HOME HEALTH GUIDE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 October 1943, Page 5

HOME HEALTH GUIDE

GROWING PAINS—SO-CALLED. A WARNING TO OBSERVE. (By the Department of Health.) There are still many parents who think that growing pains in a child are a natural development. Indeed, some regard them as being actually a desirable development. This attitude is wrong—in fact, it is dangerous. Growing pains are not a natural development, and they are not harmless. As a matter of fact, they're not growing pains. Like all other body pains, they are a warning that something is wrong, and a doctor’s advice is essential. They mean trouble somewhere, and the sooner the source of it is discovered the better it will be for the young patient. They are rheumatic in origin, and may be from poisoning from infected teeth or septic tonsils. Whatever’ the cause, it must be removed before it has a chance to get dangerous. Rheumatic fever is one of the things to suspect from these so-called “growing- ’ pains. This disease is responsible for a large proportion of the heart defects in children under the age of 15 years. It is one of childhood’s worst enemies, and on no account should ‘growing” pains be lightly disregarded as something that had to happen anyway. Swollen and painful joints in the child, fever arid sore throat, should always be investigated by a doctor. Slight pain over the heart, rapid pulse and shortness of breath, all leave room for suspicion. They all point to possible rheumatism or rheumatic fever.