Mother's Remedies, Thomas Jefferson Ritter [reading well .TXT] 📗

    A hot bath temperature is from 100 to 112 degrees F. or higher.
    A warm bath temperature is from 90 to 100 degrees F.
    A tepid bath temperature is from 70 to 90 degrees F.
    A cool bath temperature is from 65 to 70 degrees F.
    A cold bath temperature is from 33 to 65 degrees F.

The entire bath should not last longer, when given in bed, than fifteen or twenty minutes. A few drops of water of ammonia or a little borax will help much in getting the patient clean and disguise the bad odor of the perspiration. A little alcohol or Eau de Cologne will be found refreshing. Cold damp towels should never be employed here. The water should be pleasantly warm and changed a few times during the bath. A glass of hot milk can be taken after the bath is given, if the patient feels exhausted, and if the feet are cool a hot fruit can is applied.

Foot Baths in Bed.—The patient should lie on her back, with the knees bent and place her feet in the tub, which is placed lengthwise in the bed on a rubber sheet spread across the lower part of the bed for protection. A mustard foot bath can be given the same way except that the knees and foot bath are enclosed in a blanket. These are often given for severe colds, with head symptoms (headaches), when it is desired to draw the blood from the head. Hot water alone will do this, but the mustard hastens the action. The mustard should be mixed with a small amount of water before being added to the bath. The amount will depend upon the sensitiveness of the patient. The feet may remain in the bath for fifteen to twenty minutes, the water kept at the same temperature or made warmer by adding more hot water from time to time. They are wiped gently afterward and tucked snugly in blankets.

Hot Bath, Hot Air, Vapor, and Steam Bath.—Given for sweating purposes. Fill the tub half full of water at 100 degrees F. and draw it to the bedside if necessary. Lift the patient into the tub and gradually increase the temperature by the thermometer to 110 degrees and 112 degrees F. Maintain it at this point for twelve or fifteen minutes. After this the patient is lifted out into a prepared bed on which a long rubber is spread with three or four hot blankets over it; these are wrapped all around the patient, tucked in closely about the neck and watched continually to see that no air enters. Give plenty of water to drink, as it promotes perspiration and helps in that way to cast off the impurities. Keep this up for an hour if possible, and then the patient is gradually uncovered, sponged under a blanket with alcohol and water and the wet blankets removed. Cloths wrung out of cold water are applied to the head during this bath. The pulse should be closely watched for any indication of faintness, when the patient should be put to bed, immediately. This bath should not be given during menstruation or pregnancy.

Warm Baths (90 degrees to 100 degrees F.) are frequently given to children for convulsions. They should be placed in the tub and cold applied to the head, while the body is washed and rubbed.

Local baths and packs.—For sprains, a foot bath. For menstrual pain, a sitz bath. The patient sits in the bath with only the thighs and part of the body immersed, while the upper part of the body and the feet are protected with blankets. Sitting on a cane-seated chair over a steaming pail with a blanket around the neck and body gives a good bath for pain during menstruation.

Salt-water bath. Tonic action.—Nine to fourteen pounds of sea salt to fifty gallons of water will redden the skin and give an exhilarating effect.

Dry Salt Bath sent us with Mothers' Remedies.—"To a basin of water put a big handful of salt, take a Turkish towel and soak it in the salt water, wring out and let dry. The salt will adhere to the towel. Use to rub the body. A tepid bath should be taken next day to remove the salt."

Starch bath.—Add eight ounces of laundry starch to each gallon of water.
This allays skin irritation.

Bran bath.—Put the bran in a bag and allow this to soak in warm water for an hour before being used; or it may be boiled for an hour and then the fluid drained and added to the bath water.

Sponge bath.—Water and soap should be ready. Clothes to be put on, well aired and at hand. Then remove the patient's clothes and wrap him in an old blanket, expose only the part being washed at a time, wash and dry this part. Begin with the face and neck, then the chest, abdomen, arms and back, and lastly the lower extremities. Warm the water at least twice. Then put on his clean, well aired clothes and into a clean bed, and the patient will bless you.

Alcohol sponge bath.—This is given the same way, only sixty per cent alcohol is used and the parts are allowed to dry themselves.

Tub bath (common).—Prepare everything as to heat, etc. Then carry the patient or assist him to the tub. Soap him all over and pour water over him from a large pitcher. The temperature of the water depends upon the disease. One person should continually rub the patient in typhoid fever to keep up the circulation while the water is being poured over him. A hot drink is given before and after these baths and the patient is wrapped immediately in warm flannel.

Patients are frequently put into a tub with a water temperature of 85 to 90 degrees, and then the water temperature decreased by adding cold water. This bath must be carefully given.

