The health question box

Yawning Q. What is the cause of yawning? A. Physiologists tell us that in the middle of the upper portion of the spinal cord there is a small nerve center which has charge of the back movement or group of movements which we call yawning. Just what brings this center into action nobody knows. It is a curious fact, however, that the disposition to yawn seems to be to a certain extent infectious. If one of a group of persons yawns another member of the group is almost certain to yawn a few minutes later. Yawning generally occurs when a per­son is weary or drowsy. Many persons are in­clined to yawn after eating. Bathing the face with cold water, drinking a glass of hot or cold water or some refreshing beverage will generally cause the disposition to yawn to disappear.

Tea and Coffee Neurasthenia Q. Does the use of tea and coffee cause neurasthenia? A. Yes. The widespread use of tea and cof­fee in England and America and in other civil­ ized countries is unquestionably a prolific cause of neurasthenia, especially in women who, on the whole, seem to be more susceptible to these drugs than are men, and more addicted to their use. A man or woman who cannot begin a day's work in comfort without one or two cups of tea or coffee, or who suffers from headache or nervousness when deprived of the accustomed beverage, is a tea or coffee neurasthenic and as much a drug habitue as a person who is addicted to the use of opium or cocaine.

Muscular Co-ordination Q. What is meant by muscular co-ordin­ation? A. The coordination of muscular movement is one of the results of training which is secured through the use of the muscular sense. Co-ordination denotes the association of various muscles in performing work, particularly such complicated acts as writing, walking or piano playing. A man who has lost the power of co ordination in the legs, staggers when he walks. This is the cause of staggering in a drunken man or a man suffering from locomotor ataxia. Neu­ rasthenics sometimes show this symptom slightly, especially in the hands. Inability to stand with the eyes closed is a test for inco-ordination. The loss of the muscle sense in locomotor ataxia leads to incoordination. It may be rede­ veloped by training, which is of great importance in the treatment of locomotor ataxia and other conditions in which this function is disturbed. Every new association of muscles must be learned and perfected by repeated effo...

Muscle Tone Q. What is meant by the term "muscle tone"? A. The living muscle is always at work. The controlling centers continually send out a rhythmic stre a m of impuls e s whereby the muscle is kept constantly in a state of contraction. This is muscle tone. Wh e n the ner v e centers are full of en e r gy and the muscles are in a healthy state, mu s cle tone is g ood; that is, strong impulses are sent into strong muscles, and the result is strong muscular tension. In certain conditions of dis­ease when irrit a ti o n of mu s cl es or nerve centers exists, e ither a s th e result of t he direct effect of diseased co nditions or of reflex influence, tension ma y be enonnously exa gg erated, as may be seen, for example, in torticollis, writer's cramp, hysteria and in the tensed condition of the ab­dominal muscles accompanying disease of the appendix or inflammation of the gall bladder. Imperfectly developed muscles are deficient in tone. Unused muscles rapidly l...

Morning Depression Q. What is good for morning depression? A. A cold morning bath, properly ad­ ministered, is a complete antidote for the morn­ ing depression experienced by many neu­ rasthenics. It is of the highest importance, how­ ever, that the bath should be taken in a proper way. The average neurasthenic would be little likely to receive benefit from a plunge into a tub filled with cold water. Such a bath ' would likely be followed by an aggravation of symp­toms, increased pain, increased depression, in­ creased disturbances of circulation, as shown by cold hands and feet, etc. A single trial would be sufficient to discourage further efforts in the direction of cold bathing. Neurasthenics are g enerally highly s e nsitive to the effects of cold water, and on this account it is necessary that several important precautions should receive careful attention.

Mind Blindness Q . What is meant by mind blindness? A. Mind blindness is a condition in which, al­though a person's eyesight is perfect, he is still unable to see. The eye and the optic nerve per­form their function properly, but the nerve center in the brain in which are stored the memories of sight no lon ge r performs its function and so the object is not recognized, although it may be a most familiar one. Mind blindness may be related to various objects or only to words. In some rare cases the mind blindness may relate to words of one langua g e only, while words of an other language may be recognized promptly. This condition is due to an injury to a small portion of brain substance found near the anterior portion of the left side of the brain. Recovery sometimes occurs, although the injury is often permanent.

Remedy for Locomotor Ataxia Q. Is there any remedy for this disease? If so what? A. This disease being generally due to syph­ilitic infection it is evident that a person suffer­ing from locomotor ataxia should submit at once to a thoroughgoing examination by a competent physician. The Wasserman test should be ad­ministered . Other me a sures are also valuable. By proper gymnastic training the staggering gait may be greatly improved or overcome. The patient must live the simple life.

