The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-04-22
HOME HEALTH CLUB.
Edited by Dr. David H. Reeder, La-
 Porte. Ind.


 ITCH:-Slxin trouble after the flu seems to be very common. In some cases the nature of the trouble is very much like nettle rash or hives. and in some cases a teaspoonful dose of cream of tarter in a tumblerfuI of cold water, taken the first thing in the morning for two or three days is all the treatment that is necessary, but for the more stubborn cases it may be well to go more into detail as to the cause and the Home Health Club method of treatment which is found on page III of Vol of the Home Health Club Books, and is as follows:
 People who are in the country for even short time can hardly fail to learn what it means. to be stung by a nettle, and there is still a smaller humber residing in either the country or the city who have escaped learning what it is to be bitten by flea If there is any one so fortunate CD as to have experienced both of these sen sations, he can testify that there is but a very slight, if any, distinction noticeable.
 The dieases now being discussed is as the bite of myriad of fleas or the sting of many nettles. Yet there is a difference between the sting of a net n6JJle Of course the former is only an af- lection of the surface, while the dis ease seems to, and in fact does, eman- ate from the nerve centers underneath the cutcle. Hence it would be useless to expect to effect a cure by any sort of application which does not .pene- trate beyond the surface.
 Certainly there is such a similarity between the two-the disease and the sting of the nettIe-that investigating the condition and results of any cer- tain treatment upon the one will en- tighten us regarding the other
 Doubtless all have noticed the slight swelling, or as some call it. wheal, which surrounds a spot that has suf- fered from the sting of a nettle This swelling is caused by the poison which is injected into the skin, depriving it of its contractile function. It has, in consequence, swelled, and the blood has been driven out of it. Of course there is but a very small amount of poison in the sting of a nettle, hence the portion affected is very small
 When the flesh is stung the effect is seemingly the same as when blow is sustained, which temporarily par alyzes the action of the nerves reach ing that part. The severity of this
  amount of poison injected with the sting. If the cause of the affection is the sting of some very poisonous reptile, such as the scorpion or corbra the force of the blow seems to be ter rife. If it is the latter, fatality soon ensues. The material difference ex- isting between these and nettle rash is that the disease shows no exterior cause for it's presence.
 have known of cases in which the condition of the patient was such that the eating of only a few strawberries would cause a furious attack of the disease, or perhaps it would be de- veloped in the same person at another time from eating shell fish, such as Holsters or crabs. In such cases a physician is usually sent for in great haste.
 remember having once been called to home in which I found great con- fusion and consternation on account of what was supposed to be a suddenly developed case of smallpox. Upon in- qufry I found that a young girl had, on the previous evening, eaten freely of the first strawberries of the season. and was simply suffering from what physicians call erythema, or urticaria, but which we common folks call hives or nettle rash.
 In cuch d simple case. where the cause is readily ascertained, the most simple remedy is usually effective. In the case just mentioned I ordered the patient to drink freely of hot lemon ade made without sugar; I also or dered a thorough sponging of the body been dissolved a quantity of common