EPILEPSY, HYSTERIA, AND NEURASTHENIA
THEIR CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, & TREATMENT
WEBMASTER'S NOTE: This work is presented for historical interest and subject background only. Many of the conclusions, attitudes, and treatments discussed here are those of an "expert" of another era, many of which have been overturned by science or are not acceptable in today's world.
[pg 67]
CHAPTER XIV
CONSTIPATION
"Causing a symptom to disappear is seldom the cure of any ill; the true course is to prevent the symptom."Rings of muscle cause wormlike movements of the bowels, and so propel forward food and waste. Weakening of these muscles or their nerve controls from any cause, results in a "condition of the bowels in which motions occur only when provoked by medicines or injections". In some cases though motions occur freely, food ingested is retained too long in the digestive tract.
The blood extracts what water it needs from the fluid waste in the large bowel, but when the weak muscles allow this to remain too long, an excess of moisture is removed, leaving hard, dry masses, painful to pass.
When the feces reach the anus, they cause an uneasy feeling, which directs us to seek relief, but if we neglect this impulse the bowel may become so insensitive that it ceases to warn its owner of the need to evacuate. Meantime, the muscles which expel the fæces get weak, so that every motion needs a strong effort of will, and much harmful straining.
Much misery is caused by false modesty in the presence of others. It can never be immodest to attend to the calls of Nature, and such hypersensitiveness is dangerous, for rupture, piles, fissure, prolapse, fistula, are often due to straining.
Lack of exercise weakens the intestinal and [pg 68] abdominal muscles. Unsuitable or imprudent foods or drinks, indigestion, excessive worry, and anything that lowers the general health tend to produce constipation.
Bacteria flourish freely in fæces, and though it is doubtful whether the "Auto-intoxication" so freely ascribed to them, is supported by facts, it cannot be doubted that, whatever the precise mechanism by which the effects are produced, constipation does result in a lowering of the resistance to disease. More frequent fits, colic, foul breath, headache right across the forehead, lost appetite, drowsiness, skin eruptions, irritability, insomnia, melancholia and anæmia (especially the "green sickness" of women, usually connected with menstrual irregularities) are but a few of many ills partly or wholly due to or consequent upon constipation.
The symptoms of constipation of the small bowel are dry stools, usually light in colour.
To cure this type, more water should be drunk, so that the waste may pass to the large bowel in a fluid state. Drink freely between meals, especially in summer, when profuse perspiration often causes obstinate constipation.
The symptoms of constipation of the large bowel are furred tongue, ftid breath, sallow or jaundiced complexion, and mottled stools of round, hard balls, the first portion being very firm, and the remainder nearly liquid. There are occasional attacks of colic.
The first step towards cure is to form regular habits. At a suitable time, say shortly after breakfast, or after supper if you suffer from hæmorrhoids, go to the lavatory, whether you feel uncomfortable or not. Wait patiently, do not try to hasten matters by violent straining, and if for some weeks there is little improvement, do not despair, for the habits of a lifetime are not overcome in five minutes, just because [pg 69] you have decided to amend your careless ways. A short, brisk walk beforehand often helps.
If necessary, use a chamber [pot] and "squat" as savages do. In this position, the thighs support the abdomen, and force is exerted without straining. Massaging the abdomen by firmly rubbing it round and round, clockwise, with the hand, often does good, as does pressure with a finger on the flesh between the end of the backbone and the anus. Try every method before taking purgatives, for with patience and determination these are rarely necessary.
Carefully cooked and "concentrated", easily digested and "pre-digested" foods contain little residue; every meal should contain some indigestible matter [dietary fiber] to stimulate the intestines. Brown bread, porridge, lettuce, cress, apples and coarse vegetables are all good for this purpose, but if taken too freely may cause heartburn and flatulence. Meat, milk, fish, eggs and most patent foods have not enough waste. Boiled milk is very constipating.
Purgatives, injections and medicines, alone, are useless, for the bowel becomes still more insensitive to natural calls under the artificial stimulation of drugs, on which it becomes so entirely dependent that without their aid it will not act.
It may be necessary to clean out the bowel by an enema.
Make a lather with clean warm water and plain soap, and fill the enema syringe (a half-pint size is useful). Smear the nozzle with vaseline, lean forward and insert into the anus, pointing a little to the left. Press the bulb, withdraw the nozzle, retain the liquid a few moments and a desire to go to stool will be felt.
A simpler plan is to buy glycerin suppositories. One is inserted into the anus and acts like an injection. It must be clearly understood that these are emergency measures.
[pg 70]If internal piles come down at stool, do not allow them to remain and get engorged with blood. See that your hands are scrupulously clean, and your nails closely cut and free from dirt; then moisten the middle finger with a little Vaseline taken to the lavatory for the purpose, and gently return the hemorrhoids, sitting down for a few minutes to retain them.
A mild purge may be taken once a week with advantage. Glauber's Salts (Sodium Sulphate), Cascara Sagrada, and liquid paraffin are all good, while Castor Oil Globules are suited for children.
For flatulence, take a 10-minim capsule of Terebine after meals, or charcoal, either as French Rusks ("Biscols Fraudin") or a teaspoonful of powdered charcoal between meals. One drop of creosote on a lump of sugar, peppermint water, and sal volatile may also be used. Sufferers should toast bread, and use sugar sparingly.
Patent medicines almost invariably contain a brisk aperient.
