American Red Cross Text-Book on Home Hygiene and Care of the Sick by Isabel McIsaac (best large ereader TXT) 📖
- Author: Isabel McIsaac
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Although haste is needed when a child has convulsions, yet quiet is essential, since the slightest movement tends to increase the convulsions or to start them again. As soon as the convulsions are over the child should be removed from the bath and put to bed between warm blankets. Even after the symptoms have completely subsided, the greatest care should be taken to keep the child quiet. He should be handled and disturbed as little as possible. The bath should be repeated if convulsions begin again. The doctor, when he comes, will probably order a dose of castor oil; and therefore, if it is impossible to obtain a doctor at once, the dose should be given.
(in the medical sense of the word) or collapse, is a serious condition in which a patient's vitality and all his bodily processes are profoundly depressed. Generally shock occurs only after a severe injury or a long exhausting illness. Since, however, some persons are peculiarly susceptible to it, the possibility of shock must be kept in mind in treating even slight injuries. The probability of shock is somewhat increased if patients are allowed to see their own wounds. Injured persons should always sit or lie down while wounds, however slight, are dressed.
Symptoms of shock are pallor, pinched, anxious expression, dilated pupils, cold clammy skin, feeble breathing, and rapid, weak pulse. The patient may be mentally normal, or irrational, or unconscious, but more frequently he appears stupid, and though conscious, he pays no attention to what is going on. Unfortunately this condition is sometimes mistaken for sleepiness, and he is left alone to sleep just when active measures are most needed.
If a patient shows any symptom of shock the doctor should be summoned immediately, but no time should be lost in beginning treatment, since the condition may be critical. It should be remembered, however, that panic and confusion may alarm a patient who is conscious, and thus increase the shock. The patient should be covered warmly, and undressed under blankets, without exposure or avoidable moving. His head should be low, and as quickly as possible hot water bags should be placed near but not upon him. If the patient is conscious and able to swallow he should be given hot coffee or aromatic spirits of ammonia, one teaspoonful in half a glass of water. The legs and arms should be rubbed from the extremities toward the heart, but care should be taken to avoid touching or moving injured parts. The patient should stay in bed, warmly covered and closely watched for some time after he has apparently recovered.
Helping a patient into bed is not necessarily the first thing to be done in every case of sudden illness. Great harm may be done by the injudicious moving of injured persons, and often it is safer to make a person comfortable with pillows and blankets where he happens to be, certainly until a sufficient number of people can be found to lift him properly. Clothing should be removed carefully, and one should not hesitate to cut it away if undressing is painful or necessitates much moving.
, in emergency work, are frequently misused. They should not be given when the head has been injured, when bleeding is profuse, or when the face is red and the pulse strong. Neither should attempts be made to give fluids of any kind to patients not sufficiently conscious to swallow. Safe stimulants to use are black coffee, tea, or aromatic spirits of ammonia. Alcoholic liquors should not be given unless prescribed by a physician.
are both caused by excessive heat either indoors or out, but they differ both in symptoms and in treatment.
Sunstroke or heat stroke, usually begins with acute pain in the head, followed almost immediately by loss of consciousness. The skin is dry and very hot, the face is red or purple, the pupils are dilated, the breathing is difficult, the pulse is slow, and the temperature high.
Treatment consists in sending for the doctor, removing the patient to a cool place, undressing him and applying cold, especially to the head and spine, or still better, placing him in a very cold bath. The body should be rubbed constantly in the direction of the heart. Stimulants should not be given.
Symptoms of heat exhaustion, on the other hand, resemble those of shock. The doctor should be summoned, and the patient should be removed to a cool and quiet place, where he should stay warmly covered in a reclining position. Stimulants should be given, hot water bags applied, and the other measures for treating shock should be employed.
CONDITIONS IN WHICH THE DIGESTIVE TRACT IS AFFECTEDare frequently caused by injudicious eating, especially when a person is worried or fatigued. A doctor should be consulted if either one occurs often, or if vomiting is accompanied by pain, prostration, diarrhœa, fever, or other acute symptoms. A person who is nauseated should lie down in a cool, quiet place. Hot fomentations may be applied to the abdomen, or a mustard paste over the stomach. Soda mints or a teaspoonful of baking soda may be given dissolved in hot water, and unless diarrhœa is present a Seidlitz powder or other saline cathartic may be given. A large quantity of warm water may be given to wash out the stomach; it is more effectual if salt or mustard is added, in the proportion of one teaspoonful to a glass of water.
