Hydriatic treatment of Scarlet Fever in its Different FormsMunde, Charles
Science
Hydriatic treatment of Scarlet Fever in its Different Forms
Munde, Charles
Hydrotherapy; Scarlatina
The _violent_, or _sthenic form_ of scarlatina anginosa becomes
dangerous only through the excess of reaction, when the heat is extreme
(upwards of 105 deg. Fahrenheit, sometimes 112 to 114), the pulse can
scarcely be counted, as it hammers away full and hard in a raging
manner, the throat being inflamed and swollen to suffocation, and the
patient in a high state of delirium; but it need not frighten the
physician or parent acquainted with the use of water. We have the means
of subduing that violence without weakening the patient. It is in this
form of scarlatina that the greatest mistakes are committed by
physicians unacquainted with the virtues of water, and that our
hydriatic method shows itself in all its glory; for where there is an
abundance of heat, water cannot only be safely applied, but it is also
sure to bring relief. It is in this form of the disease that the cold
affusions recommended by Currie and his followers, have shown themselves
so beneficial, and that the wet-sheet, used properly and perseveringly,
is almost infallible.
67. TEMPERATURE OF THE WATER--DOUBLE SHEET--CHANGING SHEET.
The water for the wet-sheet pack, in this violent form, ought to be
cold; in summer it should be iced down to 46-48 deg. Fahr. The sheet ought
to be coarse or doubled, in order that it should retain more water, and
it should not be wrung out very tight. In a thick wet-sheet the patient
will be better cooled than in a thin sheet, and he will be able to stay
longer in it before changing. It may be advisable, however, with very
young and rather delicate persons, not to double the sheet about the
feet, as they might be apt to remain cold, which would send the blood
more to the head. But, although the patient will feel easier in the pack
for a while, the heat and fever will soon increase again, and, in
proportion as the sheet grows warmer, he will become more and more
restless, and the changing of the sheet will become indispensable. When
the symptoms increase again, in the second pack, the sheet is changed a
second time, and so on till the patient perspires and becomes relieved
for a couple of hours or longer; which usually happens in the third or
fourth sheet. After the first, every following sheet is wrung out
tighter and tighter, and the last one may be taken single, or doubled
only at its upper end.
68. LENGTH OF PACK--PERSPIRATION.
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