p. 197 | Practical Hydrotherapy by GEO. THOMASON, M. D.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 1, 1902

Practical Hydrotherapy

By GEO. THOMASON, M. D.

Lesson 7—Tonic Effects and the Controlling of Hemorrhage

GEO. THOMASON, M. D.

When considering water as a therapeutic, or a curative, agent, its effects may be divided into two general classes: first, as a stimulant, tonic, or excitant; and second, as a sedative, or quieting, agent.

Permanent tonic effect results from the daily application of cold water, with increasing intensity as relates to the temperature, mode of application, and duration of the treatment. The best means for producing the most powerfully tonic effect is by alternate applications of heat and cold. For example, if it is desired to increase the activity of the liver, large, very hot compresses, or fomentations, are applied to the skin area directly overlying the liver, and continued for three or four minutes; then, over the same area, compresses consisting of either a folded towel or from six to eight thicknesses of cheese cloth, wrung from very cold water, are applied, and continued from three to four minutes. This procedure should be repeated three or four times, and the treatment concluded with the cold application. By this means the most powerfully tonic effects upon the cells of the liver may be produced, exciting them to greatly increased activity. The same principle may be applied to other glandular organs of the body.

Cold water produces its tonic or stimulant effect upon the body in a perfectly natural way. Many so-called tonics or stimulants are simply a mortgage placed upon the body, and while they produce their effect, it is only temporary in character, and for every particle of energy they abstract from the body, a corresponding depression is the sure result. A natural stimulant excites those processes which restore to the various cells of the body the energy that they are called upon to expend. An artificial stimulant may well be compared to a whip which is applied to a tired horse. The whip persuades the animal to put forth more strenuous exertions, but it imparts no strength. A tired and exhausted nerve may be stimulated by artificial means to expend further energy, but as no means is provided in the application for the restoration of the vital forces, the nerve is so much the more depleted. Cold water applied to the body day after day excites to greater activity the processes of digestion and assimilation, thus affording greatly increased nourishment to the various cells of the body, and restoring the energy which the body is called upon to expend. The cold also hastens the destruction and elimination of the waste matters and poisonous substances resulting from the bodily activities.

There is no better illustration of the tonic influence of cold water than the delightful exhilaration which one experiences following a cold plunge, or immersion, in the morning, immediately upon rising, or the restful feeling which follows the bathing of the face, neck, and hands in cold water after vigorous exertion and exposure in the hot sun on a summer day.

One of the most practical therapeutic, or curative, results obtained from hydriatic applications is that of checking hemorrhage. For this purpose, either very cold or very hot water may be used. If hot water is used, it must be at a sufficiently high temperature to produce pain. For the purpose of checking hemorrhage, water may be applied either directly to the bleeding surface, or it may control the bleeding indirectly through the mechanism of the nervous system, when, the hemorrhage being internal, it is impossible to make the application direct to the bleeding area.

In checking nosebleed, both the direct and the indirect method may be used. For example, very hot or very cold water may be applied to the nostril in the form of a douche, or ice may be placed in the nostril, while at the same time a very cold compress is applied to the back of the neck or the hands immersed in very cold water. The familiar method of stopping nosebleed by placing a key down the back is based upon the principle of the reflex connection between the skin of the neck and upper part of the back with the lining membrane of the nose. The cold metal coming in contact with the skin produces a reflex contraction of the blood vessels in the nose, thus aiding in checking the hemorrhage. There is, of course, no foundation for the notion that there is any specific virtue in the key.

Hemorrhage from the stomach may be checked also by direct and reflex applications. Swallowing bits of ice, and at the same time applying an ice bag, or a compress wrung from very cold water, to the skin overlying the stomach and to the spine opposite, will generally effectually check hemorrhage from this organ.

Hemorrhage from the lungs may be controlled by applying a large compress wrung from ice water to the whole area of the chest in front, and at the same time applying a very hot compress, or fomentation, between the shoulders. The cold compress should be changed before it has had an opportunity to become warm, and the fomentation renewed every three or four minutes. To obviate the necessity for the frequent change of the hot application, a rubber bag may be filled with hot water, wrapped in a flannel covering, and placed between the shoulders. Great care should be taken in combating hemorrhage from any of the organs mentioned to maintain active congestion of the extremities by means of a hot leg pack, or by wrapping the extremities in dry flannel blankets, and surrounding them with hot water bottles.

When the blood finds exit through the mouth, it is sometimes rather difficult to determine whether the hemorrhage is from the stomach or the lungs. Blood from the stomach is usually dark, clotted, and mixed with particles of food, while hemorrhage from the lungs is bright in color, frothy from the mixture of air, and frequently accompanies or follows a fit of coughing.