The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-09-12
SMOKING AND GASTRIC
 HIT ,CER-H

ULCER-lI.
 pr R. Friederich, in Archiv fur klinische Chirurgie, Berlin, com. pares the effect of smoking with the effect of sham feeding; the re- sultant flow of gastric juice is harmful even to the healthy cells. Smoking on an empty stomach is therefore particularly damaging. Of 153 men operated on for gas- tric ulcer, nearly 80 per. cent were excessive smokers, averaging from 20 to 30 cigarettes a day. In addition to the effect of the nicotine Cor pyridine or carbon monoxide or whatever the poison ous factor in tobacco smoke may be) swallowed with the saliva and absorbed from the lining of the month and the lining of the res piratory passages, the reflex effect already mentioned must be taken into consideration.
 Dr Irving Gray of Brooklyn re- | ported in an American medical | journal several years ago the great I frequency of smoking as cause of heartburn and pylorospasm. Heartburn is not due to excessive acidity, but rather to the irritation of the sensitive lining of the eso- phagus by normally acid gastric ] juice regurgitated or backed up | where gastric juice has no business | to be. (The tobacco hog isn't do- ing himself or q regret to say) | herself any good by taking alkalis | to relieve heartburn or acidity. The alkali may give temporary ease to the distress by neutralizing the normal hydrochloric acid, but that does not promote digestion. Having called names I had bet | ter explain what a tobacco hog is. In my opinion any one who smokes on an empty stomach, that is be- fore a meal or before the meal is | finished, is a hog, and furthermore | I regard as a wishy-washy charac- ter the individual who has to smoke while at work.
 The pylorospasm produced by smoking is painful. It is commonly associated with eructations of gas and with hunger pain at night. In
 fact the tobacco smokers gastric
 or duodenal ulcer complex is diff
 ficult to distinguish from actual ul- cer.
 l Rather characteristic is the com
 plaint of the victim of this tobacco
 poisoning. Distress-food-comfort pain again-food-relief. one girl aged Fl who hac
 smoked fifteen cigarets day foi two years had the pain-food- | comfort-pain complex for sever
 months; another aged 23, who had
 smoked about the same amount
 had the complex for year.
 I f mi. 1l 4NL
 bears no constant relation to tht
 occurrence of heartburn or pair l and the other symptoms of ulcer. However. the symptoms are com. pletely relieved within two or three
 days after the victom stops smok' ing. The symptoms recur promptly
 if the victim resumes smoking.
 Abject slaves of the habit who
 indulge in a smoke before tfeak. fast may count confidently or
 shooting the stomach acidity ant
 secretion of gastric juice up 10 pei cent above normal.
 Of 35 patients who suffered will
 this tobacco produced ulcer com. plex, only one was a pipe smoker The rest preferred cigarets. Tn, pansies! I wonder how the pipe
 smoking guy happened to g et
 mixed up with such a bevy of sis sies?
 | QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
 Going to Call a Convention? l Please be so kind as to give mt the names and addresses of all thu
 doctors you know in (four cities)
 who extirpate tonsils with dia thermy. (J. H.)
 | Answer--If you contemplate thu 1 purchase of a pound of tea I sup. pose you'll want the names of al
 good grocers in New York. Chi
 cago. St Louis and Kansas City
 But 1t takes only one doctor to ex
 tirpate tonsils with diatherfny. Le
 me know what city you expect tt
 visit for the treatment and I'll bt
 glad to recommend doctor fol lyon.