Neurasthenia

Description

This section is from the book "Encyclopedia Of Diet. A Treatise on the Food Question", by Eugene Christian. Also available from Amazon: Encyclopedia of Diet.

Neurasthenia

That disorder of the nerves known as neurasthenia is expressed in general anemia, or a breaking down of the nervous vitality. This does not indicate, however, that neurasthenia is wholly a disease of the nerves; it merely means that through the nerves the symptoms are given to the brain.

Neurasthenia is a signal or warning given by the united voice of all the functions of digestion, secretion, and excretion. Therefore, this disorder does not appear until the body has given fair warning in many other ways, and if proper heed had been given the preceding signals, the nerves would have performed their functions without an outcry.

Every so-called disease of the human body, especially of the nervous system, is in reality the voice of Nature telling us of our mistakes, and giving us the opportunity to correct them. disease, therefore, is not an enemy to the race, but a friend. It is an effort, as it were, in our behalf, of provident Nature to prevent race extinction.

Education denned.

Nearly every seeming misfortune with which we are afflicted can be turned to our benefit. We never take a step upward until we are mentally prepared for it; we never become mentally prepared until we have passed through a certain amount and kind of experience.

Education reduced to its last analysis is merely the accumulation and co-ordination of useful knowledge; useful knowledge is accumulated only by and through the art of comparison. The more experience we have, the more comparisons we can make.

Country-raised people control the great industries of the city and lead in the nation's great work because they never become blase. They have always their homely and primitive child life to draw upon for comparisons. Every good thing, every invention, every step forward and upward, every advancement is appreciated and realized exactly according to their ability to compare these things with their opposites.

Ability to make comparisons, measures, ability to enjoy.

If the patient should be suffering from mental disturbances called worry, he should be reminded that he is merely a floating mote in the abyss of space, and if the matter composing his form should change from organic to inorganic, from active to inactive; in other words, if he should die, the great planets would move on in their majestic courses and the cosmic scheme would in nowise be interfered with.

The Cause

Neurasthenia is caused by a violation of the laws of nutrition, such as overeating, taking intoxicants, tea, coffee, tobacco, stimulating and sedative drugs; an oversupply of certain elements of nourishment and an undersupply of others; failure to eliminate waste; a lack of activity or motion, and improper oxidation. These causes removed, nervousness and all neurasthenic tendencies disappear, and Nature asserts herself and produces physical normality.

Neurasthenia - The Symptoms

Neurasthenic symptoms are excitability, irritability, mental depression, insomnia, fatigue, exhaustion, emaciation and sometimes hysteria, which very often result in other local disorders, such as extreme constipation or chronic hyper-chlorhydria, with a tendency toward weakened sexuality.

Neurasthenia - The Remedy

In medical literature there are hundreds of alleged remedies for nervous disorders, yet not one of them attempts to ascertain the causes and to suggest their removal. Drugs only paralyze and stupify the delicate, sensitive nerve fibers that are conveying the intelligence to the brain that something is wrong, and the average man mistakes this for a remedy or a cure.

Unbalanced diet, a primary cause.

In the opinion of the writer, neurasthenia would be almost impossible if the body were thoroughly nourished and the daily bill of fare kept level, or, as we would say in our cash system, "balanced." But when one labors under heavy mental strains, especially that character of burden called worry, and is not properly fed and nourished, the expenditure of force on one side and the lack of supplying it on the other, are very likely to result in an abnormal physical condition called neurasthenia. It is safe to say that all cases of neurasthenia can be traced to improper nourishment on the one hand and abnormal mental tension on the other.

Diet more important than rest.

Suggestions for the neurasthenic.

The rest cure has been employed quite successfully for these conditions for many years, and if the proper diet, or what might be called a counteractive or remedial diet, were employed in all the rest cure establishments, they undoubtedly would meet with greater success, but unfortunately some of the best institutions in the country - those best equipped to take care of neurasthenic patients - do not attach any great importance to diet. This comes, no doubt, from the universal lack of information concerning the natural laws governing Food Chemistry, and their particular application to animal life. Neurasthenic patients should first be given rest, which means complete or total diversion from business cares, worry, financial or social responsibility. They should be induced, if possible, to become interested in some special eleemosynary work; some "hobby" that has for its purpose the uplifting of people. The best remedy for the weary or discouraged mind, or the neurasthenic body, is the praise and esteem of people.

The suggestions hitherto given for all kindred disorders will apply in most cases of neurasthenia. (See also "Nervousness - Its Cause and Cure," Vol. V, p. 1211.) The patient should be advised to spend at least from three to four hours a day in the open air and sunshine, when the weather will permit, in some quiet way, walking, driving, or in moderate exercise.

Most important of all is the diet. It should be balanced according to age, labor, and temperature of the atmosphere, and should consist of -

Such foods as will cause normal action of the bowels Green corn Nuts

Rich fresh milk Yolks of eggs

Young beans, peas, or any legume before it hardens

Immature starch composes the best form of carbohydrate food, which is exceedingly necessary in most cases of neurasthenia, unless the patient be obese, in which event it should be reduced to meet only the requirements of the body, and nitrogenous foods should predominate.

A passive form of exercise is very highly recommended, such as all forms of Swedish or mechanical electrical massage. In connection with this the body should be given an olive-oil rub at least twice a week.