Table of Contents
Chapter I: Preliminary Arrangements ………………………………………… 3
Chapter II: Rest ……………………………………………………………………. 11
Chapter III: Psychology of the Milk Cure ………………………………….. 17
Chapter IV: Starting the Treatment………………………………………….. 20
Chapter V: Reactions During Treatment ………………………………….. 34
Chapter VI: Dyspepsia…………………………………………………………… 48
Chapter VII: Constipation ………………………………………………………. 52
Chapter VIII: Consumption …………………………………………………….. 60
Chapter IX: Catarrh and Asthma …………………………………………….. 63
Chapter X: Rheumatism ………………………………………………………… 65
Chapter XI: Various Diseases ………………………………………………… 68
Chapter XII: Psychology of the Milk Cure…………………………………. 74
Chapter XI: Rest…………………………………………………………………… 77
Chapter XII: Exercise…………………………………………………………….. 82
Chapter XIII: After Treatment …………………………………………………. 87
Chapter I: Preliminary Arrangements
Before commencing a course of milk die, certain preparations are necessary. These preliminaries must be arranged beforehand, because the treatment always includes complete rest, for a time, at least.
The consideration of the apartment where the patient is to remain is of first importance. It must be remembered that, no matter what the previous habits of the patient may have been in this regard, a very large supply of fresh air will be required, if not at first, within a few hours. A room may be used, and often is, but the best results, in my experience, have followed the use of outdoor bedrooms, such as pavilions, screened porches, roofs, sheds, lean-tos, or even a good bed with nothing over it. In most climates some protection is required from the rain, snow, sun and wind. On the whole, perhaps there is nothing more satisfactory than a pavilion, partially boarded or latticed up on the sides, with a good water-tight roof, and insect-proof screen over the openings all around. Some of the openings should extend to the roof, or ceiling, and some of them should come down to the floor. It is the lack of these that prevents a room being equal to an outdoor place; no matter how many windows there may be, there is dead space above the tops of the windows where warm air accumulates, and there is a space between the bottoms of the windows and the floor where the heavy gases, such as carbonic acid, lie more or less stagnant until stirred up by some breeze of unusual strength or direction. Dust is also deposited in these dead air spaces. Anyone who has not tried living and sleeping in a space open from floor to roof, even on only one side, cannot realize what a constant difference there is between the air in such a place and the air in a room, no matter how well ventilated it may seem to be.
A room is always more or less drafty, with the windows open. While in these outside places the circulation of air, while thorough, is almost imperceptible, so gently and easily is the change made.
A great improvement in a room with sliding sash windows can be made by removing the sashes. Take off the thin strip called a “stop” on right side of window. Pull out bottom sash and remove ends of sash cord which are usually knots stuck in holes in sides of sash. Holding these knots, lower the sash weight inside of the casing as far as it will go. Put sash away in safe place. Now lower the upper sash to the window sill, and remove from right side the thin stick, “parting bead,” which keeps the windows apart. Then the upper sash can be removed just as the first one was. This gives the full size of the window opening, more than twice as much as when the sashes are in. They can easily be replaced in case of a storm.
It is the retaining of the gases and other cast-off material from the body in the room that makes indoor life so much more unhealthy, compared with life in the open. The greater warmth, too, indoors, prevents the same degree of oxidation that is possible outdoors. The cooler the air, the better it is, as a rule, and the more oxygen we are able to absorb. There are probably other substances besides simple oxygen, in fresh air, that are necessary to our well-being.
When you have decided upon a suitable location to stay in while taking the milk, arrange for a comfortable bed, preferably one with a hair mattress. A hard bed, or a bumpy one, becomes irksome before the skin has developed the protecting pad of flesh that belongs over the bony points. The head of the bed should be toward the opening where the light and air enter. Do not make the common mistake of putting the feet out in the center space, in a current of air, and the head in some corner where the circulation is at a minimum. The reverse should be the rule.
