William Penn Life, 1968 (3. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1968-11-01 / 11. szám
BLOOD PRESSURE Just as a barometer helps to forecast the weather, so does the blood pressure measuring device help to diagnose or forecast the state of your health. In fact, the two devices have a lot in common. The device to measure blood pressure is a sphygmomanometer and it and the barometer both give readings in terms of the height to which a column of mercury is forced by pressure. The barometer measures air pressure. The sphygmomanometer measures blood pressure. A typical blood pressure reading for young adults might be 120/75. What does that mean? The first figure means that the person’s arteries are under a pressure of 120 millimeters of mercury when the heart is squeezing blood through them. The second number represents the pressure in the arteries during the resting phase of the heart between beats. Blood pressure constantly changes with activity as well as from various diseases. From rest to violent activity, the normal beating blood pressure can vary from 95 to nearly 300 and the between-beat pressure can range from 65 to well over 100 for short periods of time without causing harm. Normal arteries can withstand great changes in pressure because they are tubes of tough elastic tissue which expand when blood is pumped through them. In low blood pressure, which is comparatively rare, the blood is not adequately circulated and some organs, particularly the brain, do not function properly. There may be dizziness or fainting. This occurs in certain glandular diseases; in shock associated with injury, surgery or emotion; or when there is a paralysis of the blood pressure regulating mechanism. Generally, low pressure needs no treatment. High blood pressure is usually classed as primary or secondary. Primary high blood pressure is that for which no underlying cause can be identified. Secondary high blood pressure has many causes. The most common are kidney disease, tumors of some glands and related structures and abnormalities of the arteries themselves. In general, high blood pressure appears to be a complex of influences from one’s inheritance, emotional life, diet, stress, exercise and the physiological response of several of the organ systems. High blood pressure simply points to the need for further investigation of what might be wrong. IT WON’T PURT? Parents who keep telling their children “this won’t hurt” as they take them to a physician for “shots” or treatment of an injury are doing a great disservice to themselves, their children and the medical doctor. “Shots” or stitches to repair a cut do hurt and a child who is told otherwise finds the experience a shattering one because the parents have lied and subsequent visits to a physician can cause real terror. It probably is normal for any small child to ask “will it hurt?” from the time he or she learns of a visit to a physician. Small children have a poor grasp of time relationships. The child is entitled to know, but it is better to evade the question until the moment before the hurt is going to occur. To say it will hurt long before the injection or stitches is to invite increasing panic. A physician confronted with a terrified, crying child surrounded by parents alternately telling him it won’t hurt and that he is to be brave if it does hurt must either make up his mind to work on a careful, moving target or develop a technique which makes a trying experience acceptable for all concerned. Children may complain but they rarely refuse. Therefore, most physicians use a clear but kindly authorative command which allows the child to identify the physician with parental authority. Authority without honesty is of little value. If the child is told the injection will not hurt and it does, the physician loses the confidence and cooperation of the patient. Most physicians use a great deal of child psychology. They explain in general terms what is happening and ask the child to “help” by not touching the clean materials to be used. Usually, syringes are kept out of sight until immediately before the injection when the child is told it will sting briefly. Parents taking children for vaccinations or “shots” can explain that the visit to the doctor is being made so that some sicknesses can be prevented—that the physician will give them “medicines” that will help keep bad germs away. If the reason for the visit is an injury, you can explain that the physician will help make the injury get better. Any “will it hurt?” questions should be evaded in the least noticeable way until you turn the child over to the physician. APPENDICITIS Persons who contacted their physician anytime they had a pain in their belly assisted in virtually eliminating deaths from appendicitis but a growing lack of Premiums are due by the 20th of Each Month In order to receive a Current Bill your premium should be mailed before the 20th of the Month. William Penn Fraternal Association P. O. Box 1807 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15230 concern today is increasing the death rate to alarming proportions. It’s the same old story of human nature—concern about a disease decreases in direct proportion to the increase in its curability. Appendicitis, 100% curable when surgery is performed within the first couple of days, kills more than one out of ten persons with the disease if it is neglected until the appendix ruptures and fills the abdomen with infection. Strangely enough, the incidence of appendicitis is decreasing while the death rate is increasing as a result of neglect. Pennsylvania is typical of the national trend. As an example at a typical Pennsylvania hospital, twenty years ago not one person of the 85 appendicitis patients admitted had a ruptured appendix and today about one out of every six appendicitis patients has allowed the appendix to rupture before seeking medical advice and being admitted to the hospital. There is another significant change in the incidence of the disease. While it occurs most frequently between the ages of 10 and 30, it is attacking an increasing percentage of persons above and below those ages. In the very young, the danger of the appendix rupturing is sharply increased and in the very old the disease is much more difficult to diagnose. The appendix is a small finger of tissue that forms a “blind alley” on the end of the large intestine where it connects to the small intestine. Appendicitis occurs when this tissue becomes inflamed and infected and it produces a variety of symptoms any combination of which should be cause for alarm. The most frequent symptom is pain in the lower right part of the belly but the location can vary because the location of the appendix can vary from person to person. Usually, there is nausea and sometimes vomiting and there frequently is constipation. Moderate fever is usual. Often the pain begins as a vague ache that becomes more severe. With any of these symptoms, please seek medical advice. Whatever you do, if you are suffering from constipation in combination with any of the other symptoms, don’t take a laxative or an enema. Such steps can cause the appendix to rupture. 7