, which is usually caused by digestive disturbances, is not serious in healthy people, and can generally be stopped by holding the breath, or by drinking water. If these measures are not effectual, salt or mustard in water as already described or a teaspoonful of the syrup of ipecac, may be given to produce vomiting. If the hiccough still continues, medical advice should be obtained.
is ordinarily caused by an infection, or by an offending substance in the intestines. The offending substance should be removed before attempts are made to check the diarrhœa. When a baby has diarrhœa four things should be done—all food should be withheld; boiled water should be given freely; bowel movements should be saved for the doctor to see; and unless a doctor can be found immediately, castor oil should be given, from one-half to one teaspoonful according to the age of the child. Similar treatment should be given to older children. Adults should take one tablespoonful of castor oil and drink boiled water freely, but they should take no food until the doctor comes.
has been discussed on pages 193 and 52.
is a sharp, intermittent pain in the abdominal region; it is caused in many instances by indigestion or chilling. The following remedies may relieve it: a hot water bag, an emetic, as salt or mustard in luke-warm water, a Seidlitz powder or other saline cathartic, soda mints, or a teaspoonful of syrup of ginger in hot water. Unless it feels sore or tender, the abdomen may be rubbed up, on the right side, across, just below the waist, and down, on the left side. Babies may be given a few teaspoonfuls of warm water, or an enema of salt and water.
Colic may be serious. The doctor should be summoned at once if the patient seems exhausted, if the pain is severe, if pain is increased rather than relieved by pressure, if the abdomen feels sore, especially on the right side, or if sharp abdominal pain is accompanied by fever, vomiting, and stubborn constipation. If the above-mentioned symptoms are present, no food, drink, or medicine should be given until the doctor comes.
CONDITIONS IN WHICH THE EYES OR EARS ARE AFFECTEDgenerally accompany eyestrain or poor general health. The cause should be found and treated; and especial attention should be given to correcting eyestrain, indigestion, and constipation. Hot applications may be used, but if pus gathers, the stye should be treated by a physician.
may sometimes be removed by blowing the nose violently, by yawning several times, or by drawing the upper lid down over the lower. The eye should not be rubbed. If it proves impossible to dislodge the object by these methods or by others similar, the patient's eyelid should be turned back in the following way: Let the patient sit with his head back in a low chair placed in a good light, and stand behind him holding his head between your side and upper arm. In this position the patient's head is held firmly while both of the operator's hands are free. Next draw down the lower lid, and remove the object, if visible, on the corner of a clean handkerchief. To turn back the upper lid, grasp the eyelashes firmly, draw the lid down, out, and then up over a match or pencil placed across the middle line of the lid and held in your other hand. Then wipe the object carefully away if it is visible.
Irritation that persists after the foreign body has been removed may be relieved by a cold compress continued for an hour or more, or by a drop or two of castor oil placed under the lid. If attempts to remove the foreign body prove unsuccessful, if the injury is severe, or if irritation continues after several hours, apply a cold compress, bandage it firmly so that the eyeball is kept at rest, and seek the aid of a physician.
—Permanent deafness may result from neglecting disorders of the ears. Ear-ache, discharge from the ear, swelling in or about it, pain or tenderness behind it, all require medical attention and no time should be lost in securing it. To relieve pain the patient may lie with the ear on an ice bag, but nothing whatever should be put into the ear before the doctor comes, except when an insect has entered the ear, and causes acute distress by the noise of its beating wings. If such an accident has occurred, the patient should lie on the unaffected side, and warm sweet oil should be dropped very gently into the affected ear by means of a medicine dropper. The insect generally drowns in the oil and floats to the opening of the ear canal. After it has been removed, the patient should lie on the affected side so that the oil may drain out of the ear.
No attempts should be made to remove foreign bodies from the ear or nose, unless they can be reached easily with the fingers. Hair pins, crochet hooks and similar instruments should never be used for this purpose. It is best for a doctor to remove foreign objects because unskillful attempts are likely to move them further in.
CONDITIONS IN WHICH THE SKIN IS AFFECTED, which affects babies and children more often than adults, is an eruption caused by heat and moisture, and aggravated by flannel underwear. It may be prevented by keeping the skin dry and cool, and it may be relieved by bathing the skin with alcohol and water, about one
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