Beds with solid headboards or foot-boards should not be used. Procure an iron bed, or a couch or cot without any headboard. Of all things, do not attempt to sleep in a modern folding bed where the head is put in a box-like space, eminently more suited to the destruction of one’s health than to its restoration.
The bed clothes should be woolen blankets by preference, with cotton sheets, fastened at the foot, and folding down from the head of the bed, so that the patient can easily turn down a fold or two when less covering is required.
In certain cases where there is much perspiration, or exhalation from the body, it is a wise plan to use a set of bed linen not over twenty-four hours at a time, not necessarily increasing the laundry expense, but putting one change of linen to air while the other set is in use. Remember that it is necessary to stay in bed all the time, except when bathing, or performing other necessary acts, and that the skin is an important breathing organ, and must not be surrounded by foul odors.
The sleeping garments should be changed twice a day, morning and night. I think a gown is preferable to pajamas, because it is very important that there be no constriction around the waist. Garments requiring to be buttoned, or belted, around the waist, interfere with the proper development of the organs contained in the abdomen, and also prevent, to some extent, abdominal breathing.
I am explicit about these directions, because a very rapid growth and development will take place in the organs of the digestive system, the stomach, liver, intestines, pancreas, etc., and this growth is greater in the first week than during any subsequent period. It is during this first week that the success or failure of the milk cure is usually determined, and this growth, or development, MUST not be interfered with.
If possible, the patient should be within easy reach of the toilet and bathroom. There must be no dressing to go outside the room to a toilet. Have a capacious slop-jar in the room and a urinal to use in the bed, especially in cold weather. By having the jar near the bed, the urinal can be used, and emptied into the jar, without getting up, or exposing the person.
A small table, or stand, about two feet high, is required near the head of the bed, to set the milk can and glass on, and for such other small articles as may be required.
A two-quart tin can, or measure, is the most convenient and best receptacle to keep the milk in at the bedside. It is lighter than any pitcher, and unbreakable. Have two napkins to cover the milk can and glass between drinks. Two glasses will be needed, marked in some manner to indicate 5, 6, or 7 ounces of milk. A ring can be scratched around a plain glass with a file at the proper point.
Two quarts is equal to approximately 1892.71 milliliters (ml).
An old established custom in the milk cure is that of using one glass for twenty-four hours, without washing. If the weather is very warm it is necessary to serve a clean glass with nearly every quart (946 ml.) of milk, or the residue remaining after drinking will sour the next glassful of milk.
A clock must be located where it can easily be seen from the bed. Clocks striking the hours and half-hours are a great aid in calling the patient’s attention to drinking time. Good clocks of this description can be purchased for $2 and up.
Outside the necessary articles mentioned, the less furniture there is the better it will be. Chairs for visitors are not particularly required, for there should be no visitors. If absolutely necessary, visits may be tolerated, but never for longer than half an hour at a time.
A daily warm water bath will be required and the arrangements of the bathing facilities, is one of the things that require careful attention. It is necessary for the patient to enter the tub while the water is somewhat cooler than the body, and then gradually warm the bath to the body temperature, or to such a temperature as will be entirely comfortable. This necessitates a reserve supply of hot water, which may be drawn on at intervals during the bath, as the water cools off.
The ordinary thirty-gallon reservoir, used in connection with a range in most households, is not often satisfactory, because drawing the necessary amount of hot water to prepare the bath leaves no surplus, and it is most annoying to open the hot water faucet and get cold water.
However, if the tank is full of hot water, and the fire in the stove is kept going, it may work all right, but there must be hot water up to the end of the bath. The instantaneous gas heaters, if properly arranged, are satisfactory. If the heater is in the bathroom, it must have a flue carrying the fumes outside of the room. The best arrangement is to have a gas heater in connection with a reservoir, preferably in another room, so that the hot water when not being drawn into the tub will be collecting in the reservoir.
There is serious objection to having the water heating apparatus in the bathroom, unless the room is large and well ventilated. The heater uses up more oxygen than the lungs of several people would. Many fatalities have occurred in Southern California from instantaneous heaters, causing the asphyxiation of the inmates of bathrooms, perhaps chiefly on account of the habit some people have of shutting the bathroom up tightly while bathing.
