YOUR HEALTH: HERE'S HOW!
Stafford, Jane
YOUR HEALTH: Here's How By JANE STAFFORD FOR the second year in succession, the number of meningitis cases being reported is running so high as to be near epidemic proportions. In the last war,...
...Meningitis spreads about the way the common cold does...
...Anyone who is getting even a small dose of a sulfa drug every day for a period of time needs to be watched carefully to guard against possible harmful effects of the drug...
...Third, be ready to face the reality of disabilities with as much objectivity as possible...
...Unlike most colds, however, the patient coming down with meingococcic infection is likely to be nauseated and even to vomit...
...In the last war, this disease was a serious problem in the training camps.- Now, thanks to the sulfa drugs which can be used both to treat and to prevent the infection, the fighting forces are very little affected, and the biggest number of cases are in the civilian population...
...2. Do you need alcohol as a prop...
...The need for this is often acute, Dr...
...The person who answers "Yes" to the questions is making the change from social to habituated drinking, according to a report from the Research Council on Problems of Alcohol here...
...This can be done in an Army or Navy training camp, but is not practical under civilian living conditions...
...Second on his list is understanding listening on the part of the home folks, but no prying into the man's personal experiences while in the service...
...Treat the man as a normal, upstanding, competent person, not an invalid...
...NEW YORK—Here's how to tell whether you are still a social drinker or whether you are slipping over into the group of habitual drinkers or alcoholics: 1. Does the morning after find you so tremulous and disorganized you feel an urgent need for a drink...
...Many of them have a real fear that they will be asked embarrassing questions...
...It is futile to try to ignore a serious wound or scar, but these should not be magnified...
...He may have pains in his joints or general aching all over...
...Fourth, praise the man's efforts and successes, ignore his slips...
...Also, let him have time and freedom to get acquainted with the old places and to re-establish contacts...
...Woodward said...
...This is good mental hygiene for anyone at any time, but is especially valuable for men who come back feeling somewhat insecure...
...Sulfa drug prophylaxis of meningitis is not suitable for civilians...
...He will have a headache but in the early stages it will not be the intense bursting headache typical of meningitis...
...Sulfa drugs are life-saving in this as in many other diseases...
...Meningitis starts like a cold with sore throat and the other usual nose and throat symptoms of a cold...
...If the disease is recognized and sulfa drug treatment started at this stage, while the germs are still in the blood but before they have reached the brain membranes, inflammation of these membranes, which is meningitis, can be prevented, according to reports from Army medical officers...
...Still A Social Drinker...
...This may.go on for six days with perhaps three days when the patient feels feverish or chilly or both...
...How To Help Returning Servicemen The returning servicemen, especially those who are returning because they have taken all they can in the way'of emotional strain, may have a hard time getting adjusted to civilian life...
...First, he said, give them a genuine welcome and make them feel wanted...
...Following the rules of healthful living that build up resistance generally should also help...
...About all one can do in trying to escape these germs is to avoid crowds and crowded living quarters...
...He may have a real chill of the shaking kind...
...One important thing you can do to protect yourself or members of your family is to call a doctor promptly if anyone has symptoms that make you suspect the illness is meningitis...
...The sort of welcome most men want," he said, "is that of a quiet personal reassurance, rather than family reunions and a lot of fanfare...
...Fifth, you can expect your returning serviceman to be different in some ways, so allow time for getting acquainted again and for finding ways of getting along...
...deaths per 100 cases are down to about 16...
...Luther E. Woodward, field consultant to the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, at a meeting of the Chicago Instituted* Medicine...
...Meningitis used to kill from 30 to 50 of every 100 persons sick with it, but since we have-had sulfa drug treatment...
...In short, is your pleasure in drinking supplanted by craving for a drink...
...Germs from the noses and throats of patients and also from healthy carriers are the source of the sickness...
...Some of the things people at home can do to help them were told by Dr...
...Focus on what is left rather than on what is lost...
Vol. 8 • December 1944 • No. 52
