The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-11-05
THE REFIEXES AND COUNTER.IRRITATION

It may interest folks who are always asking
 where I get the ideas for these daily health | talks, to know that got the idea for this one | from the paper. A lady exasperated beyond en- | durance wrote to the editor to demand why in
 tarnation some second rate stores permitted
 sa1esw omen to address customers as "Dearie'
 or My Dear.'
 | We have counter irritation in our line, too.
 For instance, pain in the southwest corner does
 not always mean appendicitis. Now and then, | to the surgeons chagrin. 1t proves to be pleur- | isy or beginning pneumonia-the nerves that supply sensation to the body surface playing a little joke on doctor and patient. It Is very an moving to a surgeon to cut in and find every thing around the appendix all serene. and
 then have the patient go on through regular pleurisy or pneumonia. Some patients have very
 little consideration for doctors reputation or professional pride.
 costal nerves. which means they are between the ribs supply sensation to the skin of chest and belly The sixth and seventh intercostal nerves supply sensation to the skin over the stomach: they emerge from the spinal cord high up between the shoulder blades. Right up there where they come out of the spine Is the place to apply a mustard plaster to relieve dis tress felt in the region of the stomach.
 The stomach itself has no feeling Sorry, but this is true. It doesn't alter the fact one iota that you have often felt pain in your stom- ach. You just think you've felt 1t there. The pain or distress you felt was actually in the bely-thats the front wall of the abdominal cavity. Stomach ache" cant happen Belly ache is perfectly honest, even If the reflex cause Is disease or disturbance of the stomach
  son the spine high up between the shoul- ders with the closed fist as rapidly as possible when he is choking on anythng
 Similar percussion on the prominent verte- bra just above the level of the shoulders stimu- lates the heart. These are reflex effects A sharp tap on the patellar tendon two inch of the leg. This is the type of refexes The doctor taps the patellar tendon to observe the state of the reiex-if there Is any serious in- jury degeneration of the conducting tracts In the spinal cord, the reflex Is lost. This hap pens most commonly in locomotor ataxia. For the normal patelar reflex 1t Is essential that the sensation of the tap or taps be carried | along the sensory nerve into the spinal cord and up the cord to the central station for that area of the body, then the motor impulse which contracts the high muscles to produce the kick must be carried back down its tract or channel In the cord and out along the motor nerve to the thigh muscles
 Another reflex which laymen rarely know IS the pupil reflex The normal pupil widens in the dark and contracts in the light; also 1t en- larges or dlates when the individual looks at anything at a distance and contracts when the eye regards anything within foot or two. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS BirthmarI<s
 Please tell me if there Is anything to be donc or used to remove birthmarks: c. M L.) Answer-Only a competent physician or sur geon can remove a birthmark.
 Belly Breathing
 am 81 years old. I have been trying your
 belly breathing exercise. My doctor. when asked about it. said I was too old to try it. But it has brought down my high blood pressure quite lew pOintS; tne uOetOr says Auh-
 proved all around. (Mrs s. E.)
 Answer-Probably the doctor didn't under stand what the B. B. exercise Is. One of its chief purposes is to lower excessive blood pres | sure.
 Slip That Passed for Years In your very helpful monograph on tuber- culOsis you say that "Once tubcrcuiOus person
 has changed his residence and improved or re covered he should always maintain hls resi- dence In the former honic." The former home
 would be the one Inc left to seek change or climate. (H. T. F.)
 Answer-severai thousand readers who
 have received that monograph either did not | notice the slip or ignored 1t as an obvious er- | TOT or assumed meant what 1 said. Thank | you for bringing 1t to my attention. Of course | I meant that the patient should make his per-
 manent home in the place where he has recov-
 cred or regained health.
 | Double Pneumonia | A ncIgilbOP of ours has double pneumonia.
 Does that mean both I0bes aFc involved OF
 something else? P. M Al
 | Answer--lt means both lungs are infiamed.
 Lung fever, lobar pneumonia, picture. .pneumo-
 nia arc different terms for the type Of pneumo. | nia that comes on with chill and high fever.
 with fall Of the fever and relief of all symp-
 toms (so.eailed "crisiG') after perhaps seven
 or eight days. in this illness it is not the dls-
 nbiing Of tho lung or the want Of air. but the
 germ. poisoning of the blood, the toxenila, that kis. This typs of pneumonia occurs in vigors Ous young adults, Anotheg form of pneuino- nla' called Vnri0usv br0neh0-pn pneumonia, cap.
 Hilary bronchitis. catarrhal pneumonia, affects | many patches an both lungs, and occurs ln fees ha nora0na. nhdFAu. OLA folk. with little fevofs