The tub itself is a matter of considerable importance. I have not yet seen a modern white enameled iron tub that seemed satisfactory as the old copper tubs, chiefly on account of the shape. The iron tubs are molded somewhat like a huge box, with flat bottom and vertical sides. Even the head of the tub where the bather’s head and shoulders rest, goes almost straight down, whereas the old style had a gentle slope about two-and-a-half feet long, making a comfortable support for the upper part of the trunk and head. The copper tubs had a rounding bottom, which fitted the body better, and did not require so much water to cover one. And the metal itself being thin, was rapidly warmed by the hot water, while the thick iron tubs now used require the expenditure of considerable heat simply to warm up the tub. The iron tubs stand up so high as to be difficult for a weak person to enter, and serious accidents have occurred on account of the bather slipping as he left the tub. Another objection is the location of the overflow, so near the bottom that the tub will only hold a few inches of water. This latter fault may sometimes be remedied by unscrewing the fixture and covering the outlet with a thin rubber sheet, or filling it up with putty. Sometimes the overflow may be stopped, by simply putting a piece of paper over it. The force of the water will hold the paper tight against it. The tub ought to be deep enough and long enough to hold sufficient water to cover the shoulders when the patient is extended at full length, and for this purpose a six-foot tub is usually necessary. A five-and-a-half foot, or even a five-foot tub may be used by short people, or ladies, but the six-foot is best. A canvas head rest may be used, if necessary, or a rubber cushion, or hot water bag full of air, to rest the head on. The trouble with most ladies is that they object to wetting the hair, while men as a rule enjoy lying in the tub with water up to their mouths, and it is best that all should do this.
The patient should have a bathrobe to wear in going from the sleeping room to the bathroom, and a pair of easy slippers. Felt slippers are the best, as they do not require stockings, and are warm and comfortable. Hundreds of times I have seen patients, after taking a warm bath, leave the bathroom with only bathrobes and slippers on, go outdoors to their beds, in all kinds of weather, and I never knew any of them to “take cold.”
In regard to milk, a few necessary general rules will be given here. What is required is good, clean milk as it comes from the cow, without the removal or addition of any substance whatsoever. Boiled, sterilized or pasteurized milk, or milk artificially preserved in any way, can not be used for this treatment. The live cells in the milk must remain alive or there can be no “milk cure.”
In well-managed modern dairies the handling of milk is so systematized that there is no particular trouble in keeping the milk sweet until used. Dairies that are not cleanly, or have not proper appliances, often use some means of preserving the milk, by stopping the activity of the acid- forming bacteria. These bacteria are not dangerous to health, and the methods of restraining or destroying them are without effect on the bacteria of consumption, typhoid or other fevers that might contaminate milk in certain places. Prolonged boiling will destroy any germ, but boiled milk alone will not sustain life in either the infant or the adult. Pasteurizing milk or heating to 150 F., or less, has little effect on the pathogenic bacteria and renders the milk unsuitable for human use. Dogs fed on pasteurized milk only, are liable to have the mange and other disorders, while others of the same little thrive on raw, sweet and sour milk.
There are several chemical preservatives sold to dairymen by manufacturers who claim they are harmless. They are prohibited by the laws of most states. Some of them containing borax are not exactly poisonous in the amount on would ordinarily get in milk; but they render the milk much less digestible and in a weak baby or invalid adult might readily be the contributing cause of death. Others, like salicylic acid, or formaldehyde or formalin are distinct poisons. There is no harmless preservative of milk; whatever prevents its decomposition will render it more or less indigestible.
The manner in which milk is handled makes a great difference in its keeping qualities. Milk which is cooled and aerated immediately after being drawn, will keep for days; while, on the other hand, milk which is left to stand with the animal heat in it, will often be stale within twelve hours, and sour in less than twenty-four hours.
