YOUR HEALTH: HERE'S HOW!
Stafford, Jane
YOUR HEALTH: Here's How! By JANE STAFFORD RAGWEED pollens, said to cause 70 out of every 100 cases of hayfever in the eastern United States, are now blowing about in the air, causing their annual...
...The needle was shown by Dr...
...They are apt to have an abnormal swelling of the tissues in the nose with consequent stuffiness and sneezing...
...They appear to make up an important part of the vitamin B6 activity of plant and animal tissues...
...Reaction to chilling processes in hayfeverites is altered...
...Those who can have their babies by this method have the benefit not only of a safe, comfortable time while baby is being born, but are saved much blood loss...
...It is effective in treating anemia in rabbits, dogs, and hogs, in maintaining the nervous tissue of hogs, and in reducing oil-iness of skin in some cases of human acne...
...The needle has not yet been released for general use and will not be, Dr...
...Waldo B. Edwards, and Dr...
...First step in the direct attack is to determine the exact pollen or pollens causing the trouble...
...If you wish a special bulletin on hayfever, write to me, enclosing two three-cent stamps, care of Science Service, 1719 N. St., N. W. Washington 6, D. C. * * * That Painless Childbirth Drug THE newest thing in caudal analgesia, the painless childbirth method you have been reading a lot about lately, is a flexible nylon needle for injecting the pain-killing drug...
...About half an hour later, sometimes sooner, a red spot with a bump like a hive appears if the patient is sensitive to that particular pollen...
...In some cases, this saving amounts to a transfusion...
...When the pollen has been identified, small but increasingly larger doses are injected once a week or oftener until the patient has built up a tolerance for it so that fairly large amounts in the air will not bother him...
...Science Service Report...
...The new vitamins, pyridoxamine and pyridoxal, are reported by Dr...
...By JANE STAFFORD RAGWEED pollens, said to cause 70 out of every 100 cases of hayfever in the eastern United States, are now blowing about in the air, causing their annual sneezes, sniffles, and general misery among those sensitive to them...
...Treatment for the sufferers follows two main lines: direct attack on the cause and general measures to allay the discomfort...
...Robert A. Hingson, Dr...
...If he is not, there will be no hive-like mark over the scratch...
...Doctors usually advise starting the treatment some weeks before the season for the pollens that cause trouble in a particular case, but it may be given during the season, too...
...That such compounds existed in natural materials was discovered as early as 1941...
...Hingson and associates are giving this training to doctors as fast as they can, but it will take time before every obstetrician in the country has ail opportunity to learn it...
...Hingson said, until he and his associates are satisfied that it will stand up under the autoclaving needed to sterilize it before each use...
...their nature was at that time unknown, and they were tentatively called "pseudopyridoxine...
...About 15 out of every 100 women cannot have the method because the bony structure at the lower end of their spines has closed over the caudal space and the drug cannot be injected...
...Esmond E. Snell, of the University's Biochemical Institute, in the Journal of Biological Chemistry...
...The method consists in injecting a pain-killing drug into the caudal space at the base of the spine...
...Two New B Vitamins AUSTIN, Tex.—Greater understanding of the role of vitamin B6, or pyridoxine, in nutrition and health may come from the discovery and synthesis of two new B vitamins closely related to pyridoxine, it appears from an announcement from the University of Texas here...
...Pyridoxine has been found necessary for growth and health of all animals so far investigated...
...At present, many expectant mothers who ask their doctors for this method of banishing pain in childbirth are being disappointed to find they cannot have it...
...The method is not safe unless used in a hospital by a physician trained in the method...
...Mechanical devices in windows of bedrooms to filter pollen out of the air also help the patient to get a sound night's sleep...
...For general comfort, if the patient has not been desensitized, the doctor will prescribe whatever nose drops and medicines he thinks advisable and will probably caution the patient to avoid chilling from iced drinks, electric fans, and air-conditioned buildings...
...They are usually able to withstand a reasonable degree of exposure to pollen, but not abnormally large doses, such as might be encountered on a week-end trip into the country...
...James L. Southworth, of the U. S. Marine Hospital, Staten Island, N. Y., and the Philadelphia Lying-In Hospital, at the meeting of the American Medical Association...
...Important advantage of the method, too, is the fact that the baby is saved from any danger of asphyxia and breathes the minute his nose gets into the air outside his mother's body...
...The new vitamins were discovered because they are several thousand times as active in promoting growth of certain bacteria as is pyridoxine...
...It takes practice to learn how to find the exact space, and if the drug is injected into the wrong place, the results may be disastrous...
...The doctor does this usually by making a small scratch on the skin of the forearm and putting a drop of pollen solution into the scratch...
...Almost 90 per cent of sufferers get relief through this treatment...
Vol. 8 • July 1944 • No. 31