The cold pack.—It is used to reduce fever, delirium and extreme nervousness and to induce sleep. Cover the bed with a rubber sheet or oilcloth, and over this a blanket. Wring a sheet out of cold water and place this over the blanket. Lay the patient on this sheet and wrap it around him so that every surface has the wet sheet next to it. Tuck the sheet in well at the neck and feet. Fold the outer blanket over the patient and tuck it in. Lay a wet towel over the head, or he can be enveloped loosely in blankets and allowed to remain twenty minutes to an hour, only ten to fifteen minutes by the tucked-in method and then dried and put to bed.

The hot pack.—This is given in the same manner except that the patient is wrapped first in a blanket wrung out of boiling water. More covering is put over the patient than in a cold pack, and something cold is applied to the head.

General and Local.—For dry heat, for warmth alone, hot bags, bottles and cans are used. Hot flannels are sometimes used for inflamed joints. Make the flannel very hot, wrap in heated paper or cloth and apply quickly; cover all with a layer of cotton, wool and oiled muslin.

For neuralgia and earache, salt bags are used.

Fill flannel bags with salt, heat as hot as can be borne, and cover it so as to retain the heat after it is applied to the ear.

For moist heat.—This is more penetrating and has a more pronounced effect than dry heat. It also hastens suppuration when it cannot be prevented in acute inflammation like quinsy, etc.

For local pains, fomentations, stupes and poultices are used. Poultices are best for deep-seated pain or continuous inflammation.

Linseed meal poultice.—Stir the meal slowly and evenly in boiling water; boil this mixture for several minutes and stir briskly all the time, and when thick enough it is well beaten with a spoon to remove lumps. If this is properly done it will be a light smooth paste, just stiff enough to drop away from the spoon. Use a muslin or coarse cloth and spread the poultice on this to the depth of one-half inch, leaving one inch space to turn in. Put vaselin over the surface, thin, and cover with a thin layer of gauze or thin cloth. Turn the edges over and roll in a towel to keep it warm and carry to patient. Keep them warm,—one should never be removed until another is ready to be put on. The skin should always be wiped dry before another is applied. Oiling the poultice prevents irritation of the skin and pimples. Cover the poultice loosely if possible with a layer of cotton-wool and oiled muslin to retain the heat and moisture longer. It should be changed every three hours at least. Apply hot and never keep on when it is cold. It should never be used a second time.

Starch Poultice.—This is used in skin diseases for its soothing properties. Mix the starch first with a little cold water and then add enough boiling water to make a thick paste, which is then spread on muslin covered with a layer of gauze.

The Jacket Poultice. For lung affections.—Two layers of thin muslin are shaped so as to fit closely around the neck and under the arms and come over the chest and back, low enough to cover the lungs. Three sides are now closed, and the prepared linseed is poured into the bag and regularly distributed. Close the open end and then apply. Cover it with wool and oiled silk and keep in place with safety pins or tapes which are tied under the arms and over the shoulders. When changing the poultice be careful not to expose the patient. A cotton-wool jacket should be worn a few days after the poultice has been discontinued.

Cold is applied either by means of the cold bath or by compresses, pack, sponging, coils or ice.

Cold Compresses are made by using two or three thicknesses of lint or linen wrung out of cold water or ice water and applied over the inflamed part, and changed frequently. A little vaselin may be rubbed on to prevent the skin from becoming irritated. They are very useful where little weight can be borne. If iced compresses are used a small block of ice partially wrapped in flannel is placed in a basin; there should be two compresses, one of which is kept on ice while the other is on the patient.

Compresses are very good in the early stage of tonsilitis, quinsy, sore throat, laryngitis and croup.

Ice-bags (India Rubber).—With these, cold can be best applied and with less trouble. These are made in different shapes. For instance helmet-shaped to fit the head and long and narrow for the spine.

Crush the ice in small pieces and mix in it a little common salt,—never fill the rubber bags more than half full; expel the air as much as possible by pressing before screwing on the top. Always place a layer of lint, cotton or thin cloth between the skin and the bag. The extreme cold is not only painful but liable to irritate the skin, and may cause frost-bites. Its effect should be watched carefully. Sometimes the weight causes discomfort. In such cases suspend the bag. For the head, fasten a bandage to the neck of the bag and pin the two ends to the pillow just high enough to allow the cap (bag) to barely touch the head. Care should be taken to refill the ice-bags before the ice has melted. At times a piece of ice is wrapped in moist lint or old linen and passed gently over the head in order to cool the head.

For Appendicitis.—There should be quite a thickness of cloth between the ice bag and the skin. The latter must not become too cool. In this disease this bag is a great reliever of the pain and generally used.

Ice Poultices.—In some cases these are better than the ice bag for the reason that they fit the body better. They are usually made of two parts of crushed ice to one of linseed meal or bran, together with a small amount of salt. Make two bags of oiled silk,—one should be smaller than the other. Close all sides but one, with adhesive plaster. Fill the smaller bag two-thirds full of ice, close and slip it into the larger bag.