YOUR HEALTH: HERE'S HOW
Stafford, Jane
YOUR HEALTH: Here's How! By JANE STAFFORD SNEEZES and sniffles at this time of year may not all be due to Spring colds. Some of them may be due to hay fever, caused by pollens blown on Spring...
...Gold says: "There is still another cause of ill health in the control of which amphetamine has been extensively applied, a condition which in those over 40 reduces to almost half the chance of surviving the age of 60...
...The subject with an otherwise voracious appetite seems to lose interest in food...
...It has been used in treating a number of disorders, sometimes in combination with other medicines...
...Hay fever treatment is important not only for relieving the misery of this ailment but for preventing the asthma that develops in more than half' the cases...
...Some persons are not helped by it, some react differently to it at different times, and the necessary dosage is uncertain and differs from time to time in the same person, Dr...
...Its action, moreover, is only temporary...
...Then the patient is given a tiny dose of the offending substance and at regular intervals thereafter increasingly large doses until he is able to tolerate the large amounts of pollen blown on Spring and Summer breezes...
...The drug should not be taken without the advice of a physician...
...The drug is amphetamine, also called benzedrine and best known, perhaps, for its ability to banish fatigue and promote wakefulness...
...Details of the treatment, of course, must be planned by the physician who will also give advice on general health measures and will prescribe drops for nose and eyes if necessary...
...Harry Gold, of Cornell University Medical College, in a report to the American Chemical Society...
...First, the physician makes careful tests to determine just which pollen or pollens cause the trouble...
...Some of them may be due to hay fever, caused by pollens blown on Spring winds...
...Drug Checks Voracious Appetite A drug which can be used to help overweight people reduce by checking their appetite is described by Dr...
...Careful specific treatment over a period of 1 to 4 years will, according to one authority, cure from one-third to one-half the victims...
...Gold warns...
...Speaking of its use in reducing weight, Dr...
...As many of you may know, the hay feverite's suffering is due to his supersensitiveness to the pollens of certain plants or trees...
...Pollen victims are usually treated by a process of desensitization...
...There are all-year-round hay feverites, too, but their trouble is generally due to some other substance such as feathers, horse dander, house dust, or the like...
...I refer to its use as an adjunct to other measures in the treatment of obesity...
...Desensitization treatment can be given during the hay fever season, but is said to be more comfortable and about 20 per cent more efficient if given before the hay fever season starts...
...The drug impairs the appetite...
Vol. 9 • May 1945 • No. 20
