PHYSICIANS' TREATMENT. What to do during the Attack of Epilepsy

Categories: Diseases of The Nervous System

Keep
the patient from injuring himself, loosen the clothing, take off the

collar or anything tight about the neck. Place a cork or spool or

tooth-brush handle between the teeth to keep the patient from biting his

tongue, but attach a stout cord to the object and hold it in that way.



Preventive and general treatment. In the case of children the parents

should be made to understand that in the great majority of ca es epilepsy

is incurable. The patients need firm but kind treatment. It does not

render a person incapable of following some occupations. "Julius Caesar

and Napoleon were subjects of epilepsy." The disease causes gradual

impairment of the mind, and if such patients become extremely irritable or

show signs of violence, they should be placed under supervision in an

asylum. A person with this disease should not marry.



Diet. Give the patient a light diet at regular hours, and the stomach

should never be overloaded. There are cases in which meat is injurious,

and it should not be eaten more than once a day and at noon time. A

vegetable diet seems best. The patient should not go to sleep until the

digestion is completed in the stomach.



Causes. Should be removed if possible. Circumcision should be done,

especially in the young. In case of a female child the "hood of the

clitoris" should be kept free. Undue mental and physical excitement should

be avoided. Systematic exercise should be taken. Baths in cold water in

the morning, if possible, as the skin should be in good working condition.



Medicines. The bromides are the best, and should always be given under

proper supervision of a physician or nurse.



Caution. I wish to add that parents should always attend to the seemingly

harmless "fits" in their young children. It will not do to say they are

due to teething or worms. If they are, the worms at least can be treated

and that cause removed. They may be due to too tight opening in the penis.

If that opening is small, or if the foreskin is tight it will make the

child irritable and cause restless sleep. Attend to that immediately. The

same advice applies to female children. The "cover" of the "clitoris" may

be tight, making the little one nervous; loosen it. If your child keeps

its fingers rubbing its private organs there is reason for you to have the

parts examined and the cause removed as masturbation often starts in that

way. The parts itch and the child tries to stop the itching. These little

things often cause "big things" and I am sure "fits" can be stopped very

often by looking after the private organs in both sexes.