DISEASES OF EARS, NOSE, MOUTH AND THROAT
Compiled and edited by Ivor Hughes
Part 2 of 3
Defective Teeth (Dental Decay).
� Defective teeth is one of the most common features of modern existence. Very few indeed would realise that it is the present-day dietary which is to blame for this, however, but such is indeed the case. A dietary of white bread, white sugar, refined cereals, cooked meat and cooked vegetables is sadly deficient in organic mineral matter, and if persisted in over a long period mineral starvation of the body occurs. To rectify this as far as possible within her means, Nature extracts some of the mineral matter from our teeth�the richest storehouse of organic mineral matter within the body, and uses it for the systemic purposes required. It is thus that dental decay arises.The more impoverished and devitalised the dietary, the sooner will the teeth decay, therefore ; especially if cakes, pastry, puddings and pies, sweets and chocolates play a prominent part in the culinary habits of the person in question. To ascribe the decay to the eating of " mushy " food or to the eating of sweet foods, etc., as the doctor and dentist do, is only approaching the matter from the outside as it were; such factors are merely superficial. The real fundamental cause, as here stated, is habitual wrong feeding, that is, the habitual eating of demineralised and refined foodstuffs, with the almost total exclusion of natural unspoilt foods from the dietary.
Where children develop defective teeth early in life, it is not due primarily to the sweets, etc., they have been eating; it is due to the fact that in pre-natal life, that is, when in their mother's womb, they were not given sufficient organic mineral matter to supply their developing bodies with the right kind of material for proper bone and teeth building. Hence decay at an early age. Thus it is an inadequate dietary (not in bulk but in organic mineral and vital content) on the part of the mother, during the pre-natal period, which is the real cause of defective teeth in children. (The fact that the mother's teeth often decay rapidly after childbirth is only another indication that the facts here being put forward are correct. For living on a demineralised dietary as she is, the mother is unable to supply the foetus with an adequate amount of organic mineral matter for proper bone and teeth building, and Nature makes up the deficiency as best it can, by extracting mineral matter from the mother's teeth.) The first thing that strikes us about primitive races is their remarkably good teeth. This is solely because they eat natural food; food rich in organic mineral matter, and not the devitalised foodstuffs of more " civilised " and " enlightened " races !
Treatment. � As regards treatment for defective teeth, there is not much that can be done really, once teeth have decayed, beyond having them attended to by a good dentist at regular intervals. But if further decay of the teeth is to be prevented, the only way to do this effectually is to adopt a scheme of dietary in which the organic food minerals are present in full abundance. For this purpose the full weekly dietary given in the Appendix is ideal. Parents who would wish to preserve the teeth of their children as much as possible can only do so by looking after their dietary along the lines laid down in the present book, AND IN NO OTHER WAY.
Proper care of the teeth is essential, of course, and they should be brushed night and morning regularly. The use of toothpastes is not recommended. The best thing to use for cleaning the teeth is lemon juice. (The brush is dipped in warm water first and then a little lemon juice is squeezed on to it.)
Diphtheria.
� See section on Fevers.Enlarged Tonsils. � In the opening remarks to the present section, and in dealing with tonsil troubles in the section on Children's Ailments, enough has been said already in the present book concerning the folly of removing enlarged or inflamed tonsils as a " curative " measure. The cause of the condition�which is always a toxic condition of the system, due to wrong feeding habits and general wrong living , is completely ignored in these cases ; and the removal of the tonsils does nothing but weaken the defence mechanism of the organism, of which these lymphatic glands form an important part. Without meaning in the least to be uncharitable, it must be obvious to all that so far as the general ran of medical practitioners go, they are only too ready to seize upon any plausible-sounding excuse as the cause of disease within a given individual's system. If it isn't the " weather " it is " germs," or if not " germs " it is something equally external and superficial. So that it will be readily recognised that when a patient comes to the doctor with enlarged or inflamed tonsils, the doctor has here a ready " cause " for any more serious ills the patient may be suffering from.
