Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/158



There are several kinds of headaches, all equally distressing to the one afflicted. For some of them there is really no cure save time and patience, but by a proper regard to the general health they can often be prevented. Sick or bilious headache is the most common. The patient generally wakes with it in the morning, and it is accompanied by a feeling of nausea and inclination to yawn. The pain increases as the day advances, till at last something sets in, and a quantity of bile is discharged from the stomach. Though the attack is most distressing, and makes one very miserable while it lasts, I don’t know but it is worth going through and enduring, for the sake of the delightful feelings of renewed health and spirits one experiences next day, when all the bile is out of the system. One is always conscious of the approach of an attack, and it can be warded off by a dose of medicine—pills, castor oil, anything in short that will thoroughly move the bowels. Hot water is one of the very best remedies for bile. Directly you awake in the morning take a cup of water as hot as you can bear to sip it slowly; then lie down again for a while. In a short time it will act upon the bowels, and the head will be relieved. Hot water, taken in this way, is an excellent thing for dyspepsia, but for this it must be taken about twenty minutes before each meal, and remember, as hot as you can possibly bear to sip it, otherwise it will be useless, or may produce vomiting. The effect of the hot water is to cleanse all the parts, passages, tubes, &amp;c., through which the food has to pass, and thus prevent the feeling of discomfort and pain called indigestion. It is not really so very unpleasant, and can be improved by pouring the water on to a small slice of lemon, and then remove it, and steadily sip the water. For a bilious attack give the yolk of an egg beaten up well, and let the patient swallow it down in one mouthful and lie still awhile. The egg appears to collect all the bile together, and bring it away at once. It has an extraordinary effect, for hardly anything, save bile comes up. One wants an hour or two’s sleep after a bilious attack. Some people take a little spirits and water, but they do not agree with all, in many instances turning acid on the stomach, and laying the foundation for another headache. A few drops (according to circumstances) of chlorodyne taken in a little water, and a good drink of water taken after it, is better than any spirits or anything else. One should always drink freely after taking chlorodyne: it prevents any unpleasant after effects. For people who are constitutionally bilious nothing is better than lemons eaten with salt. It is good for children as well as adults, but must be taken regularly every morning, and the best way is to suck the juice and then eat the rest with salt. One lemon every morning is sufficient. But there are headaches from other causes than biliousness. Constipation often produces acute headache, which is only relieved by an, or an enema. [sic] Those who suffer constantly from constipation cannot do better than try the hot water before breakfast, or, if they object to that, small doses of aloes taken every morning for a time and gradually decreased till regularity is established, will generally effect a cure. Young girls are very apt to neglect this ailment, I can hardly call it a disease, as it frequently occurs through laziness and is allowed to go on through a silly dislike or shyness about speaking of it to their mothers or a medical man. Let me impress upon all young girls the fact that regularity of the bowels is necessary if they would enjoy good health and clear complexions. Many of the muddy pimpleypimply [sic] complexions come from no other cause, and it is a fruitful source of headache. For immediate