EVERYBODY�S GUIDE TO NATURE CURE.
By Harry Benjamin N.D.
Compiled
and edited by Ivor Hughes
DISEASES
OF THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES (Part 2 of 3)
Constipation.� Constipation is not a disease, it is a condition of malfunctioning. But although not a disease in itself, constipation is the fruitful source of many of the most dreadful diseases of to-day, as well as many of less serious import. Appendicitis, rheumatism, arthritis, high blood-pressure, cancer, cataract, are only a few of the diseases in which constipation is an important predisposing factor ; but it is latent in almost every type of disease-condition which one cares to examine. Then there are the lesser and more immediate effects of constipation, such as listlessness, lack of concentration, persistent headaches, etc., etc.
All the evils connected with constipation arise out of what we call auto-intoxication. The sufferer from constipation always' retains in his bowel an unusually large accumulation of faecal matter, and it is the reabsorption of the toxins generated in the bowel by the continued presence and putrefaction of this same faecal matter�which in the ordinary course of events Nature would never have allowed to remain there�which sets up the auto-intoxication referred to.
What causes constipation in the first place ? The answer to this is twofold : (1) a dietary consisting of denatured and refined foods ; (2) nerve enervation resulting from nerve strain, overwork, excesses of all kinds, lack of proper physical exercise, and all other habits and practices which lower the tone of the system. In other words, the cause of constipation is wrong feeding aided by general wrong living !
In their natural state all foods contain a fairly large percentage of " roughage," or so-called waste matter�waste matter in the sense that the body makes no use of it in the passage of the food through the digestive tract, and eliminates it through the bowel after the nutrient elements of the food have been absorbed. Now, this roughage is most essential in preserving the natural balance of foods, and also in helping on peristalsis (the natural rhythmic action by means of which food is passed down the alimentary canal). It will thus be seen that this roughage�this indigestible portion of all food�indigestible in the sense that it is not absorbed�is essential to the proper functioning of the system, and especially to the business of the intestines in their work of digestion and elimination.
It is because so very much of the food we eat to-day is deprived of its roughage before eating that constipation is the curse we know it to be amongst civilised races the world over ! Not among primitive or savage races, mark you ! Savage man does not suffer from constipation. His food is not deprived of its natural roughage before eating ! Constipation is one of the many " blessings " conferred upon man by the ever-onward march of " Civilisation " and " Progress."
The usual white-bread, cooked-meat, and boiled-vegetable dietary of to-day is very deficient in natural bulk (roughage). The bran and rougher portions of the wheat berry are all removed in the milling of white flour ; the skins of vegetables and fruits are invariably removed before cooking, and the said foods yet further devitalised by the cooking process ; meat or other flesh foods that have been boned and bled and then prepared for the table are likewise in a very " unbalanced " and therefore unnatural state ; and so we can go on right through the whole list of foods used in the dietary of the average individual of to-day. They are all unbalanced ; they are all unnaturally concentrated because of the absence of the natural elements which modern food-refining and obsolete cooking methods have destroyed or removed from them. Where natural balanced foods such as raw fruit and raw vegetables are eaten, the quantity is so small in comparison to the rest as to be quite negligible.
Not only is a diet of the usual kind unbalanced and concentrated, and thus heading straight for constipation because of the absence of natural roughage and bulk; it is a diet which makes for overeating too. Because when foods are consumed in their natural state, and the roughage included in them, we cannot eat so much of these foods as we can when they have been subjected to the refining and cooking process and the roughage and other elements removed. The consequence is we eat far too much of these foods, and overload our systems with a mass of highly concentrated starchy, sugary, protein, and fatty food-elements which are not in the least what the system really needs for its sustenance and repair. When we consider further that these same refined and cooked foods are also sadly deficient in organic mineral and vital elements (mineral salts and vitamins), when compared with natural uncooked foods, we can see that the almost certain possibility of constipation which confronts the individual eating in the conventional way is far from being the sum-total of the evils likely to befall him if he persists, year in and year out, with his unnatural and debased dietary, for such indeed it is.
