mucous lubricants causes constipation; and(4) the elimination of morbid matter and poisons through the intestinal mem branes is seriously handicapped, which results in their retention in the system in self-poisoning, or, as it is called by the medical men, in 'tautO-intOxic- ation.''
 The brain and nervous system, as well the rest of the body, are starved. If the intestinal membranes do not absorb the food materials, the blood and lymph streams are dedc- tent in nutritiVe elements and cannot properly feed the brain and nervous system Somebody has said, nervous ness is the cry of the nerves for food.' This practically true, for the poisons retained and circulating in the blood stream as a result of defective elinin- ation through the bowels, irritate, twttch, pull and bite the sensitive brain and nerve matter, causing all sorts of
  Is it any wonder that the nerves weaken and cry with pain when they are thus starved and poisoned at the same time?
 What is the usual treatment Tn such cases? The weakened nerves are arti- ficia11y and temporarily stimulated by poisonous drugs and tonics, only to become more thoroughly paralyzed, for all artificial stimula tion is folloWC1 by corresponding weakening and atro- nh f a moi Txyho porary stimulation is produced by al- cohol by coffee, tea, and nicotine. Infinitely worse in their para1yzing effects upon the system than these food and drink poisons are drug poisons like quinine, digitalis, ars- chic, strychnine, etc, which con stitute the active principles in many medical tonics. The thorough and scientific diagnosis proves conc1usively that these drug poisons concentrate in certain parts of the body for which they have special affinity and then cause serious troubles of their own In fact, as shall learn further on, by far the larger part of nervous symptoms is due to the presence of drug poisons in the body.
 The restlessness and insomnia, the aches and pains, are suppressed. with bromides, morphine, coal tar prepar- ations and other ''sedatives, "hyp- notics,' and pain kiIIers,' all of which are poisonous opiates, narcotics and chemicals which merely paraIyze them in a still more weakened and diseased condition, but doing nothing to re- move the underlying causes of the nervous or 'tneurasthenic'' ailments. The only rational treatment of nervous disorders consists in building up the blood natural basis through proper diet, and in making the organs of assimilation and e1im- ination more alive and active through the natural methods of living and treatment. What these are I shall ex- plain in later articles.
 CLUB NOTES
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