Everything is blamed on to the tonsils, and nothing on to the condition of the patient's system as a whole ! And so, what is merely one of the effects of ill-health is at once regarded as its cause. " Have your tonsils out," the doctor says, " and you will soon be quite all right " ; and the trusting patient does so, not realising in the least that his poisoned blood-stream�the real cause of all the trouble�will still go on infecting his tissues after the operation, as before.
The fact that so many people have had their tonsils out, only to find themselves in far worse health after the operation than before, is at last forcing itself upon the minds of the more enlightened members of the medical profession, and at the present moment there is quite a considerable body of prominent medical opinion strongly against the practice.
* Curiously enough, some of those who now so vehemently oppose the practice of removing tonsils were the very ones who advocated it most strongly to begin with. This is also the case with appendix troubles. It seems that after a time a man does get to realise that the wholesale removal of seemingly " useless " organs or structures from the body is fraught with more danger to after-health' than might at first sight be imagined ; especially so if he has himself been instrumental in removing several thousands of such organs or structures from the bodies of his patients ! Time brings wisdom even here ! But if there is a growing body of medical opinion against the surgical removal of tonsils, the vast mass of medical men are still wholly in favour of it; and if the more sensible few are against it, they know of no really effective treatment to put in its place. * Mr. T. B. Layton, F.R.C.S., surgeon to the Throat and Ear Department of Guy's Hospital, in the Lancet for January 1934, says : " The operation for the removal of tonsils has a greater number of complications to life, to immediate illnesses, and to post-operative impairment of function, than any other operation of the same magnitude."Treatment. � The only sound and logical treatment for enlarged, inflamed, or septic tonsils is constitutional treatment, that is, a regimen directed towards cleansing the system as a whole; for it is the whole system which is concerned in the production of the trouble in the first place. In the section on Children's Ailments, earlier in the book, will be found the home treatment for enlarged tonsils, where children are concerned ; here we will deal with adults suffering from the trouble. The best way to carry on is as follows :
From five to seven or ten days on the all-fruit diet outlined in the Appendix is the best way to start the treatment in not too serious or long-standing cases. Serious or long-standing cases should begin with a short fast for four or five days, followed by ten to fourteen days on the restricted diet, as given in the Appendix. In either case the full weekly diet outlined in the Appendix should then be begun, and adhered to as strictly as possible from then on. Further short periods on all-fruit, say two or three consecutive days, may be required in the less serious cases, at monthly intervals; and in the more serious cases further short fasts followed by periods on the restricted diet may be necessary at, say, two or three-monthly intervals, until the condition is quite cleared up. (With some people the tonsils may take much longer in clearing up than with others.)
The warm-water enema should be used nightly to cleanse the bowels during
the first few days 6f the treatment, and afterwards as necessary ; and where
constipation is habitual, the rules for its eradication should be put into
operation forthwith. The daily dry friction and sponge or sitz-bath, and the
breathing and other exercises given in the Appendix, form an essential part
of the treatment, and should be carried out daily. Hot Epsom-salts baths,
twice or three times weekly, will be found most beneficial.
A cold pack applied to the throat at night, and removed in the morning, will
be most effective; and the throat should be gargled night and morning with
warm water containing a little lemon juice. (Cold packs are described in
detail in the Appendix.) If the tonsils are very much inflamed, a good thing
is to gargle several times a day with first hot water, and then cold. Any
matter visible in the tonsils should be squeezed out and removed daily, by
the aid of a suitable instrument�the end of a tooth-brush, etc. (See that
this is quite clean before using.) On no account should medicinal gargles be
used, and, most important of all, on no account should the throat be painted
(this is a most harmful and suppressive measure).
