The Ypsilanti daily press., 1944-08-23


oaly, and then only through
his column.
face of a medical emergency. Old
er people can perhaps to a cer-
tain extent treat their own emer-
gencies, but babies and children
are entirely dependent, so we will
begin with them.
Commissions are a terrifying
spectacle in child and the parents
almost invariably become panic
stricken. But the condition is not
usually as serious as it looks, and
responds to very simple household
remedies. In fact, convulsions are
quite common in childhood. The
newly forming delicate nervous
system of the child is readily upset
by causes that would have no eff
feet on the adult. The picture of
a convulsive seizure can be mis-
taken for nothing else--the star
ing eyes, the rigid body shaken by
spasms, unconsciousness the con-
tortions of the face and rigidity of
the neck tell the story clearly at
q glance.
The commonest cause Of convul-
sions in children is fever, and a
fever as high as 106 nearly invari-
ably causes convulsion in a small
child. Therefore the first thing to
do after the convulsion is over is
to take the child's temperature
and, if it is high, strip off the
clothes and put the child in tepid
bath of 80 degrees. A colder or hot
ter bath is dangerous, the cold
bath contracting the superficial
blood vessels of the skin and driv-
ing the blood to the internal or
gans and thus possibly inducing
another convulsion. Only when no
fever is present or the bath does
not calm the muscular irritability
down should sedatives be given.
The second commonest cause of
convulsions in childhood is intes-
final putrefaction, so an enema is
indicated.
Group
Group, an old fashioned name,
may be retained to designate a
combination of hoarseness, bark
ing or rasping cough, spasm of the
vocal cords so that the breath
comes and goes with difficulty,
with long drawn Growing or Wheel
ing sounds. Because the child usu-
ally awakens at night with this
set of symptoms it makes the sit
uation all the more alarming. The
fear of the parents is always that
Group is caused by diphtheria, but
diphtkeria is not as frequent as it
used to be, and if the child has
haG its immunization with diph-
iberia toxoid it can be eliminated.
The commonest cause of Group
is bronchitis with laryngitis and
thick, ropy mucus clinging to the
vocal cords. The spasm of the mus
cles of the larynx is the thing to
overcome and this can best be done
by inducing vomiting. A teaspoon
full Of syrup of ipecac will do this,
or, if this is not at hand, give a
teaspoonful Of melted butter, lard
or olive oil every few minutes. Be-
sides this, put cold compress,
made by wringing a wash cloth
out of cold water, over the region
of the larynx and hot water inhal-
alton, which can be arranged by
allowing steam from the spout of
a teakettle to be breathed in. A
medicament is not necessary with
this steam, but if one is used, tinc-
ture Of benzoin thrown on the
water in the kettle is the best.
Nose Bleed
Nose bleed-if a nose bleed has
lasted more than 10 minutes in
spite Of such simple treatment as
rest, compression of the nose and
cold applications to the face,
tampon consisting Of gauze or cot
ton should be inserted deep in the
nose. II you get a doctor he will
probably saturate the tampon
with adrenalin, but this is too dan
gerous q drug for household
medicine.