CHAPTER x.x.xII.
DIET FOR DIARRHEA.
A period marked by constipation, biliousness or poisons generated within or taken into the intestinal ca.n.a.l is often followed by diarrhea. Mental excitement will induce it in some persons. More often man"s early and most common malady, proct.i.tis, is the direct or indirect cause. Some forms of ulceration of the lower bowel induce diarrhea. Chronic cases of diarrhea usually follow the decline of vitality marked by the symptom of Costiveness, which means the interruption of all the functions of nutrition. The intestinal ca.n.a.l is then like a rubber tube with the contents hurried through it. The whole system is irritable as the result of an acc.u.mulation of secondary symptoms expressed by the word auto-intoxication.
The food should be nutritious and non-irritating to the intestinal ca.n.a.l.
Reliance must be placed, in severe cases, on liquid foods and beverages.
The more solid foods may be taken in limited quant.i.ty as the recovery progresses. In more acute cases it is well to stop all food for twelve or twenty-four hours.
You may take:
_Liquid Food and Beverages_: Drink, if possible, pure spring water.
If this cannot be obtained, sterilize the water, or distil and aerate it; it must be pure and soft. Better still: drink toast- or rice-water; kefyr, four days old; koumiss; lactic-acid water; zoolak; egg lemonade; sterilized milk with one third lime-water; whortleberry wine; acorn cocoa; unfermented grape-juice.
_Soup_: chicken; mutton; clam; oyster broth; Doxsee"s clam-juice; bouillon; Milkine; Horlick"s and Mellin"s food.
_Meat_: minced chicken; sc.r.a.ped beef; roast fowl; beef steak; fillet of beef; raw beef; sweetbread; raw oysters.
_Eggs_: lightly boiled, poached.
_Cereals and Fruit_: grapes at all hours, eaten without seeds or skin; arrowroot; tapioca; sago; barley mush; macaroni; rice boiled with milk; milk toast; dry toast; crackers; junket; bread pudding; egg pudding, not sweetened; hasty pudding, with flour and milk; mashed potatoes.
_Avoid_: pork; veal; nuts; salt meats; fish; fried foods; sugary foods; fruits, cooked or raw; oatmeal; brown and graham bread; new bread; vegetables; and most soups.
A FINAL WORD TO THOSE TO WHOM I HAVE DEDICATED THIS BOOK.
It is very evident from the perusal of this work that the symptoms of proct.i.tis, both general and local, proceed from no trifling disease; and also that the disease may have existed for a very long time, perhaps as much as twenty, forty or more years. During the greater part of its existence all sorts of medication have been tried to allay this or that annoying prominent symptom with a hope of a cure.
At the congress of physicians that met in Paris in 1900, one of the subjects discussed was chronic constipation and their "wise" conclusion was that man needed more grease, therefore they mourned the loss of the frying-pan.
Symptoms induced by proct.i.tis in various parts of the body are often accompanied by painful local symptoms, called piles or a "touch of the piles." Then local medication is added to the general treatment, and as usual matters go from bad to worse. Physicians consulted have been honest and kind, but with all their advice the increasing troubles continue. Your demands grow more pressing on your doctor and as a last resort he mentions a surgical operation for the removal of one or more painful local symptoms. The fright is sufficient in most cases to make the sufferer endure the ills he has rather than flee to others he knows not, even risking life itself. Others more bold submit to an examination by the surgeon, which proves so painful at the time and causes so much subsequent suffering that they are now really content not to importune any more for help.
A few in desperation make up their minds to have the local a.n.a.l symptom removed regardless of the final result.
Thus millions of human beings have suffered and died and countless numbers are enduring the ills they have, not knowing of a rational and humane system of treatment; a treatment that not only removes the numerous annoying symptoms, but _the cause as well_; a system that will stand the test of time, _of common-sense_, _of constant investigation_ to know the _why_ and _wherefore_ of both disease and treatment.
For over twenty years I have concerned myself with this and allied ailments, and have treated--without the use of the knife--all cases of piles, polypus, fissure, stricture, ulcerations, etc. At the present time physicians are writing me in this wise: "I want to take a course of instruction from you. I have performed some successful surgical operations on the r.e.c.t.u.m, but it is not profitable; the people will not submit to it." Another writes: "Your treatment of hemorrhoids has been brought to my notice by my friend and patient, Mr. ----. The method you practise is certainly an ideal one and seems to have been most successful in your hands, and I would like to adopt it."