Fresh air and outdoor exercise are two essentials to the treatment which
must not be overlooked ; and regular and simple habits of living are equally
essential to cure. Drinking and smoking, if habitual, must be rigorously
excluded in future. As regards diet, all that has just previously been said
to the sufferer from catarrh on this point should be borne in mind and acted
upon by the sufferer from tonsil trouble also, as implicit adherence to a
strict dietetic regime is necessary in all cases which look for a speedy
cure.
In conclusion, when tonsil trouble has been overcome by natural methods,
such as those outlined above, the gain in all-round general health is
remarkable, as the whole system is dealt with by the treatment, and the
whole system gains. Contrast this result with the surgical removal of
tonsils ! There, the individual is left definitely far worse off as a result
of the treatment than before, from the health point of view, even though, as
in some cases, an apparent improvement is discerned for a short time
afterwards ; for such apparent improvement is only temporary, and the system
soon shows in unmistakable manner that its vitality and soundness have been
materially affected by the treatment. Further disease, in other and perhaps
more distant parts of the body, soon appears. But as this is connected in no
way with what went before, either by doctor or patient, no one realises what
real harm the operation has done. (To the surgical removal of tonsils can be
traced the origin of many a case of deafness, middle-ear disease, or
Mastoiditis, many a case of chronic bronchitis or asthma, or other trouble,
which seems to have sprung up for no ' possible reason at all !) In all
cases of tonsil trouble spinal manipulation can be fully recommended as a
most useful adjunct to natural treatment.
Hay-fever. � This disease is a catarrhal inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nose, eyes, and mouth. It is a most distressing complaint, causing the sufferer to have paroxysm after paroxysm of violent sneezing bouts (with copious watering of the eyes and other complications), which tend to leave him more and more exhausted as the trouble progresses. It usually puts in its appearance about June, at the time that the haying season commences, and is supposed by our medical scientists to be due to the irritating effects of hay particles and the pollen of flowers upon people having an especially sensitive mucous membrane of the nose, eyes, and mouth.
This, however, as is usual in all orthodox medical reasoning into the cause of disease, is a very short-sighted attitude indeed to adopt with regard to the origins of hay-fever. For no one seems to wonder why the person in question should have a super-sensitive mucous membrane or how it should have come about. It is simply taken for granted that some unfortunate people are just born that way, and so find themselves in after-life the victims of hay-fever, and that is all. Nothing could be more superficial and vague than that, surely, yet it seems to satisfy the hay-fever patients of the medical profession quite well, and they accordingly allow themselves to be persuaded not to stay in the country during the summer-time ; always to travel through the country, if such is necessary, with all windows of their car or railway-carriage closed ; and to be always inhaling or gargling or swallowing medicinal drugs or preparations of all kinds and descriptions, such being the only methods known to Medical Science of palliating the trouble. For cure there is none, from the medical point of view !
To anyone with any powers of constructive thinking it must be obvious that there is a reason, and a most definite reason, for this tendency on the part of some people to develop hay-fever, a reason our medical scientists know nothing of. For one thing, the hay-fever sufferer is always a catarrhal subject, which means that his system is in a food-clogged condition, and this in itself is sufficient to throw quite a deal of light upon the origin of the trouble.
The truth of the matter is this : Some people who are catarrhal subjects
(people whose blood and tissues are surfeited with the toxins generated
through years of unwise feeding habits) develop a super-sensitivity of the
mucous membrane of the nose, eyes, and mouth, as a result of the chronic
inflammation set up in those tissues over a period of time through the
action of catarrhal toxins. This means that the mucous membrane is always in
a state of incipient irritability, so that any continuous bombardment of
small particles of dust, dirt, or such-like matter can set up a state of
immediate and acute inflammation, which gives rise to the sneezing,
watering, etc., which is characteristic of hay-fever. The fact that in the
country in the summer-time there is always the pollen of flowers and hay
particles floating about has given rise to the belief that it is these
latter which are in some mysterious way definitely connected with the
setting up of the condition ; but in reality any prolonged subjection of the
individual concerned to an atmosphere where dirt and dust particles are
prevalent will set up the trouble just as well.