Milk from Holstein cows is the best for the purpose, next that from Durhams or Shorthorns, and last that of the pure Jersey or Guernsey, or Alderney, as the two latter breeds were formerly called. Milk from Jersey cows may be used, but it should be skimmed after standing two to four hours to reduce the amount of cream.
So important is this question of the kind of milk to be used in this treatment that I quote from an article by Professor J. Allen Gilbert, printed in the New York Medical Record, Oct. 21, 1906, on “Choice of Cow’s Milk.”
The italics are mine:
“Holstein milk is characterized by fat globules of small and uniform size, separating slowly by the gravity method, churning slowly and carrying very little color. Set side by side with milk of no richer quality, but of larger fat globules, in a given time less depth of cream will rise. Holstein milk coagulates the most slowly of any, and on account of its small globules and their evenness in size, it has a decided advantage in ease of absorption.
“This breed can be traced back for 2,000 years and was always famous for dairy purposes. In temperament, these animals are quiet and docile, bulls as well as cows, the bulls exceptionally so. Instead of being help at bay with a long stick hooked in the nose-ring, they can usually be led out for exhibition at the end of a loose rope. Their robustness makes them specially resistant to disease, whereas the more delicate breeds, such as the Jersey, have sad tales to record from the ravages of such diseases as tuberculosis.”
“All in all, if one were choosing a human wet nurse he would look for just the characteristics in her that we find presented in a Holstein cow, viz., vigorous constitution, quiet easy-going temperament, uninfluenced by external disturbances, good glandular development, abundance of good milk, freedom from disease or tendency to disease, a good healthy child of her own, and good family history.
“Whether we are to grant any such thing as a vitality peculiar to a milk or not is a disputed question. However, Professor Carlyle of the Wisconsin Experiment Station is quoted as saying that the Physicians’ and Surgeons’ Association of Chicago recommends the milk of a certain Holstein dairyman receiving 12 cents a quart because of some reason not understood, it has more vitalizing power than any other milk they can get.
“Those buying milk by the quart, sold at a uniform price for all breeds, will receive more commercial value by purchasing Jersey milk, for in so doing they get milk with a higher percentage of solids.” Where good digestion, adults eating a mixed diet, and highest commercial value per quart are the only elements to be dealt with in choice of a milk, the Jersey is undoubtedly the preferable milk WHERE INFANTS, WEAK DIGESTION, AND LARGE QUANTITY OF MILK ARE AT STAKE, THE HOLSTEIN LEADS THE LIST AND THE JERSEY BECOMES THE LEAST DESIRABLE FOR NUMEROUS REASONS.
“It is a well-known fact that certain Jersey cows give milk so rich in fat that they cannot suckle their own young. It is at least to be suspected that the trouble is not so much in the “richness” of the milk as in the size of the fat globules. The smaller the globules of fat, the more permanent the emulsion, and also the less irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. Also, the finer the emulsion, the easier the process of digestion and assimilation.
he emulsion, the easier the process of digestion and assimilation. “The ingredient of our food which costs the most, which has the greatest physiological value, and which is most apt to be lacking in ordinary dietaries is protein. Skim milk has nearly all the protein of the whole milk. By removal of the fat in the cream, it loses half its fuel value, but practically none of the protein. What is left has all the value of the whole milk for building and repair of tissue, for the making of blood, muscle and bone, and half the value of the whole milk for supplying heat and muscular power. When the facts are fully understood, skim milk will doubtless be more widely utilized.”
“The average composition of buttermilk, which is practically sour skim milk, is quite similar to that of skim milk, though it contains slightly less protein and sugar and a very little more fat. The fuel value is about the same, about 165 calories per pint. An ordinary glass of buttermilk contains as much nourishment as a half pint of oysters or two ounces of bread, or a good-sized potato.”
Many people anxious to gain weight think they should take all the cream possible. This is a mistake, as the fat in the milk does not normally make flesh in the body. The flesh built up on a milk diet is derived almost entirely from the proteins and carbohydrates, namely: casein, albumin, etc., and milk sugar. If the fat of a full milk diet was deposited in the body, it would mean a gain of about half a pound of pure fat daily.
