Page:The American improved family physician, or home doctor.djvu/275

Rh by a light, dry evening and morning meal, as Graham crackers, toasted bread, &c.

Toothache may be relieved by eating very sparingly for a day or two, and careful attention to the bowels.

Cramps, for which the old-school practice is bleeding and laudanum, may be quieted by rubbing the lower limbs with a cold wet cloth, followed by dry friction.

Constipation is more apt to occur in the early than the later months of pregnancy. It requires coarse food and water injections.

Piles, which have previously affected the patient, are liable to re-appear and become aggravated. Frequent sitz-baths should be employed with a small, cold injection immediately before each stool.

Pruritus vulva, or itching of the genital organs, may be relieved in the same way; if excessive, warm water is more soothing than cold.

Heartburn, sick headache, sleeplessness, and salivation, are among the unpleasant incidents that are occasionally presented. They are to be treated in the same way as morning sickness. Frequent sips of cold water are very soothing in most of these cases; and when the sick headache is attended with prolonged nausea and retching, warm water should be drank freely until the stomach feels easy, or vomiting occurs. Vomiting can be very much aided by quills, recommended in a preceding part of this work.

Cravings or longings for improper food should not be gratified. There is mostly more danger of "marking the child," by improper indulgence on the part of the mother, than by proper self-denial. If the mother learns to take of herself takes proper care of her general health, and keeps all unhealthy articles out of her stomach, the trouble from this source will be of little consequence.

Pains in the breasts are sometimes severe. They may always be relieved by cold wet cloths, except when of a spasmodic or neuralgic character, in which cases steaming and warm fomentations are appropriate.

Excessive vomiting sometimes occurs, and may be so severe as to endanger abortion. Fasting and cold water drinking are the special remedies.

Pain in the side—usually the right—often occurs after the middle period of pregnancy; it is rarely severe, but generally constant. Bleeding, leeching, cupping and blistering have