The reason why what we call hay-fever usually arises only in the summer and
autumn can be attributed to the fact that the warmer weather experienced
then has the effect of inducing a more heated, and therefore more inflamed,
condition of the membranes concerned than is the case in the colder months
of the year.
Treatment. � Treatment for hay-fever by means of sprays, gargles, drugs, and the like is just a waste of both money and time. These merely attempt to get rid of the immediate effects of the trouble without in the least removing the causes. The only real cure for hay-fever lies in remedying the underlying catarrhal condition of the sufferer, which has led, as already pointed out, to the inflamed state of the membranes concerned and to their present excessive sensitivity.
The sufferer from hay-fever who wishes really to get rid of his trouble
once and for all is advised to follow out the treatment given in the
preceding pages for the overcoming of catarrh. He can be assured that by the
assiduous carrying out of the treatment in question his trouble will
definitely disappear in time, never to return, that is, if he strictly
adheres to the general dietetic principles laid down in the treatment when
once cured, and does not revert to his old ways of living.
Serious and long-standing cases of hay-fever are advised to begin with a
fast for from three to five days, followed by ten to fourteen days on the
restricted diet given in the Appendix rather than with the period on
all-fruit. This latter is quite all right for the less severe cases. Further
short fasts followed by periods on the restricted did should be undertaken
at two or three-monthly intervals during the next year in these more serious
cases. Whenever a hay-fever attack is on, the sufferer is advised to fast
immediately, and to take a hot Epsom-salts bath every night for the time
being. The enema should be used nightly too. If this is done, the attack
will lose a great deal of its severity.
In the case of all hay-fever subjects it is always advisable to reduce the
starchy and sugary foods to a minimum (in serious cases to cut them out
entirely) during the months when they are most prone to an attack. Starches
and sugars can be reintroduced in their normal amounts when the danger
period is over. (Of course when the trouble is quite cured, there is no need
to observe this rule strictly ; but even so, it is always best to be
prepared and to take due precautions.) Starchy foods are bread, potatoes,
cereals, bananas, and all flour products; sugary foods are sugar, h5ney,
preserves, and dried fruit. A good thing for all hay-fever sufferers is to
sniff cold water up the nose night and morning. A few drops of lemon juice
may be introduced into the water. This is the best way to improve the (one
of the membranes affected.
Treatment. � Where head noises are associated with catarrh of the ear (or with previous drug treatment), the treatment for Catarrhal Deafness given in this section should be carried out. Where the underlying cause is high blood-pressure, the sufferer is directed to the treatment for that complaint in the section on Diseases of the Blood and Blood-vessels. Where the cause is unknown, a Naturopath should be consulted with a view to discovering the cause and prescribing suitable treatment.
Leucoplacia. � These are white patches or sores upon the tongue, and although from the medical point of view they are directly caused by irritation to the tongue through pipe-smoking, ill-fitting artificial teeth, etc., from the Nature-Cure point of view there is always an underlying toxic condition of the system to be counted upon where Leucoplacia is present.
Treatment. � Treatment for Leucoplacia should be constitutional rather than local, although of course a certain amount of local treatment is required too. But the emphasis is on the constitutional aspect of the treatment rather than upon the local. Medical treatment for this condition is purely local, and suppressive, and is both harmful as well as unsound, the strong drugs always used for the purpose of removing the sores doing much damage to the system. The sufferer from Leucoplacia is advised to consult a Naturopath with a view to treatment for his condition. If this is impossible, the treatment for pyorrhoea, given in the succeeding pages, will be found most helpful in his case. (Of course, anything tending to set up constant irritation in the mouth should be got rid of or stopped, as the case may be.)
Mastoiditis.