The fat in cream has little or nothing to do with the cure of disease. Many of my best cases were cured on skim milk, even separator skim milk.
Milk contains all the salts necessary for the building up of every part of the body. It has iron, potassium, phosphorous, sodium, lime, magnesium, fluorin, etc., and altogether contains about twenty elements.
Dairy milk, or milk from a herd of cows, gives a more even average of fat and other contents than the milk from one cow would. There is no advantage in having one cow set aside for your use, unless by doing so you secure Holstein milk.
The milk should be delivered fresh, morning and evening, about two- thirds of the total quantity in the morning and one-third at night. In cities, the milk is usually ten to fourteen hours old before being delivered. Many of my patients have take the diet successfully under these conditions, but I think the average results are better with fresher milk.
Chapter II: Rest
There are a number of reasons why complete rest must be had, at least during the first part of this treatment. One very practical reason is the fact that many weak stomachs cannot retain the milk unless the body is lying quietly and therefore more or less relaxed. A stomach that has long been making an insufficient supply of blood is in a rut, and is disinclined to take more food, and thereby be compelled to make more blood. Practical experience has shown that if the body (and stomach) is kept as motionless as possible, the necessary amount of milk is much easier retained in the stomach and digested.
The same principle holds true on a sea voyage. All old travelers know that lying down at full length in the berth until used to the motion of the vessel often prevents seasickness.
Another reason is that naturally, in all animals, digestion and assimilation go on better while the animal is at rest, or asleep.
With the whole body relaxed, there is not likely to be any tension on the valves or sphincters of the bowels, and consequently, movements of the contents of these organs are facilitates. Nearly all persons evacuate the bowels most readily in the morning after a good night’s rest, and very few people indeed have a regular movement in the afternoon or evening. The kidneys only do their best work while we sleep.
It is a common experience for those who take time in the latter part of the day, either for a nap or simply to lie quietly and relax the body, to notice that as soon as the strain is taken off the external muscles, there is a rumbling and moving in the bowels which causes the contents to pass through some previously obstructed place.
There is a very definite scientific reason why rest is beneficial and work harmful in cases of injury or sickness. Take the case of an injured hand, in which germs have entered the tissues. Here the system marshals all its forces to destroy the invaders. If these forces can be concentrated upon this one task and not expended in part by the energy necessary to produce work, the chances of ultimate victory are greatly enhanced. Nature gives an imperative hint that the limb should be kept quiet by making movements painful; and most of nature’s hints are well worth heeding.
But the most important reason for resting while taking the milk diet may be explained as follows: The treatment is taken to correct some function, or to develop some part of the body; something is wrong, or lacking, or needs rebuilding. In short, growth is necessary, and growth is always a function of rest. We may, by exercise, build up big muscles, but the growth even of muscles is performed between the periods of activity, for work always uses up energy and wears out cells. Continuous work, without relaxation, would be impossible for muscles or other tissues. The intervals of rest between the periods of work enable the blood to flow freely into the part and carry the needed nourishment to replenish the cells exhausted by the previous energy. Work may be the stimulant, which causes subsequent growth, but in itself work is exhaustive, destructive. Recovery and recuperation can only occur during relaxation; we grow while resting.
The body requires its night’s rest after its day’s work, and for the same reason a body weakened by a long period of strain, misuse, illness, must have a period of rest, in some measure proportionate to the period of wear. If, during this period of rest, there is an increased supply of nutrition and blood, we have the ideal conditions for rapid repair. With the wear and tear and waste of the muscular system stopped, the nervous energy, which usually directs it, is saved or diverted to more useful purposes. The voluntary muscles are useful as organs of locomotion, prehension, etc., but they are not vital organs. Men have lived minus all four limbs.
In chronic illness it is the vital organs that we have to deal with, those concerned with digestion, nutrition, respiration, circulation, innervation, and depuration. By putting at complete rest as many of the muscles as may be possible, we save a large amount of nourishment and nerve force that would otherwise be expended without any useful return.
