The treatment of diseases of the nervous system : a manual for practitioners / by Joseph Collins ... Illustrated by twenty-three engravings.

  • Joseph Collins
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of diseases of the nervous system : a manual for practitioners / by Joseph Collins ... Illustrated by twenty-three engravings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    100/634 page 78
    wet pack depends entirely upon the purposes for which it is to be used. In the treatment of nervous diseases it is commonly used as a quieting and tonifying agency, although occasionally it is used as an antipyretic in the early stages of infectious diseases which affect the central nervous system. Usually water from 55° to 65° F. is used. It must be borne in mind that, unlike the douche, ablutions, etc., there are no mechanical effects to facilitate reaction in the use of the pack and we must depend entirely upon the temperature of the water. If the sheet is wrung out of lukewarm water then the effect is to make the patient limp and wretched. The primary effect of the cold pack is a vasoconstriction due to the effect of the cold on the vasoconstrictors, which in turn is followed by vasodilatation due to irritation of the vasodilators. This probably con- tinues during the entire application. The pulse becomes softer, of some- what greater volume, and the heart frequency falls. The amount of intracranial blood becomes less when vasodilatation comes and oftentimes sleep occurs, even while the patient is in the pack. After the pack, cold- water applications may be utilized if it be desired to counteract the vascu- lar dilatation. The duration of the cold pack depends upon the purpose for which it is employed. If to reduce temperature, the sheet must be renewed every ten minutes; if to produce vascular dilatation, from one to two hours. The hot pack is given in very much the same way as the cold pack save that a sheet is never used. If it is desired to give a hot pack of from 105° to 108° F. the blanket should be put in water of from 140° to 150° F. and then wrung out by two persons who grasp the ends of the blanket with dry Turkish towels and twist in opposite directions. While in the hot pack the patient may have ice-water compresses to the head to coun- teract the phenomena of congestion. The douche offers one of the most valuable methods for the utiliza- tion of water as an excitant and tonifying agency. With the douche the mechanical effects are obtained from the pressure which forces the water through the nozzle. This pressure will vary with the effect that it is desired to produce, generally from one to one and one-half at- mospheres, fifteen to twenty pounds to the square inch. The danger connected with the use of too great pressure should never be forgotten, inasmuch as it is capable of causing not alone contusion of the soft parts but grave accidents to the viscera. The temperature of the cold douche should never be below 45° F. The average temperature that is used for a person of fair reacting capacity, when it is desired to give a tonic bath, is from 55° to 60°, and the duration from fifteen to thirty seconds. Beginners and inexperienced persons are inclined not only to give the douche with too great pressure but to prolong it unnecessarily. The duration of the douche should always be in proportion to the reacting
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