� The mastoid bone is situated behind the ear, and is directly connected with the middle or internal ear. Thus it is linked up with the nose, mouth, and throat too; for, as we have already seen, these structures are all intimately connected with the ears. Disease of the mastoid bone often occurs, and is sometimes a very serious condition indeed by virtue of the nearness of "the structure named to the brain.The cause of mastoid trouble is in every case a highly toxic general condition of the system, plus previous suppressive medical treatment of one kind or another (either for ear trouble, ,for tonsils and adenoid trouble, for childhood fevers, etc.). In fact, Mastoiditis, as inflammation of the mastoid bone is called, is a shining example of what happens when the defence and eliminative mechanisms of the system are persistently interfered with over a period of years, under guise of improving the patient's health, by means of operations and drug treatment. The toxins which the system has been trying vainly to throw off during all this time are thrust farther and farther back into the tissues, and it is structures like the mastoid bone which are finally called upon to lodge the toxins Nature has been endeavouring to get rid of, but which Medical Science always persists in forcing back into the system again.
The sufferer from mastoid trouble can take it for granted, therefore, that his trouble is not " spontaneous " in any way; it has not suddenly emerged out of thin air. It is the direct and logical outcome of a highly toxic condition of the system, plus suppressive medical treatment of former disease. That and nothing more.
Treatment. � The medical treatment for Mastoiditis is operation. This calls for skilled handling, and sometimes has fatal results. But be it noted that the fatal termination to the operation is not due to the disease as such, but to the way in which the operation has been performed. For the structures which divide the mastoid from the brain are cut into on these occasions during the performance of the operation, and pus allowed to enter the brain area, with the aforesaid fatal results.
In any case, if the operation for mastoid trouble is successful, the
patient is left with the underlying toxicity of his system still un-dealt
with by the treatment. It is merely the effects of the trouble which are
removed, not the causes. The only sane and logical treatment for Mastoiditis
is constitutional treatment, treatment, that is, which cleanses the system
as a whole, and so gets rid of the real fundamental causes of the trouble.
The sufferer from Mastoiditis is referred to a competent Naturopath for
treatment for his case, where such personal treatment is at all possible. If
not procurable, then the treatment for middle-ear disease, given in the
following pages, can be adopted with very good results, the part behind the
ear having hot fomentations applied to it several times daily whilst the
swelling lasts. But again it must be stressed, personal treatment is by far
the best, as in serious cases a fast of a week or longer may be necessary to
begin with. Spinal manipulation and sun-ray treatment are two very useful
adjuncts to natural treatment in these cases. It is worth noting that during
the natural treatment for Mastoiditis the matter usually discharges itself
through the ear.
Treatment. � Where the sufferer from Meniere's disease cannot undertake treatment in a Natural-Cure institution or under the personal care of a competent Naturopath, he will find the treatment for middle-ear disease, in the following pages, of real help to him. But, as already stated, personal treatment is by far the best in these cases, especially institutional treatment.
Middle-ear Disease. � In this disease there is inflammation of that portion of the ear directly behind the ear-drum, with discharge of matter into the outer ear. As the trouble progresses, the inner ear becomes more and more seriously affected, and hearing more and more impaired. The drum-membrane is always perforated in middle-ear disease.
To understand the cause of middle-ear disease the reader must turn to the introductory remarks made at the beginning of the present section. For middle-ear disease is the direct outcome of previous suppressive medical treatment of one form or another. Either it is due to suppressive treatment of childhood fevers or to operations for the removal of tonsils or adenoids or similar cause. When middle-ear disease occurs, it simply means that toxins which Nature has been trying to throw off through the medium of the usual channels of elimination (or through special channels) have been diverted back into the system again through wrong medical treatment, and have taken up permanent lodgment in the inner-ear structure to cause the continual suppuration and discharge associated with the disease thereafter.
The way for this to take place is made easy because of the Eustachian tubes, which connect the ears with the throat and nose, toxic matter from these structures thus being enabled to pass quite easily into the middle-ear and to collect and suppurate there.
