TALKS ON HEALTH.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 133, 20 May 1926, Page 2

TALKS ON HEALTH.

(By a Family Doctor.) CARE OF THE FEET. I find there is still a good deal of ignorance about the care of the feet. The ntiiJs should be kept short, but not cut right down to the quick. The feet must be washed every day. After a walk the feet are hot and damp, and a good sluice with plenty of water is the only way to keep the skin healthy. All -the corners between the toes should bo washed with care. It may be uncomfortable, but cold Water hardens the feet better than hot. Two pairs of socks should be in use and worn on alternate days; the unused pair should be hung up to dry and air. The bootlaces must not be tied too tightly—pressure from tight laces is a common source of chafing and blisters. A Blister. It. ti blister does form, it should Toe pricked with a needle passed through a match-flame to clean it. The skin should not be cut off. Condv's Fluid added to the water is an excellent cleanser. I find that many people use it too strong. The water should be just pink, not the colour of ink. A small piece of boracic lint, fastened on with sticking-pliaster should be plac'd over the blister to prevnt further friction. Ir. is sometimes better to take a day's rest even if the foot is not very bad. The surgeon must decide, but a stitch in time saves nine. In spite of all my preaching, I am afraid folks do not wash their feet every day. The Uses of Fain. Pain Das its uses. In the minds of my patients there is firmly fixed the mistaken idea that pain must always be a bad sign, and the absence of pain is a good sign. They apply this very rough rule to all tlio.r ailments. Wind in the stomach is painful; therefore is must be ti most serious trouble demanding immediate cure. Cancer is painless; therefore there is no harm in leaving them : n the mouth. Only when one tooth happens to ache must something be clone, and woe betide the den list who wants to do anything to another tooth that has not ached. Smoking thirty cheap cigarettes pro-diu-.es no actual pain; therefore it is senseless to suggest that it is harmful. A finger struck by a hammer is painful, and it must be seen to at once, and several visits paid to the surgeon to make quite sure that nothing is being neglected that could possiblv conduce to a speedy recovery. A feverish chill is not painful, and it ’? not therefore necessary to hake precautions. Pleurisy is very painful, and must be attended to at once.

Pain as a Warning. Over and over again I suggest remedies for obvious defects, but I am met with a point-blank refusal, because, as the patient says, “It gives me no trouble." I wish I could turn on plain when I wanted to. I would mako the first stages of consumption an unendurable agony. With tho patient writhing on the floor, crushed beneath the awful stabbing and shootings that tore his nervous system to pieces, it would not be long before the doctor was consulted. At present, unfortunately, tho first stages of consumption are painless, and tho poor patient buys a bottle of stuff unless ho happens to rend what I write. Cancer means “crab." and I should like to put a really live crab with extra big pincers on the patient who a tumour. The pain would soon send him for advice. We must be patient. At present the presence of a tumour is not enough to induce patients to ask for help unless it is painful; but we can educate them if we persevere. Pain is a warning in many cases* but it is not lan infallible guide. Tell The Doctor. Will you please bear in mind tho golden rule that you are not to ask tho doctor straight into the patient 's room; you should meet him at the door and tell him all you can about the case, out of the patient's hearing. If tho the patient is your husband, explain to the doctor that he is a very fussy man, that he thinks a finger-ache means death in twenty-four hours, that it is true the poor man has had a lot of worry, that he took rather more alcohol than was good for him, and anything else that you would not say in front of the good man’s face. Then you solemnly proceed to the room and let the doctor have his head. He may ask all sorts of funny questions and do funny things, but still give the the poor chap a chance. After all, you are going to pay him for his visit, and he wants to have a run for his money. I know you like a man who looks at the counterpane and says, “I know; it is a liver attack." But a careful examination of the patient will do no harm. Then you will always ask the doctor what he thinks in front of the piatient. That is an unforgivable crime. Leave it to the doctor to say a few cheery words to the sick man, and then go out and hear what the man of learning has to say. These little things make such a lot of difference.