The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-05-17
Your Health By Dr. William Brady

Signed letters pertaining to per-
 sonal health and hygiene, not tO
 disease, diagnosis of treatment, will be answered by Dr. Brady if
 . stamped self-addressed envelope
 Is enclosed. Letters should bc brief
 and written in ink. No reply can
 be made to queries not conform
 ing to instructions. Address Dr.
 William Brady, National News
 paper Service, 320 West Madison
 Street, Chicago, Ill. ."
 PHYSIOLOGY OF PAINTING
 Painting, swooning, shock, col- lapse, syncope, regardless of the immediate cause, is all the same so far as first aid and other treatment may be concerned. The medical term for fainting-syncope meanS.. literally a pause, contraction, cess e sation or suspension, as 1t does in music (Syncopation, ragtime); that. is, partial suspension or momen- D tary suspension of breathing and .. circulation. .~
 As youngster never knew what people meant by fainting or swooning, never happened to feel faint nor to see any one faint. My first experience with fainting was in a surgical amphitheater as a medical student. The seats for. students and visiting physicians. were pretty smooth, tile, and as the first major operations got under way first one novice and then ans other among us seemed to collapscss- lose his hold on his bench and come , sliding down, untn caught by others and carried out. It never faxed me T felt rather embarrassed about 1t at the time, thought must be of coarser or baser type than the lady like ones who passed out.
 The symptoms or signs of faint ing shock, swooning syncope or collapse from heart weakness or failure of circulation or from hem orrhage (external visible bleeding) or internal concealed hemorrhage are much the same in any instance: pallor, coldness or claminess Of the skin, perhaps cold sweat, partial D loss or momentary complete loss of consciousness. relaxation and limpness of the body, feeble, shal- low breathing or signing, weak IT, regular heart action and small feeble pulse. Practically identical symptoms and signs occur in cases of heat prostration or exhaustion.
 Of course the immediate cause in all instances is momentary failure of the blood to deliver oxygen to, the cells, particularly the cells oi the vital brain or nerve center which control breathing and cir culation. Probably plenty of oxy- gen in the blood but the blood doesn't deliver it. The blood Is idling, stagnating elsewhere. Fa- vorite idling place for the blood is the great splanchnic network Of veins in the abdomen, which may hold more than one-fourth of the entire volume of blood of the body.
 First aid for fainting, collapse, shock, swoon. syncopc or heat eX- haustion is horizontal posture or better posture with head on lower level than hips and legs. f
 Loosen any restricting clothing about neck, throat or chest, but not corset or other tight supporting garment about WaiSt--presSure on belly rather than removal of press sure therefrom tends to prevent stagnation of blood in the splanch- nic pool. Even application Of prone pressure respiration with folded garment or pillow under belly is beneficial for the same reason, es- pecially when the breathing seems very shallow. Now hold everything I'm due on the bowling green but I'll drop in tomorrow just to sec how you're getting on, "a.