I have pointed out that the usual refined and cooked foot dietary of to-day makes for overeating, and thus enhances yet further the inherent constipating quality of the dietary, because of the clogging of the system which goes on. If the individual in question is an outdoor worker or takes plenty of exercise, the evil is not so great; but where sedentary workers are concerned, the troubles consequent upon living in such a way are surely apparent ? And when overwork, worry, indulgences of all kinds, late hours, etc., etc., come along to complicate matters, is it any wonder that the person so situated should become a victim to chronic disease, of which constipation is the starting-ground and basis ? Living on the wrong food and using up one's nerve force unduly are tantamount to burning the physical candle at both ends, and surely it is small wonder that disease is the reward of such living ? Thus Nature takes her toll for the transgression of her laws governing life and well-being.
When we consider what the medical remedy for constipation is, then we realise how shallow are the claims of our medical scientists that they can cure disease. If they can really cure disease, then surely they should be able to cure the simpler diseases far quicker than the more serious ones ? Yet such a simple ailment as constipation is quite incurable from the medical point of view ; for the medical treatment for the condition, by means of more and more and stronger and yet stronger purgative drugs, is nothing but a frank admission� albeit unstated in so many words�that to the medical mind constipation is incurable, and that once it takes hold upon the system, nothing can be done but to take purgatives for the rest of one's life !
Not by the longest stretching of the imagination can such treatment for constipation be called curative, surely ? The bowels are forced into action by the methods employed, but the possibility of a return to normal bowel action is rendered more and more remote the longer the purgative habit is persevered with. People so treated go on from bad to worse, and usually end up by becoming so constipated that they often cannot obtain a bowel movement for days on end, even with the daily use of the strongest purgative drugs known to Medical Science ! Thus in the long run the remedy proves worse than the disease !
Thanks to medical precept and example in the treatment of constipation, it has come to be considered quite " natural " for people to take laxatives and purgatives. The habit of " taking something to keep the bowels open " has become almost universal, and is considered in the light of something healthful, something making for the future health of the individual. And so, backed by a gigantic Press campaign, and with slogans such as " Take So-and-so and be HEALTHY !" patent-medicine vendors have been enabled to become millionaires by the instillation into the public of a habit, medical in origin and fundamentally pernicious, which assures them that by so doing they are freeing themselves from the evils of constipation and building up " health," whereas, in reality, they are making themselves more and more its slave by such practices !
It is desirable for the reader to understand what the real action of purgative drugs is, and how a bowel action so obtained is in no way comparable with a natural action. When a purgative such as Epsom salts, for instance, is introduced into the intestines, its presence is a constant irritation to the delicate mucous lining of the bowel. The intestines react against the salts, and in forcing the salts out of the system a bowel action necessarily takes place. The action is brought about by the expulsion of the salts, which the body regards as foreign matter unsuitable to it. It can thus be seen that the more the purgative habit is presevered with the weaker will the intestines become, by having continually to flog themselves into action to throw off the drugs daily thrust upon them by an unsuspecting owner, who has been led to imagine that by so doing he is bringing " health " to his system.
The more purgative drugs are used, the weaker do the intestines become, and the more sluggish is their action in consequence. This means that stronger and stronger drugs have to be resorted to, to obtain a movement. Thus does the initial constipation become more and more serious by the habitual use of such " aids " to bowel action. Whether the purgatives used are mineral or vegetable in origin does not matter in the least. The bowel action they produce is merely one of reaction against them all the time, with further weakening of bowel action as a direct consequence. Salts or senna, cascara or calomel, liquorice or jalap, they are all in the same class as purgative drugs, albeit some are less forceful�and therefore less harmful�than others. It is merely a question of degree.
Treatment.� Having shown that the drug treatment for constipation is likely to produce the most harmful results in the long run, by virtue of the deleterious effect upon the bowel produced by the incessant necessity of having to expel the 'bowel-content in an effort to get rid of the drug employed, let us now turn to the natural treatment for the condition. The natural treatment for constipation really cures the condition, for it sets out to remove the causes responsible for the trouble in the first place, and not just to flog an unwilling bowel into .action. To see people who have been constipated for years getting two and even three quite natural movements daily is no new thing to the practitioner of natural methods of treatment. Such results are not extraordinary or miraculous; they are merely the logical outcome of a scheme of treatment designed to overcome (or get rid of) the root causes of the trouble, and so set the bowels working naturally once more of their own accord�something which they have been wanting to do all the time, but which they have been prevented from doing by the unwise feeding habits and general wrong habits of living of their owner.