Every unnecessary drain must be stopped to allow the vital organs to rebuild and restore themselves. The more complete the inactivity of the external muscles, the brain and nervous system, and the sexual organs, the better prospect of restoring the normal functions of the other organs provided plenty of blood is supplied.
I deem it an unfortunate, but unavoidable feature of the treatment, that the organs of generation almost immediately share in the general improvement, because it is undesirable, at this time, to spare any of the blood from the important work of reconstructing the digestive apparatus and the lungs (if there is a pulmonary disease), and there are too many men who cannot restrain themselves.
Some people are unhappy with a few dollars in their pockets and won’t be satisfied until all is spent, instead of putting it in the bank and accumulating a good working surplus. I hope this simile will be understood and appreciated by married folks.
The success of the Weir Mitchell treatment is largely due to the complete rest prescribed for severe cases. For weeks these patients are not permitted to sit up, or sew, or write, or read. They are even fed by a nurse, and talking is prohibited.
Complete rest on an ordinary diet usually means that massage will be required to move the bowels, but on the milk diet this is unnecessary and unwise.
Not patient with a dilated stomach, or prolapsed bowels, or piles, or prolapse of any organ, or high blood pressure, can be cured by the milk diet, if he is allowed to sit up, or walk around.
My patients usually are allowed to read if there are no headaches, and the stomach is taking the milk without difficulty. But the reading should not be continuous. Read for ten minutes between drinks, then lay the book or paper down for 15 to 20 minutes. Reading helps to pass away the time, and satisfies people who, without it, would want to be doing something more harmful. But read as little as possible, and never by artificial light.
Talking is usually unnecessary and seldom beneficial. Don’t think because you are lying abed for weeks and keeping quiet that you will get rusty. I never knew the rest part of the treatment to do any damage; most of the patients are inclined to get up too soon, rather than stay abed too long. But they all store up energy while resting, and the good effect is apparent as soon as they return to ordinary life.
Many people with tired nerves and poor stomachs cannot take a sufficient quantity of milk to do much good without being completely relaxed. But this state of relaxation is a hard one for some people to get into. They don’t want to go to bed, and when they do they stack up pillows behind their backs, until they are almost in a sitting position.
They are losing half the benefits of the treatment, and the opportunity of a lifetime to take a complete rest. Isn’t it worthwhile to really rest for a few weeks if comparative comfort can thereby be secured for all the remaining years of life?
To enable those folks to let go a little, to reduce the tension, the warm bath is of great use. In the warm bath only do some of them first learn to relax. It is sufficient for some people to tell them to lie out flat in bed, breathe deeply a few times, and then, beginning with the head and neck, relax all the muscles of the body, so that if the various parts were lifted they would fall like logs of wood. When all the muscles are relaxed there is a pleasant sensation, almost like floating in the air. Sleep secured after getting in this state is far more restful than where one simply drops off from fatigue, with all the weight of the day’s work and care distorting the body.
But many cannot properly relax at first. Here come in the benefit of the warm bath. It is not “weakening” for these strained, nervous cases, any more than sleep is, but it does permit them to relax. Nothing supports the whole body so gently and easily as a good tub bath. I notice the insane asylums have grasped the idea, and many of them are fitting up bathrooms where nervous cases may remain continuously in the neutral bath for weeks at a time, eating and sleeping therein until the nervous system has recovered. The same method has been used since the world war to relieve the pain of severely wounded soldiers. Persons who have suffered extensive burns of the skin may be kept in the warm bath and avoid the use of opiates or oily dressings.
The relaxing and soothing effect of the warm bath is due to several causes. It is sufficient to mention here the warmth, which relieves the body of its heat generating function; the moisture, which is absorbed externally and inhaled internally; the cleasning and opening of the pores of the skin, the softening and removal of the deal epithelial scales; the growth of new capillaries; the relief of pain and soreness and the wonderful buoyancy caused by the equalization of the pressure on the surface of the body. No cabinet, or vapor bath, or electric light bath can do what the warm tub bath does in combination with the milk diet.
