Tracheotomy in laryngeal diphtheria : after-treatment and complications / by Robert William Parker.

  • Parker, Robert William, -1913.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tracheotomy in laryngeal diphtheria : after-treatment and complications / by Robert William Parker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    95/148 (page 75)
    FORCED FEEDING—STIMULANTS. given in moderation. A little orange, or lemon covered witli fine sugar, may he sucked from time to time. If other measures fail, forced feeding, as recom- mended by Trousseau (op. cit., page 424) must be resorted to. A soft silk, or india-rubber, catheter (No. 7 size) is better than the ordinary rigid oesophageal tube. This must be passed through the nose into the stomach; to the free extremity either the nozzle of a glass syringe, or the stem of a glass funnel is fitted, and a measured quan- tity of suitable food is poured in. Mr. Battams, Eesident Medical Officer at the East London Children's Hospital, who has had considerable experience, has devised a very useful and simple syringe-feeder for this purpose, which is described in the 'Lancet^ of June 16th,and 23rd, 1883. Children become reconciled to this mode of feeding very quickly, when it is carried out gently. A little good wine, brandy, or brandy mixture (B.P.) will sometimes sustain life, and put the patient over a period of depression and exhaustion, which would be fatal without it. This is especially the case where from any cause the vomiting is severe, and accompanied with diar- rhoea. Nutritive enemata, thickened with raw starch and containing a small opiate, may be administered every few hours. Vomiting and diarrhoea in a few cases occur and persist; they are very exhausting. I believe they some- times depend on the action of drugs given before the opera- tion. Their action of course tends gradually to wear off. I will close this chapter with another caution against too frequent feeding. Every two hours is often enough when the food has to be forced; and then a measured quantity should be given. If the patient ask for it oftener, well and good. The return of the appetite is a most hopeful sign, and generally a harbinger of success.