To begin the treatment, the whole digestive tract must be given a complete rest for a few days, and the intestines thoroughly cleansed ; and for this purpose the all-fruit diet outlined in the Appendix is most useful, as it gives the stomach a rest from hard digestive work and at the same time gives the whole intestinal tract that thorough scouring which it so very much needs. In all ordinary cases of constipation, say seven to ten days on the all-fruit diet would be the best way to begin the treatment. (In long-standing and stubborn cases it would be best to have a short fast for, say, four or five days, and to follow this with ten to fourteen days on the restricted diet outlined in the Appendix, instead of going on to all-fruit.) Then, in either case, the full weekly diet, also outlined in detail in the Appendix, can be begun, and should be adhered to as strictly as possible thereafter.
In some cases further short periods on fruit, or further short fasts followed by a period on the restricted diet, may be required at intervals of a month or two. This must be left to the patient to decide for himself, according to the progress being made in the meantime. Obviously, those who have been taking strong purgative drugs for many years will take longer to put right than others.
A most essential feature of the treatment is the use of the warm-water enema or gravity douche. The enema or douche is not a cure for constipation. It is used merely for the time being to cleanse the bowels of faecal matter. It is the simplest and safest means known to the Natural-Cure practitioner of securing this desired result. That is why it is employed. Some people imagine from the great use made of the enema in natural treatment that it is regarded, if not as a " cure " for constipation, at least as a method of cleansing the bowels which can be continued without harm almost indefinitely. This conclusion is erroneous. Besides not being able to cure constipation, the protracted use of the enema produces enervation of the bowel, and is therefore definitely harmful. In short, used judiciously, the enema is a most useful appliance ; used injudiciously, it is not !
With these few preliminary remarks concerning the use and misuse of the enema, we can now go on to the part it should play in the natural treatment for constipation. From the time the treatment is begun, the enema should be used nightly for the first week to cleanse the bowels, and then every other night thereafter until at least one natural movement is being obtained daily. It should then be at once discontinued, and never used again unless, for some reason or other, constipation should return at any future time. It should always be resorted to on those occasions. IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD PURGATIVES OR LAXATIVES OF ANY KIND BE TAKEN IN FUTURE.
In persons with long-standing constipation the muscles which control bowel action have become so atrophied through long neglect and misuse that they will require some little additional treatment to make them work. That is why all those undertaking the treatment for constipation should carry out the following little " rite," or custom, and continue with it for several months to come until, in fact, they are assured of two really good bowel movements daily, which is the goal aimed at.
The custom, or " rite," is as follows : Every day at 9 a.m. and, say, 7 p.m. the patient should attend stool, and an attempt should be made to evacuate the bowels. The patient should not force too hard, but a certain amount of gentle pressure should be exerted so as to " coax" the muscles controlling bowel action into operation. Of course a movement of the bowels will not take place every time (or any time perhaps for the first two weeks or so), but that does not matter. The twice-daily attendance at stool will bring about the desired results in time, providing always, of course, that the full scheme of treatment here outlined is being carried out faithfully at the same time.
In addition to correct diet, there is also need of other measures to tone up the system and build up its muscular power. For this purpose the daily dry friction and sitz-bath or sponge, and the scheme of physical and other exercises outlined in the Appendix, should be gone through religiously every morning. A good walk, of several miles daily, is also a most necessary adjunct to the treatment, where it can possibly be managed. A hot Epsom-salts bath, as detailed in the Appendix, should be taken once or twice weekly for the next - few months. This will prove most beneficial. Regular habits of living, early hours, etc., are essential factors to the success of the treatment. Future strict attention to diet is absolutely indispensable, and all that has been said to the sufferer from catarrh on this point, in the preceding section, should be carefully noted and taken to heart.
SPECIAL NOTE.� Those who do not know how to use the enema will find full details in the Appendix at the end of this book.