Treatment. � Orthodox medical treatment for middle-ear disease is
just useless where a real cure is concerned. It is only a thorough course of
internal cleansing treatment which can get rid of the toxins at the root of
the trouble and clear up the discharge for good and all. Where the sufferer
from the condition cannot undertake treatment under a Naturopath, he should
carry on as follows :
The first thing to realise is that no drugs or medicinal agents of any sort
are to be used in future for cleansing the ears. The treatment is to be
purely natural. The patient should begin with a short fast for four or five
days, as directed in the Appendix, and follow this with fourteen days on the
restricted diet, also given therein. Then the full weekly dietary given can
be adopted, and adhered to regularly thereafter. Further short fasts
followed by periods on the restricted diet should be undertaken at two- or
three-monthly intervals, until the discharge has quite cleared up. (Children
and comparatively early or slight cases can begin with from five to ten days
on the all-fruit diet given in the Appendix, instead of the fast and
restricted diet, with two or three consecutive days on all-fruit at monthly
intervals thereafter, until the condition rights itself.)
The warm-water enema or gravity douche should be used nightly to cleanse
the bowels during the first few days of the treatment, and after if
necessary ; whilst if constipation is habitual, the rules for its
eradication given should be put into operation forthwith. The daily dry
friction and sitz-bath or sponge (given in the Appendix) are essentials to
the treatment, as is also the hot Epsom-salts bath twice weekly. Fresh air
and outdoor exercise are necessaries too. (The breathing and other exercises
given in the Appendix should also be gone through daily.)
As regards local treatment, the ear should be wiped out daily with a little
cotton-wool steeped in warm water, and kept scrupulously clean. Every night
on retiring a hot-water bottle should be wrapped in a towel and applied to
the affected ear for, say, twenty minutes, both ears if necessary for an
equal length of time. (It is best to place the wrapped bottle on the pillow
and lie on it with the ear pressed to the bottle.) Also a very good thing to
do is to apply hot and cold fomentations several times daily to the back of
the ear (not the actual ear itself, but the part where the ear joins the
head). A piece of material is wrung out in hot water and applied to the part
mentioned for two or three minutes ; it is then removed and a second
application applied for the same length of time. After this a third is
applied and then removed, and a cold application put on. Always work in this
order : three hot applications, one cold.
Gentle massage and stroking of the part behind the ear is very useful; and
the opening of the mouth as wide as possible, several times a day, is a good
thing too, as this tends to loosen up and stretch the internal ear tissues,
and so to ease congestion. Spinal manipulation is a very useful adjunct to
natural treatment in all cases of ear trouble, and the regularly daily
performance of neck exercises, similar to those given in Better Sight
without Glasses, will also prove beneficial.
The diet factor is one that needs the most careful consideration if the
discharge is to be cleared up finally, and all that has been said in the
present book as regards sensible dietetics should be paid careful attention
to. White bread, refined cereals such as porridge, polished rice, etc.,
boiled, mashed, or fried potatoes, sugar, jams, confectionery, tinned foods,
rich cakes, pastry, puddings and pies, and all heavy, greasy, or stodgy
dishes should be strictly avoided in future. The diet should be as clean and
wholesome as possible, with fruits and salads as the main ingredients. Meat
and other flesh foods can be left out of the dietary with benefit; they can
be substituted on the diet-sheet by eggs, cheese, or nuts. Condiments,
sauces, pickles, etc., should never be taken in future; neither should
coffee nor alcoholic liquors. Tea should be very weak, and very little
taken, if at all. Strong tea is most detrimental.
If the trouble has not been allowed to develop too far in the first place,
then the sufferer from middle-ear disease who carries on as directed above
can rest assured his trouble will gradually disappear in time ; but of
course patience and perseverance with the treatment are two essentials to
ultimate success. The regimen will make a vast improvement in all-round
general health too.
