Adjusting Treatments according to Individual Needs
We have now looked at all the basic rules for applying the treatments offered by hydrotherapy, diet, and so forth. They have been presented in a broad manner and consequently offer only general instructions. Every patient presents a unique case; treatments must be adjusted to meet each patient’s individual needs and every particular situation that may occur during the evolution of the fever. This is essential for gaining the greatest benefit from the various techniques available to us.
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, emphasized early on the necessity of being flexible and adapting treatments: “Often indeed medicine must do one thing at one time, and the next moment do the contrary. . . . When a severe diet causes harm, it should be replaced by a nourishing diet and, in this spirit, changed fairly frequently, with either this thing or that.”
When a treatment procedure, for example, the application of cold water to reduce a fever, does not produce the desired effect and actually seems responsible for having negative ones, it is not enough to simply stop and do nothing. To the contrary, you now must apply an opposite treatment plan, which, in this case, would be to apply heat to the patient.
Like the balance of scales, health is an unstable equilibrium that requires constant restoration. There is a balance between the energy the body takes in and the energy it expends, between activity and rest, between the production and elimination of toxins, the production and loss of heat, and so forth. When the scales are tipped too far to one side, pressure must be exerted on the opposite side to restore an even balance.
In health care it is sometimes necessary to work one way, then another, then return to the first way, in order to keep organ function as close as possible to a position of ideal balance. To achieve this, it is essential to establish a patient chart. On this chart you will write all the important information concerning the progress of the patient’s condition. In this way, you will be perfectly equipped to follow the fever’s progression and intervene with appropriate corrective measures.
THE PATIENT CHART
Over the course of any illness numerous changes will be constantly occurring—changes in temperature, changes in symptoms, changes in the patient’s overall condition. It is generally impossible to hold in your memory the precise moments such changes occurred. These details tend to quickly fall into oblivion, people become confused about the sequence of events after the fact—hence the need to write them down while they are still fresh.
A chart should be filled out for each day of the illness, with the date recorded. Each chart consists of three columns, allowing a record to be kept of what is ingested, general observations on the patient’s condition and symptoms, and body temperature. Patient chart samples have been provided in this book’s appendix.
Food and Beverages
This column should list all food and beverages the patient consumed on a given day of his illness. Record the kinds of foods eaten (vegetable, fruit, grain, dairy product, and so on) as well as the quantities of each—whether they were large or small. If the patient indulges in them, midmorning and midafternoon snacks should also be recorded.
During the stage of the fever when the patient is not eating anything, the corresponding parts of the chart should simply be left empty. This will allow you to see at a glance how long it has been since the patient ingested solid foods, when food was introduced back into his diet, the effect it had, and so forth.
All beverages should also be noted, even water. For example, 1 quart of water, 2 cups of lime-blossom tea, and so forth.
Observations on the Patient’s Overall Condition and the Progress of Local Symptoms
Here you will note fluctuations in the patient’s energy level, when the patient felt good or not, as well as the appearance, progression, and disappearance of all local symptoms (coughs, skin rashes and other outbreaks, pains, headaches, and so on). With respect to eliminations, it is good to write down the times when there were large bouts of perspiration and when stools were evacuated. It is also important to note those times when the patient got up to move around a little and when any hydrotherapy applications took place.
These observations should be recorded on the part of the chart relating to the time of day they took place: morning, afternoon, or night. This will make it easier to establish the cause and effect relationship in the sequence of events.
To get reliable temperature readings, it is important to always use the same thermometer in the same location (such as the armpit). As a general rule, temperature should be taken three times a day: in the morning on waking, in the afternoon around two o’clock, and in the evening between seven and eight o’clock. This last reading will be the most instructive as temperatures tend to rise during the evening. The absence of fever or a sharp drop in its temperature at that time indicates a good prognosis.
Summary
All methods for controlling fever (such as hydrotherapy and diet) should be adapted to each patient and each particular situation that appears over the course of the fever. Use of a patient chart is essential for accurately adapting treatments.