Diarrhoea.� Diarrhoea is one of Nature's eliminative actions. It is a simple case of the throwing off of unwanted material by the intestines in the quickest possible manner. Whatever the cause of diarrhoea�usually dietetic errors�it is the worst thing possible to " take something " to stop it. What we have to do is to aid Nature in her eliminative attempt, not thwart her by stopping the action of the bowels.
Treatment.� When diarrhoea is present, the patient should be kept in bed and the warm-water enema used to cleanse the bowels. No food or drink (except water) should be given until the diarrhoea has quite ceased, and then only fresh fruit should be given for the following day. The enema should be used as needed for the day or two following the attack. Rest in bed, abstention from food, and the use of the enema are the three essential requisites for the curing of diarrhoea. It will pass off in the quickest possible time if such treatment is employed. (Where diarrhoea is part of the development of a fever or other complaint, the disease in question should be dealt with along the lines laid down in the present book.)
Dilatation of the Stomach.� Dilatation of the stomach is caused through the continual overloading of the stomach with food and drink. The stomach begins to swell in size and lose its power of digesting food, and constant fermentation and eructation of gas are the consequences, aided by chronic constipation. To attempt to treat the condition by means of medicines designed to " aid " digestion is just useless. Such treatment does nothing to get rid of the wrong feeding habits responsible for the cause of the condition in the first place, and it yet further weakens a stomach already hardly able to carry on its work, because of the ultimately irritating and lowering effect upon the delicate stomach lining of the drugs employed. (See treatment for Chronic Indigestion, page 294, for the effects of drugs in the treatment of stomach ailments.)
Treatment.� The only effective treatment for dilatation of the stomach is twofold : (i) that which aims at cleansing the stomach and intestines, and introducing more sensible feeding habits ; (2) that which helps to tone up the internal musculature of the body, and so helps the stomach to return to its normal powers and functional ability. For the correct treatment for dilatation of the stomach the reader is referred to that for Dropped Stomach to follow, which is on exactly the same lines.
Dropped Stomach.� When dilatation has progressed far enough, the stomach is forced out of its natural position and drops lower and lower down into the abdominal cavity, causing more and more disturbance to the organs and structures around it, the first structures to suffer being the intestines. Thus, in addition to pain and discomfort, chronic constipation is one of the foremost features connected with dropped stomach, and there is also persistent fermentation and gas eructation to affect the sufferer because of the inability of the stomach to carry on its work of digestion properly.
To advise the taking of medicines to " tone up " the stomach and increase its digestive powers is just a waste of time. Nothing definite is gained in this way. Indeed, the stomach lining is permanently weakened by the irritating effect of the drugs used. (See treatment for Chronic Indigestion, part three, for notes on the effect of drugs in stomach ailments.) Neither is the advice usually given by the medical profession to eat small but frequent meals any good either. This only serves to make the chronic indigestion more pronounced, for before one meal is fairly digested, the stomach is called upon to deal with another, and so on. The wearing of surgical belts is sometimes a help in extreme cases, but there is nothing to be gained from their wear from a curative point of view. Most people find them most uncomfortable, and would rather not wear them than have to put up with them continually.
Treatment. � As indicated in the treatment for Dilatation of the Stomach, the cure for dropped stomach and dilatation is twofold. The whole digestive and intestinal tract must be cleansed, and proper feeding habits introduced, and the stomach must be brought back to proper shape, position, and power by the introduction of a system of exercises which will build up the internal musculature of the body. Many seemingly hopeless cases of dropped stomach and dilatation have been cured in this way.
To begin the treatment, the sufferer should go on to an exclusive fresh-fruit diet for from five to seven or ten days, as detailed in the Appendix. (If the sufferer is very much affected by constant eructation of gas, it would be wise to precede the all-fruit period with a day or two on water only a glass of hot water every two hours throughout the day.) Really serious and long-standing cases should begin with a fast for four or five days, and follow it with ten to fourteen days on the restricted diet outlined in the Appendix.
