Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-11-29
CoIi+is Called
Disease Of
Civilization
Encouragement Of Living
Declared Essential
By LOGAN CLENDENING, MD.

ny LOOhN OLEN DENlN ", MD.
THE irritable colon is the dis
order Of digestion that the
medical profession is called upon
most frequently to treat.
The colon is the large bowel.
Irritable colon is sometimes
called colitis. mucous colitis,
spastic bowel, spastic consti-
patton.
1t is q disease of civilization
and especially of highly in
dustrialized civilization.
Today few succeed in a
business or profession without
Living it."
The successful man takes his
occupation to the dinner table
with him, takes il 10 the con-
cert and frequently works out
knotty problems while wide
eyed in bed at 2 a. N.
The modern sales manager Is
urged by his superiors to keep
up his sales and he in turn
must urge his assistants, often
against his will, to function
under terrific pressure.
Not many men are able TO
stand the strain for three or
four years without developing
some form OF nervous Indigestion
because the digestive canal is
most responsive to storms in
the higher nervous centers.
THESE irritations also often
L have their source in the
diet. Too often in our modern
civilization OF high pressure
advertising the wrong person
is persuaded to eat the wrong
diet with too much roughage
and not enough meat.
The food faddist almost in
variably wants to keep us away
from meat. which of all foods
is the easiest for the human
animal to digest.
BY the same token, the human
digestive canal is not particu-
larly we'll adapted to eating
nothing but large portions of
vegetables, valuable as these
may be for nutrition.
The symptoms of the irritable
bowel come from spasms or
distention.
All too often, with the dull
sense of fullness and aching,
the patient gets the idea that
he should clean the bowel out
daily and gets into the cathartic
habit.
This simply adds 70 his
troubles and makes his sense
of fullness worse and his irri-
table colon more irritable.
LOR reatment, emphasis
Il should be put on two
things.
First: management Of the
way Of living. and second. diet.
Sympathetic Encouragement of
the way of living. pointing out
the elements of strain. is by all
odds the most important feature
in these cases.
Plenty OF rest is essential.
Good sleep daily. exercise and
determined effort TO take our
daily work calmly and not 10
take il to bed with US can be
accomplished.
The diet should be free from
irritating foods and low in
residue. Fruit, vegetables and
milk should be avoided at the
start. After improvement has
occurred. they may be added.
Heat relieves spasm. and a
hot bath and one or two glasses
of hot water containing a little
soda or lemon juice on arising
are frequently of benefit.
THE physician who APP
proaches this problem with
sympathy, understanding and
the willingness to spend time
and thought on the patient can
mako happy, useful citizens of
those with irritable colon."--
John NJ. Rumsey.
QUESTIONS, ANSWERS
L. E. D., Detroit. Mich:
Does it necessarily mean that
a young person in the early
twenties has sugar diabetes if a
small amount Of sugar shows in
the urine?
Answer: In most cases il can
be assumed that in person
of this age. the finding of a
trace of sugar in the urine
means diabetes.
1t is much more dangerous to
kid yourself along than 1t is 10
undertake treatment right away.
At any rate the condition
should be thoroughly investi-
gated.
The sure way is TO take a
blood sugar tolerance test which
can be given by any doctor in
practice.
RADIO