To physicians and laymen interested, I will send, for twenty-five cents, my treatise on Diseases of the a.n.u.s and r.e.c.t.u.m (ent.i.tled _How to Become Strong_). It contains over 100 anatomical ill.u.s.trations, and 125 testimonials, and forms, therefore, a valuable adjunct to this volume.
All whose testimonials appear in the 64-page book suffered from proct.i.tis to a greater or less extent and with the exception of a few all suffered from chronic constipation, indigestion, etc.
Surgeons usually desire strong and vigorous patients. The author asks merely for an intelligent patient, or for some one to direct the home attention necessary between treatments.
This book, as well as the one ent.i.tled _How to Become Strong_, and the author"s other printed instructions, are the result of his desire to make his patients intelligent on the subject of the disease and symptoms for which they seek his a.s.sistance. They truly cannot know too much for their own good in this regard; an ignorant patient can not do justice either to himself or to his physician. Those who have tried all the fads and so-called cures in order to relieve their troubles will certainly appreciate what I have here presented for their study. With enlightenment comes the desire to set things right. So I have no appeal to make to the lazy: I shall leave them to their ills and their pills.
And for those who appreciate the beauty of cleanliness, both external and internal, I shall write another book on that subject, including a prophecy for coming generations. Eternal vigilance is the price we must pay if we would enjoy the highest physical, mental and spiritual expression of our personalities.
Thanking the indulgent reader who has read my description of Intestinal Ills, I advise him to rewrite it in his own organism, if not in printer"s ink: the world will be better for it!
INTESTINAL ILLS.
NO. 1.
CHRONIC CONSTIPATION AND THE USE OF THE ENEMA.
"Civilized" man is the victim, by inheritance from distant ancestors, of undesirable characteristics, traits, and tendencies. While, during the long process of evolution, some of the cruder features of the physical and mental traits have been refined or eliminated, the modern man still clings to certain habits inherited from his wholly animalistic days. Even as the man of that day, so the man of to-day eats far too much and far too frequently.
To the scientific eye, your capacious digestive apparatus is a psycho-physical exhibit of the racial proclivity to overeat. Here, in this exhibit, the race"s inordinate craving for food and drink, its gluttonous thought, have embodied themselves; and this exhibit, this apparatus, is accordingly not merely physical, but also psychical, for its sub-conscious outreach for "more and always more" is only too apparent. Man"s stomach and bowels are too much like those of a mere animal, and are the source of nine-tenths of his ills.
All great consumers of foodstuffs, Nature declares, should walk on all fours; if you will persist in walking on your hind legs, you will have to pay the penalty. You will, moreover, contract other habits not conducive to real animal health. And, as Nature predicted, man"s social customs to-day are out of all accord with gluttonous feeding; he, as well as his capacious bowels, suffers the consequences of his excessive feeding, and this suffering leads him to adopt artificial means for relief or escape. Up-to-date civilization has constrained man to adopt a cooped-up existence, one that shuts out, to a great extent, sunshine and air; an existence, moreover, that involves but a limited amount of exercise. How, then, can it be otherwise than--gormand that he is--that he should fare ill with this gluttonous, mammoth digestive ca.n.a.l?
Man is not as yet more than half human, and he will not become truly human until he makes more use of the upper lobes of his brain, nor until the spiritual part of his nature becomes dominant. When that day dawns he will have a corresponding evolution of the physical body, especially of the gastro-intestinal ca.n.a.l. Some one has sagely said that man"s brain is a mere extension of his intestinal ca.n.a.l. Well, possibly by and by the intestinal ca.n.a.l may become an extension of a spiritually awakened mind, with all its dominating influence over the physical body. Surely the evolutional trend from animal to complete manhood may be aided by intelligent foresight as to bodily care and hygiene.
Cooped up like a canary bird, or penned up and fattening like a hog, with his enormous eating capacity and vast intestinal storage s.p.a.ce, poor man has matters made worse by having his several orifices liable to inflammatory invasions. He does not seem able to escape from his enemies anywhere.