After the period on all-fruit (or the fast and restricted diet as the case may be), the full weekly dietary given in the Appendix should be begun and adhered to as strictly as possible thereafter. Further short periods on all-fruit, at monthly intervals (say two or three days each time), or further fasts and periods on the restricted diet at two-or three-monthly intervals, may be required in certain cases. This the patient must decide for himself, according to the progress being made.
From the time the treatment is begun, the bowels should be cleansed nightly with a warm-water enema or gravity douche, and the rules for the eradication of constipation given in the preceding pages of the present section should be put into operation forthwith. The dry friction and sponge or sitz-bath and the breathing and other exercises given in the Appendix should be gone through daily, and a hot Epsom-salts bath taken every week. As regards the special exercises required for toning up the internal musculature, so important in this case, the reader is recommended to purchase a copy of a leaflet describing special movements for building up the muscles of the abdominal region. This can, be obtained from the " Health for All " Publishing Co., price 4|<�. post free. Rupture is primarily due to a weakening of the internal musculature of the abdomen�that 'internal musculature which keeps the abdominal organs and structures in position�and so the natural treatment for this, by means of properly graded exercises, is the ideal thing for the sufferer from dropped stomach too.
The patient should take things very easily and quietly for the time being, and no medicines of any kind should be taken in future. A most useful thing is to rest for, say, half an hour, two or three times during the day, with the legs raised higher than the rest of the body. For this purpose the patient lies on a couch with the legs raised about eighteen inches by placing cushions under them. Or else he can sit on one chair with the legs placed on a chair facing, if the former is impracticable. An occasional day or half-day's rest in bed, in the foregoing position, is most helpful in all cases of dropped or dilated stomach. The diet factor is most important, and the dietetic rules consistently emphasised in the present book should be carefully followed. Eating and drinking together at meals should never be permitted. Drinks should be taken from an hour to half an hour before a meal is due.
Duodenal Ulcer. � When food is taken into the stomach, it is acted upon by the gastric juices and is then passed into the small intestine for further digestion. By the time the bile, from the liver, and the pancreatic and intestinal juices have been added, the gastric juices are no longer of the same strongly acid character as before, and so their corrosive action is checked. It is because only the stomach and the first portion of the small intestine, or duodenum, are subject to the direct action of the gastric juices, and not the rest of the alimentary canal, that these parts are peculiarly subject to the formation of ulcers, known as gastric ulcers and duodenal ulcers respectively.
It is not the strongly acid or corrosive quality of the gastric juices as such which is responsible for the formation of the ulcers in question, otherwise everyone would have ulcers of this nature constantly forming. It is only those who have persistently misused their stomachs over a period of years, and so lowered the tone of the protective stomach and duodenal lining, who find themselves the victims to such ulcers. As gastric ulcers and duodenal ulcers are exactly the same as regards genesis, development, and treatment, the whole question will be found discussed in full under the heading of Gastric Ulcer farther on. The sufferer from duodenal ulcer is therefore referred to Gastric Ulcer for an understanding of its causation and the effective natural treatment for his case.
Dysentery. � Dysentery is a rather serious condition affecting the large intestine, and is to be met with in hot seasons or tropical climates. Fever, accompanied by ulceration and inflammation of the bowel, is the chief characteristic of the complaint, together with the passing of blood, mucus, etc., from the bowel. The condition is a most distressing one, and if left in medical hands is always likely to recur, or lead to complications connected with the bowel and digestive tract generally.
The cause of dysentery according to orthodox medical views is germ infection, but this is only another instance of the cart being put before the horse in medical reasoning. The germs which are supposed to be the cause of dysentery only develop in the colon as a result of the putrefaction there of excessive quantities of animal protein food, and it is to the eating of excessive amounts of flesh food in hot weather or tropical climates unsuited for the digestion of such food that we must look for the cause of dysentery, not to germs \ The Englishman who goes out to India, say, and eats meat three times a day in a sweltering climate, is asking for trouble, especially if he suffers from habitual constipation. The food is not evacuated from the intestines as quickly as it should be ; it putrefies there ; and bowel trouble of some kind is the result. If the condition is really serious, then dysentery may set in.
