The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-02-12
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j.. HAsKIS. Director.
Washington, d. C.
HAVE YOURSELF ovERHAULED.

/ think you are well, but do you know
it? Are you sure that some obscure
organic defect is not at work in you,
like loose nut in a motor, laying up
! trouble for the future?
| This Iugubrious and disturbing ques-
! ton is addressed to you by the United
States public health service. 1t does
not want to scare you, or anything like
! that, but it does want to impress upon
you the fact that a human engine, like
any other kind, needs an overhauling
once in a while, even tho it still runs,
that little defects taken early save
much trouble later. And all of this
becomes increasingly pertinent because
as we become more sedentary and
civilized, We are more and more prey
| to degenerative diseases, which gain
| holds upon US insidiously and often
| show no marked symptoms until they
are well established. An unimportant
toothache gives you plenty of warning
when it arrives, but the onset of can
Ger may be painless.
IF one would feel as much concern
over a slight shortness of breath as
he does over catch in the engine or
his automobile, there would be fewer
middle-aged men and women lettering
around with old age diseases" says a
public health official.
What people ought to do, he ex-
a few generations, is to take time to
keep fit. and have themselves over
| hauled regularly, once year, by
| competent physician. A complete
| physical examination annually should
| become an accepted part of health
routine. 1t is similar to the idea of
preventing dental decay by visiting
| a dentist every few months to have
the teeth cleaned and repairs made if
| necessary. People now regard as
I D 41l-A rraEN %Y-frl
to the dentist saves money and suf-
| fering in the long run. But they have
not learned that an annual physical
| examination is the same kind of an
! investment.
The Microbe Fear.
The general attitude toward health
at present is this: People have learned
to realize the danger of diseases like
scarlet fever and smallpox. Water
supplies are carefully filtered and
| guarded against contamination be-
| cause of the danger of typhoid and
malaria is understood. Pasteuriza-
| ton of milk is rapidly being added to
the requirements of city health boards
because the chances for bacteria of
| tuberculosis and other diseases to
thrive in raw milk have been proved.
AS a result of such precautions taken
1 by local or state officials there is less
! infectious disease than ever before.
| But when it comes to preventing
! heart disease, cancer, Bright's disease,
| hardening of the arteries-the mala-
| dies that slowly develop until they
| become fatal-there is almost nothing
| being done. Doctors are still expert
menting with cures and admit that in
the later stages of the chronic degen-
erative diseases they are baffled. And
| the average individual who knows all
about them from hearing of the COM
plants of his his friends goes blissfully
| oil h0a inc of hi n
| his strong nerves until he too sud-
| denly has a well developed ailment to
| talk about.
A study of life tables, according to
| the public health service, shows that
| so far as persons of forty and over are
concerned, they die at just about the
same rate as they did half a century
| ago. Further back than that figures
are incomplete.
What carry off these older people in
the great majority of cases are the
| chronic diseases. Generally these dis
dividual before he knows of any dan
ger.
A doctor can note the signs much
earlier than the layman. But even he
cannot always detect the warning
| signs by a casual inspection. There
fore, the public health service says
that an examination is not much good
| unless it is complete. For one thing,
the heart and lungs should be exam
! ined with the patient stripped to the
! waist. This is important because by
clothing sounds are apt to be smoth-
cred. And then, too, the material
makes a slight sound when touched
and that may cover the faint murmur
or hitch that means trouble.
After the general practitioner has
made his survey. if he finds a defect
| in sight, hearing, heart action or the
| nervous he adx-iS hi O
to see specialist. That is for the pa
tient to decide
Catching Diseases Young.
If he learns that he is in good con-
dition generally except for slight
tendency to nervous depression, he can
go forth cheerful in the assurance
that his engine as working in good
rhythm. and that his lungs have un-
usual capacity and that all he needs
is more rest and exercise for his faded
nerves. If at the end of another year
the doctor finds symptoms of heart
trouble, there is at least the consola-
ton that the disease has only started
In the past year and that he stands a
good chance of complete recovery.
The important fact about these dam
gerous diseases of nerves and organs
4 and tissues is that in their early stages
they can be cured.
Doctors have been saying all along
ton to preventing chronic disease and
attacking it in its early stages. But
there has not been much evidence tc
show how great the need really is
There were tables made by insurance
companies, but the average individual
, didn't pay serious attention to those
unless he was turned down as a bad
risk by an insurance company doctor
What showed us where we stand
! physically was, of course, the draft
That one-third of the young men OF
this country had some serious defec
showed the enormous amount of dis
ease and disability that people beal
2 unconsciously. For while many of thu
draft men knew they had disqualifyine
defects. there were many more whit
had no idea they were not sound. AND
r II the percentage of physical unfitnes
ran this high in our young men, i
: would be far greater in our middle
: aged men and women. who ought {.