Locomotor Ataxia Q. What ts the cause of locomotor ataxia? A. The most common cause is syphilis. It is one of the late manifestations of infection of the body with the spirochete, the parasite to which the disease known as syphilis is due. It is barely possible that locomotor ataxia may be due to some other causes, but it is the general belief among physicians that this malady is rare­ly, if ever, attributable to any cause other than syphilitic infection. Syphilitic infection con­ tracted in youth is likely to be followed twenty or thirty years later by tabes dorsalis or locomotor ataxia. The infection may be inherited.

Baths for the Insane Q. Can insanity be cured by baths and diet? A. Certain forms of insanity are greatly bene­fited by the proper baths. This is particularly true of melancholia and mania . Acute forms of insanity generally recover under careful treat­ment, including baths, proper regulation of the diet, etc. Baths are now administered in all well­ organized insane asylums. The prolonged neutral bath is of special value in the treatment of insanity. In a case of acute mania the neutral bath is superior to all remedies as a means of producing sleep . The patient is placed in the bath suspended in a hammock and is kept in the bath until he becomes quiet. At first a very prolonged ap­plication may be necessary; two or three or even ten or twelve hours , but the patient sooner or later becomes quiet and falls into a refreshing sleep. The neutral bath is now recognized as the most valuable of all means to promote recovery in these cases. The shower bath and douche, both hot ...

Treatment of the Narcotic Habit Q. What is the best way to get rid of a narcotic habit? A. The best means of ridding oneself of the alcohol, tea, coffee, or tobacco habit is to adopt a dry dietary, making free use of fruits, es­pecially fresh fruits, also stewed fruits and fruit juices. Flesh food s and anim a l broth s and ex­tracts unquestionably excite the nerves, and create a demand for the soothing effect of a narcotic. Hence a person who desires to free himself from the alcohol, the tobacco or the tea or coffee habit must first of all dispense with all flesh foods. Condiments must a lso be dis­carded, as these irritate and excit e th e nerves, creating a desire for the soothing effects of some narcotic drug. The nervousness and irritability which fol­lows the withdrawal of the accustomed drug may be wonderfully relieved by the prolonged neutral bath at a temperature of 94° to 96° F. The duration of the bath may be indefinite; several hours if necessary. If there is ...

Prolapsed Stomach and Bowels Q. Does prolapse of the stomach and bowels produce neurasthenia? A. Weakness of the trunk muscles, resulting in a sagging of the abdominal wall and a pro­lapse of the viscera, must be regarded as one of the causes of gastric or splanchnic neurasthenia-one of the most common results of a sedentary life. The deforming bulge of the lower ab­domen is most commonly seen in persons of se­dentary habits. It is most common in women, but professional men of all classes very fre­quently present the same ungainly shape of bod y and suffer from the natural consequence­ splanchnic engorgement and visceral neuras­thenia .

Fear Q. Is there any relation between fear and disease? A. There is no doubt that fear, worry and other depressing emotions-anxiety, sorrow, apprehension, pain and suspense are active causes in producing disease. Doctor Jensen, an eminent London physician, by careful analysis of the symptoms resulting from these depressing emotions, has discovered that their effects are sim­ilar to those resulting from severe surgical shock. The blood vessels of the intestines be­ co me paralyzed, the blood accumulate s in these p arts, robbing the brain and other vital organs of their natural blood supply and so producing mental inefficiency, shortness of breath and a general condition resembling fatigue. This distension of the blood vessels of the intestine encour­ag es the absorption of the poisons generated  the intestine, while at the same time increasing the production of poisons by impairing the di­gestive functions. The extreme dryness of the mouth which usually accompanies a stat...

Night Noise Q. Are night noises injurious if one is able to sleep in spite of them? A. That noise may be a cause of disease is no longer questioned by pathologists. Certain persons get used to noises, no matter of what sort, when long exposed to them, and seem to suffer no injury; but even these persons are being damaged more or less by the constant ham mering upon their nerve centers through the auditory nerves. Nerve centers need rest quite as much as do muscles. Sound, restful sleep in the presence of noise is impossible. A person who lives in the midst  of noise gets no really complete rest day or night; asleep or awake, the nerve centers are constantly receiving a torrent of irritating im­pulses. This incessant nerve nagging gives no opportunity for recuperative rest.

How to Cure Worry Q. How can one overcome a disposition to worry? A. The man who worries because of the threatened collapse of an important business enterprise, to the building up of which his whole life has been devoted, may not be relieved until the threatened danger is averted or the crisis passed. The man who is suffering from phy­sical deterioration, because of chronic toxemia, must be renovated physically. Poison habits must be abandoned. A natural antitoxic diet­ ary must be substituted for his customary poison-laden bill of fare. The bowels must, by nat­ural means, be made to move three or four times a day, thus ridding the body of the in­fluence of worry-producing poisons. There must be a complete revolution in living habits, and a thoroughgoing adoption of simple-life principles of living. By this means a general physical regeneration may be produced, with the development of which the disposition to worry will gradually disappear as the cause is removed, until fin...