Treatment. � To treat dysentery by means of drugs or injections is not in the least going to get rid of the trouble in the way Nature desires. Such treatment only renders chronic bowel trouble almost inevitable. The only sane regimen for dysentery is fasting. The sufferer should fast as long as the acute symptoms are present, having the bowels cleansed twice daily with the warm-water enema. (During the fasting period fruit juices and water are the only things to be taken.) The fast should be continued for a day or two longer than absolutely needed�it is always best to carry on longer rather than less than is necessary�and then the all-fruit diet mentioned in the Appendix can be adopted for a few days, after which the full weekly dietary mentioned therein can be gradually embarked upon.
When the sufferer has reached the convalescent stage, he can then carry on, as regards general treatment, as indicated in the treatment for Colitis, earlier in the present section. Flesh foods of all kinds should be avoided as far as possible in the future, the dairy products, such as eggs, cheese, and milk, being far safer to eat in every way. The best protein food for hot climates is nuts. Alcohol in all its forms should be strictly avoided, and especially should no quinine be taken in future. Correct feeding, and not dosing with quinine, is the sure preventive of tropical diseases. Quinine upsets the action of the whole system, and is a most pernicious drug, affecting as it does the working of the heart, liver, and the aural apparatus. (For further remarks re quinine see section on Fevers, with special reference to Malaria,.)
SPECIAL NOTE. � If salads are difficult to obtain in certain countries, then fresh ripe fruit should form the major proportion of the daily dietary.
Dyspepsia. � This is a form of nervous indigestion very much to be met with in all civilised countries these days. Wrong feeding and unwise habits of living are its two main causes. For the stomach to digest food properly, it must be supplied with sufficient nerve force to carry out its task. People who are of the worrying type, or who are " always in a hurry," or are run-down or nervy, or overworked, etc. (those, too, who indulge in excesses of all kinds) are either always depleting their system unduly of nerve force or else are not able to generate sufficient of such force for the body's necessary tasks. The result is that the efficiency of the whole system suffers, and especially the efficiency of the stomach. If the food habitually eaten is badly combined and deficient in proper natural balance, is it any wonder that such people develop dyspepsia sooner or later in life ?
To try to rectify such a condition by the administration of various kinds of drugs is sheer futility ; the only therapeutic measures which will set the trouble right are : correct diet and a rectification of the wrong habits of living involved. The nervous system must be given a chance to recuperate and build up its powers afresh, and a regime of feeding must be instituted which will effectually prevent the stomach being overtaxed by the introduction of badly combined foods and incompatible food mixtures. Once the dyspeptic can see this point clearly (and surely it is clear enough !), then the rest is more or less easy. I say advisedly more or less easy, for although in the present book a proper system of diet, exercise, etc., has been outlined for the dyspeptic which will build up his system afresh and tone up and recondition his digestive organs, the rest remains with himself all the time. It is he who must set about rectifying his wrong habits of living�his late hours, his inordinate tea or coffee drinking or smoking, his habit of worrying over every little thing, etc., etc. ; no one else can do it for him ! But he can rest assured that if he will only take himself in hand in this way, and organise his life upon the lines of more rational living, the results in terms of better health will repay him over and over again for the effort required. protein food for hot climates is nuts. Alcohol in all its forms should be strictly avoided, and especially should no quinine be taken in future. Correct feeding, and not dosing with quinine, is the sure preventive of tropical diseases. Quinine upsets the action of the whole system, and is a most pernicious drug, affecting as it does the working of the heart, liver, and the aural apparatus. (For further remarks re quinine see section on Fevers, with special reference to Malaria, .)
Treatment. � With the above remarks in mind, the dyspeptic can turn to the treatment for Chronic Indigestion given in the following pages of the present section (page 297), and follow out the treatment outlined therein, with every confidence as to its ultimate success, not only as regards the overcoming of his stomach trouble, but also the healthy reorganisation of his whole system generally. The treatment for Neurasthenia in the section on Diseases of the Nervous System (Section 5, page 192) should also be studied carefully by the sufferer from dyspepsia. He will find a great deal of help there.
SPECIAL NOTE.�If salads are difficult to obtain in certain countries, then fresh ripe fruit should form the major proportion of the daily dietary.
Enteric Fever.�See section on Fevers.
Part 3
here Part
1 here
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