How to Treat the Sick in Their Homes
By H. E. Brighouse
One who is sick is out of harmony with nature. Some or all of the functions of the body are working abnormally. The nervous system is itself out of order, and as a consequence small causes produce large effects. Slight digressions or irregularities which have no effect or are not noticed in good health, cause much trouble in sickness. In health we may eat some unwholesome article of diet, and not feel any direct result. The functions working normally, a great deal of ill usage is borne without our becoming conscious of any derangement, but in sickness a different state exists. Every slight digression is answered by protest from nearly every function of the body. Many a relapse has been caused by just a little digression in diet. It is for this reason that when one has fever, it takes so little to cause the fever to rise. The slightest digression in diet, a little excitement, a little fatigue, and the fever which seemed under control runs away up. It is because of these things that one who is sick must be so carefully guarded from bad influences, whether in the matter of eating, exercise, or excitement. People not accustomed to the sick-room can not realize the importance of keeping the sick person quiet, and especially is this so in the care of children. Conversation carried on in the sick-room, with or without an effort to interest or amuse the sick person, may be very fatiguing. It is not seen at the time that the patient is becoming fatigued. Later, possibly in the night, serious symptoms develop as a result. Therefore, in the care of the sick, avoid loud noises, loud talking, slamming of doors in the sick-room, and every element of excitement. Do not discuss before the patient things which would in any way tend to arouse anxiety or fear. Permit no disagreeable conversation in the room, and avoid all talking and laughing in the close vicinity of the patient. Strong, bright lights are an annoyance and an injury to the patient, where they shine in the face. Let the bed be comfortable. See that the air is pure. A little impure air is much more harmful to a sick person than to one who is well. In health the poison of impure air can be borne with less ill result than in sickness. In sickness the purest air is needed, as the person is throwing off from his body so much poison. The diet of a sick person should consist of simple foods. The digestive functions are acting abnormally, possibly scarcely acting at all, so a diet which requires much digestive energy would produce very serious symptoms, perhaps be the means of making the case take an unfavorable turn. For a sick person a liquid diet is always best. It is more easily digested than solid food. Milk is very nourishing, and being a natural food and a liquid, is, in general, excellent for the sick. However, being a good medium for the growth of germs, it can not be a good diet when the stomach and intestines are not in condition to destroy germs, which is always the case in stomach and intestinal diseases. Therefore, in inflammation or catarrh of the stomach or bowels, in typhoid fever, and in diarrheas of all kinds, milk is not the best diet. In stomach and bowel trouble and diarrheas of children and infants, milk must be interdicted for a time, the time to be regulated by some one who thoroughly understands the disease and the child. It may be from a few hours to days. Milk, in digesting, forms hard curds in the stomach, and because of this can not be used when the digestive function of the stomach is very feeble, as in very high fever. Gruels are good, when rightly made, and are preferable to milk when the foregoing conditions exist. Fruit juices can not be too highly recommended. There is in the acid of fruit a natural cleansing and antiseptic property, and being easy of digestion, in fact not needing any digestion, there is no tax to the system.