Mental Healing Q. Is "mental healing" possible? A. The success of various classes of mind healers with certain invalids affords most con­vincing evidence that a large number of per­sons suffer from maladies which have their chief seat in a morbid imagination or a wrong mental attitude. Thousands of neurasthenics are made miserable by depressing symptoms which are the outgrowth of a disordered state of the nervous system, and which have no organic foundation. Morbid sensations which are dis­ tressing and even highly painful in these pa tients not infrequently disappear instantly when some happy circumstance produces a favorable change in the patient's state of mind. On the other hand, an unfavorable mental change may bring about at once an aggravation of symptoms present or may induce a wholly new crop of un­ pleasant sensations. Every physician of ex­ perience has encountered such cases.

Worry and Exhaustion Q. Why does worry cause exhaustion and depression? A. Worry is a sort of mental short-circuit­ing which rapidly exhausts the nerve centers, draining them of their energy and unfitting the body for useful effort. Experiments have demonstrated that depressing emotions are far more powerful causes of w e ar and tear to nerve centers than is healthy brain w ork. Ac c ording to Mosso's observations, the effect of vigorous intellectual activity upon the brain is far less than that of a disturbing emotion. Mental work, combined with worr y and anxiety, tears down the nerve centers, exhausts their stores of en­ergy, and c rippl e s their abilit y to recuperate; but it is not the work its e lf w hich does the mischief; it is the cross-fire, the short circuit, the confusing and harassing influence of dis­turbing emotions, which exhaust the nerve forces and prevent the brain from repairing its losses.

How the Mind May Cause Disease Q. How does the mind affect the body in producing disease? A . Recent scientific experiments show that joy, sorrow, anger and fear, as w ell as other emotional states, are powerful forces which may exalt or depress bodily functions as quickly and as powerfully as the most potent drugs or the most active physical agents. Joyful emotions heighten the activity of all the bodily functions. Under the influence of joy the small arteries and capillaries dilate, and every organ receives an increased and more active blood supply. Through the influence of joy upon the muscular system there is not only an increased disposi­tion to activity, but an increased capacity for effort and endurance. The heart beats stronger, the brain thinks clearer, breathing is deeper, digestion more active, the eyes brighten, the c heeks glow-the whole body rejoices and pros­pers under the influence of a peaceful, con­tented and joyous mental state. Sorrow produces a bodily co...

Sciatica Q. What is sciatica and what is the best method of treatment for this condition? A. Sciatica is a painful affection of the sciatic nerve or large nerve which supplies the back part of the thigh and also the leg. The pain and suffering caused by this dis­ ease is often most distressing. Fortunately it may generally be relieved. A very hot bath is a most excellent remedy for relieving the pain of sciatica. The patient sits in an ordinary tub with the limbs extended and the water deep enough to reach the um­ bilicus. The temperature of the water is grad­ually raised until as hot as can possibly be borne. The duration of the bath should be two to ten minutes. At the end the temperature may be reduced to 80° F. for half a minute. The pa­ tient should be then put in bed and wrapped up warmly. Hot fomentations over the painful parts, the arc light, photophore, thermophore, galvanism and massage are other measures which may be used advantageously. Sometimes sciatica is du...

Shingles-Herpes Zoster Q. What causes shingles? A. This peculiar and very painful disease is due to inflammation of a nerve trunk believed to be the result of infection. The most com­ mon seat of the disease is the side. The erup­ tion follows the course of the inter-costal nerve. A single nerve trunk of the leg or any other part of the body may be the seat of the inflam­ mation. At the beginning of the disease very hot applications applied over the affected parts give the most relief. If for example, the shingles affects the side, the most common seat, the fomentations should go two thirds the way around the body, and should reach from the armpit to the hip. The affected part itself should be covered first with a little dry cotton or cheese cloth, and then by mackintosh or a piece of newspaper folded to three or four thicknesses. After the fomenta­tions, rub the sound skin over the whole sur­face that has been reddened with the hand or a soft napkin dipped in very cold wate...

Prickling Sensations Q. What is the cause of prickling sen sations? A. Hot flashes, cold sensations, prickling, smarting, "electric thrills" and a great variety of other perversions of sensations are ex­ perienced by certain classes of neurasthenics. While all these symptoms are sometimes ex­ perienced by those suffering from organic nerv­ ous diseases, their occurrence in neurasthenia has no other significance than a disturbed cir­ culation of the nerve trunks.