Treatment

Categories: Obstetrics or Midwifery

Regulation of the diet; in pronounced cases the diet should
consist entirely of milk and the patient should take three or four quarts

in twenty-four hours. Meats, pastry and sweets must be prohibited, but

vegetables such as squash, spinach, salads may be added to the dietary in

ordinary cases. Vichy water may be taken alone or with the milk, and may

be taken freely. The bowels should be kept open with citrate of magnesia

(one to two teaspoonfuls in water) or epsom salts in peppermint water.

Exercise in the open air can be taken in moderation. Warm clothing should

be worn and flannel next the skin; exposure to cold and draughts should be

carefully avoided. If the more special symptoms appear, such as persistent

headache, vertigo, ringing in the ears, black or bright spots floating

before the eyes, dimness of vision, an abortion of miscarriage should be

induced without delay. Fortunately such cases are rare and with care from

the beginning seldom occur. Pregnant women should inform their family

physician at the beginning of pregnancy of their condition, and in the

great majority of cases serious troubles can be prevented. Physicians

expect this information and receive it as a matter of course, and no woman

should hesitate to inform her physician either personally or through her

husband.