olive-oil, followed immediately by an enema of hot water at a
temperature of about 115 degrees. This should be retained as long
as possible. In order to aid in this process, the head might be
lowered, and the feet slightly elevated so as to relieve the strain
upon the rectal muscles. In very severe cases an ice pack may be
placed over the lower abdomen for five minutes. The ice pack should
be kept in place until the temperature is lowered and the pain
relieved.
THE DIET IN SEVERE CASES OF APPENDICITIS
From three to four quarts of cool water should be taken the first
day and all food omitted. The second day fruit-juices and olive-oil
should be administered. This treatment should be continued for
several days, or until the pain is relieved, when the diet for
milder cases may be adopted in a reduced or limited form.
DANGERS OF INTESTINAL CONGESTION
[Sidenote: Causes of appendicitis]
All conditions of bowel inflammation are caused primarily by
congestion of fecal matter in the intestinal tract. That which
will relieve congestion, therefore, will, by removing the causes,
relieve inflammation. Intestinal congestion has become one of the
most common disorders among civilized people, because of the fact
that a large percentage of the coarse material known as cellulose
fiber has been removed from their food by super-civilized methods of
preparation. For instance, in modern milling methods, every trace
of cellulose is removed from the grain, leaving nothing but a
white mass of unbalanced food material, largely carbohydrates, and
the peelings are removed from all kinds of fruits and vegetables.
Thus the diet of civilized man has become woefully impoverished in
cellulose and mineral salts, with the result that there is nothing
left in the diet to stimulate the liver and the peristaltic activity
of the intestinal tract.
[Sidenote: Evils of the civilized diet]
This condition is largely augmented by flesh food, all sedative
drugs, and intoxicating drinks which have become so conspicuous in
the diet of modern civilization.
[Sidenote: Why coarse food is necessary]
The intestinal (digestive and eliminative) organs of man, through
the millions of years of his development, have been built up
on the primitive plan. They have been shaped by the process of
ages to accommodate coarse food, therefore a generous amount
of non-nutritive cellulose is absolutely necessary to both the
digestion of food and the elimination of waste. The liberal use
of cereal bran puts back into the diet that which modern milling
methods have taken out of it.
[Sidenote: Remedial value of coarse food]
The use of wheat bran and the seeds of grapes in the treatment of
appendicitis has both a scientific and a common-sense basis. The
bran and the seeds pass into the various folds, wrinkles and turns
of the intestines, and sweep out the congested fecal matter which is
undergoing decomposition and causing inflammation. After the bowels
have been thoroughly cleansed, the patient should adopt a fresh
vegetable diet selected from the list heretofore given, drinking an
abundance of water both at meals and between meals.
Under these conditions most symptoms of appendicitis will disappear,
and if the diet is made to consist of a sufficient quantity of
coarse food, all causes of bowel inflammation will be removed.