The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-06-05
COMPLAINTS OF THE AGED

COMPLAINTS OF THE AGED
 Inasmuch as there are few man. ifestations and little or no pain in senile pneumonia, said Dr. Frederick w. Filsonger, in his paper on 'The Forgotten People" published in the Bulletin of the Erie County Medical society and cited here last Tuesday, the respirations should betaken by | auscultation. CDr. Filsinger was speaking to medical colleagues auscultation means listening to the breathing with stethoscope).
 Elderly people have a way of de- veloping pneumonia after a short indiSposition attributed to slight cold" and slipping away before members of the household realize that there was anything serious the matter.
 Dr. Filsinger further said physi- cians should not rely on the char acter of the pulse or the pulse rate of the elderly patient, but should instead listen to the heart with the stethoscope.
 The symptoms of an aged patient with an obstructive or faulty urin- ary elimination should not be dis ] regarded, Dr. Filsinger cautioned. He said careful inquiry and exam ination for signs and symptoms of uremia and chemical blood test may avert disaster.
 Along the same line the doctor warned that negative sugar reac- tion to urine test should never be accepted in case of diabetes, be- cause notwithstanding freedom of the urine from sugar, the blood sugar may be very high and the pa- tient therefore in danger.
 On the other hand, an elderly patient may have considerable su- gar in the urine, due to arterioscel- otic, degeneration of kidneys, al though the blood sugar remains at normal level or below normal. Ad- ministration of insulin in such cir i cumstanceS would be decidedly harmful.
 One more bit of wisdom from Dr. Filsingers address:
 Arteriosclerosis is not dis
 ease, and the symptoms fre- quently ascribed to it are actual
 ly due to other causes.
 In other words, arteriosclerosiS is a manifestation of advancing age, as are wrinkles and graying hair, and it is as wrong to ascribe the complaints or symptoms of the pa tient to hardening of the arteries as it would be to ascribe them to gray ing of the hair or wrinkling of the skin.
 Speaking of graying of the hair, some persons begin to show this sign when they only just ma tured, while others, lucky beggars, don't turn gray until they are old enough to be that way or even old- CT. To. the best of my knowledge it is question not of age or trouble or worry or shock or any such in fluence, but a question of nutrition.
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
 Vitamins in the Air?
 Please give your opinion of the idea overloaded air indoors in the winter time Is & factor of anemia because some unidentified vitamin in it is destroyed when the air is heated over 68 degrees F. GA. O.
 Answer-Twenty years ago l my self conjectured that something akin to a vitamin" in the air was destroyed or rendered inactive by overheating, and that confinement in such atmosphere was a factor of anemia. Nothing "akin to a vita min" has been found in such atmos- phere. However, such pampered living seems to favor development of anemia. Send ten cents and stamped envelope bearing your ad- dress, for booklet Blood and Health,' which deals with anemia and how to prevent or cure it.
 Plea
 Son, six years old, actually eats crayons. (Mrs. A. L) AIlsWer-Young children. not un- commonly, have a fancy for eating chalk, ashes, earth from f1owerpots, etc., and it is of little significance, but the child normally loses appe- tite for such things ythe time he is two or three years old. The lik- ing for such things is called pied. Perhaps suggestions in the pamphlet "The Calcium Shortage" would do no harm-send stamped envelope bearing your address and ask for 1t.
 PyOrrhea
 Your pamphlet on Pyorrhea is fine only wish might have had it to guide me years ago. Blu you say nothing about heredity and most dentists I have consulted seem to think that if one has inherited the tendency little can be done to cor rect the trouble. CT. Fo
 Answer-I said nothing about heredity because I do not believe heredity has anything ot do with 1t. On request, accompanied with stamped envelope bearing your ad- dress, I'm glad to send any reader a copy of the pamphlet "All That Gingivitis Is Not Pyorrhea."
 Copyright, 1s43, John F. Dille Coo Der of Americans do not yet under stand either the economic or peace