The mucous membrane lining the orifices of the body is nothing more than the skin turned in to line ca.n.a.ls for air, gases, liquids, and solids to pa.s.s in and out in order to keep up the physio-logical functions of the body. Very rarely, indeed, do we find, from childhood to old age, the orifice of the intestinal sewer otherwise than chronically inflamed, the invasion extending, moreover, the whole length of the r.e.c.t.u.m for some distance into the sigmoid colon.
It is no trifling matter to have the function of some thirty feet of the gastro-intestinal tract disturbed, especially of the large intestine--some five feet in length, two and a half inches in diameter in not a few sections.
Almost without exception, we find the lower portion of the intestinal sewer the seat of chronic inflammation that extends into the sigmoid colon; and, as an inevitable result of the inflammation, contraction more or less permanent has taken place in the circular and longitudinal muscular bands that form its structure. The constriction is especially severe at the junction of the r.e.c.t.u.m with the sigmoid colon, where it flexes upon itself in the region where the bore of the r.e.c.t.u.m is less.
The comparative shutting up of the caliber of the upper end of the r.e.c.t.u.m and lower portion of the sigmoid colon occasions undue retention of the feces and gases which acc.u.mulate, and in acc.u.mulating dislocate various portions of the large intestine, thus forming pouches, sacks, reservoirs, prolapse, etc., which hold the products of putrefaction as well as the irritating, poisonous mucus thrown out from the inflamed tissue.
I regard the occlusion of the upper portion of the r.e.c.t.u.m, and especially of the region involved in the flexure of the bowel, as the most usual seat and source of constipation. Not so very long ago it was the custom to stretch the sphincter muscles for the "cure" of constipation; at the present time the "cure" is found in the valves of the middle lower portion of the r.e.c.t.u.m. The folly of these "cures"
becomes apparent when we understand that the parts treated were neither the seat nor the source of constipation. I have always regarded great retention of feces in the r.e.c.t.u.m as _impaction_ in a delivery ca.n.a.l, due to contraction of the a.n.a.l muscles, not as constipation, which can only take place in the temporary storage-place--the sigmoid flexure.
The lower two-thirds of the r.e.c.t.u.m plays no part in constipation of the bowels.
Form a manikin, made out of very thin, soft rubber tubing, to represent the stomach and small and large intestine, holding the various parts in place with elastic bands, and cotton to represent fat. When all portions are properly and anatomically placed close the lower eight or ten inches of the manikin, representing the lower portion of the sigmoid colon, r.e.c.t.u.m, and a.n.u.s, just as tightly as we should find it closed in sufferers from chronically acute proct.i.tis and colitis. Now insert at the stomach portion of the manikin a generous amount of man"s usual mixture of foodstuffs and liquids, and repeat the supply three or four times during the day (without any previous attempts at cleansing), and then note the fermentative and putrefactive changes that take place; the ensuing bacterial poisons and the great volume of poisonous gases--all of which occasion squirming, twisting movements of the manikin as dislocations here and there occur, as pouches and reservoirs develop, as the walls become distended with gas and putrid substance; and then, time elapsing, the usual foodstuffs are added to the foul ma.s.s within! Now, if there is any pity in your soul, you medical man, for the enfouled and deformed human manikin, you will want to wash it out with cleansing water before its structure comes to an untimely end.
We medical men all know the numerous and grave symptoms exhibited by one or more organs of the body, or by all of them, from the persistent work of the deleterious gases and bacterial poisons on the system--a work going on for years, finally placing the victim beyond medical aid.
All of us are agreed that the capacious gastro-intestinal ca.n.a.l should be clean. What, I submit, is the best means of keeping clean this long, large, tortuous, s.p.a.cious, valved and flexed ca.n.a.l--a ca.n.a.l that disease has here and there pouched, dislocated, bagged, reservoired; a ca.n.a.l at whose lower end a great cesspool exists; that, like other portions of the gut, is never empty and clean--what is the best means but a flushing with copious amount of water?
Proct.i.tis or colitis is a very serious disease; like a railroad injury, it is found, on examination, to be much worse than appearances at first indicated.
A physician who prescribes for a case of chronic constipation or diarrhea without first examining the sufferer for proct.i.tis and colitis, is either ignorant or does wilful harm to his patient and injury to his practice. The abominable, aboriginal and almost universal custom at the present time of giving some physic to "cleanse" the gastro-intestinal ca.n.a.l is in every respect a deplorable mistake for a conscientious doctor to make.