The Prospective Mother, a Handbook for Women During PregnancySlemons, J. Morris (Josiah Morris)
Science
The Prospective Mother, a Handbook for Women During Pregnancy
Slemons, J. Morris (Josiah Morris)
Obstetrics; Pregnancy
Time and again an unhappy frame of mind exaggerates or prolongs the
vomiting of pregnancy. Thus, disappointment, anxiety, grief, fright,
and other types of mental uneasiness not only magnify the discomfort
but sometimes are its sole cause. The curious cases in which the
husband suffers from nausea while his wife is pregnant are explained
by mental influences. As a result of the same kind of influence,
women who imagine themselves to be pregnant often suffer from violent
vomiting, which ceases as soon as they discover their error. On the
other hand, women who for several months remain ignorant of the fact
that they are pregnant rarely suffer from sick stomach.
Any kind of worry may be and often is the direct cause of the
vomiting of pregnancy, though patients are often unwilling to confess
it; and occasionally do not seem to know what it is that troubles
them. In any event, having received the assurance of her physician
that there is nothing serious the matter, the prospective mother who
is annoyed by nausea should make every effort not to become self-
centered. She should have congenial companionship and should interest
herself in pursuits outside of, as well as within, her home. Of all
the measures that may be employed to overcome this manifestation of
pregnancy the most fundamental and essential is mental diversion.
HEARTBURN.--Obviously, it would not be fair to consider indigestion
as one of the ailments peculiar to pregnancy, for anyone is liable to
suffer from indigestion. Yet dyspeptic symptoms, more especially
heartburn and flatulence, occur so frequently at this time that
something should be said regarding their causation and treatment.
A burning sensation rising from the stomach into the throat,
familiarly called heartburn, is generally due to an overabundant
secretion of hydrochloric acid, which is, as we have learned, a
normal constituent of the gastric juice. Of late, the conditions
which influence its secretion have been the subject of laboratory
investigation, which has disclosed, among other interesting facts,
the way to _prevent_ heartburn. These experiments have taught
that the introduction of fat into the stomach shortly before a meal
decreases the amount of acid secreted during digestion. Consequently,
anyone who is troubled by heartburn and wishes to avoid it _should
take a tablespoonful of olive oil, a cup of cream, or a glass of rich
milk fifteen or twenty minutes before meal-time_.
On the other hand, fatty food eaten with the meals prolongs the stay
of food in the stomach and causes an increase in the secretion of
hydrochloric acid. An excess of the acid, as we have just learned, is
favorable to the development of heartburn. Therefore, as a further
precaution against this source of discomfort, it is advisable not to
use a large amount of butter or of salad oil, and to refrain from
fried food, rich desserts, or any other article of diet known to
contain a relatively large amount of fat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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