When the patient has learned how to relax the body, and really rest, I have little doubt as to the final result of the treatment.
To illustrate the great differences in taking the milk diet, with and without rest, I obtained permission to quote the following case:
Mr. Aubrey {arks, of Omaha, Neb., was attacked by acute nephritis, or Bright’s Disease, in 1908. It ran on for several months and finally became chronic, with a great deal of dropsy, in spite of treatment in two hospitals and by several good physicians. He finally went to a sanatorium, where the treatment consisted of a long fast, followed by an exclusive milk diet, a glass at a time, at frequent intervals, as I recommend. But, instead of resting, he was ordered to exercise daily, and went to the milk room every half-hour for his milk. The result was that while his dropsy and albuminuria decreased somewhat on the fast, both increased markedly as soon as he started the milk diet. He was ordered to take another fast of about two week, and then took the milk diet, with no better results than before.
Shortly afterward he wrote me about his case, without informing me however, that he was not resting while drinking milk. I replied that I could not understand it, ass I had never had a case of dropsy that was not cured on the milk diet. Mr. Parks finally made the long trip to California to take the treatment in the manner I recommend.
On his arrival, Sept. 1, 1909, he showed a condition of general anasarca, or dropsy, literally all over his body. He could not wear any of his regular clothing, hat or shoes on account of the swollen, waterlogged condition of his skin. His weight was 186 stripped, although he had been fasting several days during his journey. By my direction, Mr. Parks went to bed and remained there over a month, except for the time he spent daily in a warm water bath.
He took from six to seven quarts of milk in twenty-four hours, and passed some days over ten quarts of urine. In fifteen days, his weight had gone down to 127—a loss of almost sixty pounds.
From that time he slowly gained weight, up to 154 pounds of solid flesh, although the dropsy did not entirely disappear for several weeks, the ankles being the last to become normal. The albumin in the urine persisted for nearly two months he was under my care, but finally disappeared. Mr. Parks, sixteen years after his treatment, is living in Long Beach, and is quite well. He recently passed successfully a rigid examination for life insurance. No medicine was used in his treatment while taking the milk cure.
No case that I remember shows so emphatically as this one does the great benefit of rest while on the milk diet.
Another case almost as instructive is that of Mr. S____, of Iowa, who being attached by a slight stroke of apoplexy, went to the same sanatorium that Mr. Parks took treatment in. Mr. S. knew that his arteries were in a diseased condition, and this condition had no doubt caused the ruptured artery in the brain.
He took the usual fast for about two weeks and then started in drinking milk, exercising vigorously every day, according to the system in vogue there. In less than forty-eight hours he suffered a second stroke, which paralyzed his right arm and affected his speech—a result I should have expected under the circumstances, as the fast could in no way have strengthened his blood vessels to withstand the blood pressure consequent to exercise on a milk diet.
This man came to me as soon as he was able to travel, in January 1909, and after a short fast he went to bed and took five-and-a-half quarts of milk daily for four weeks. I never had the slightest fear of another hemorrhage, because he was not making any exertion that could be avoided.
After four weeks of rest and milk diet, I felt confident his arteries were in condition to stand exercise and gradually he began walking and using his arms. In less than a week, he could walk over two miles at a time, and soon after returned to his home. He wrote a few months afterward that he was resuming his occupation as a traveling salesman, and felt well.
The amount of permanent benefit obtained from the milk cure is usually proportionate to the completeness of rest obtained. The less talking, reading, or muscular activity, the better the results. As far as possible, do nothing but drink milk and sleep. There is no danger of developing laziness. Everyone, at the close of a properly conducted milk and rest course, is stronger, more active, more energetic, more ambitious and has a better mentality, than before the treatment. All the organs share in the improvement, including the eyes, ears, skin and sensory nerves.
Chapter III: Psychology of the Milk Cure
I am glad to say there is no “suggestion” or faith cure about the milk diet treatment. You put something in, and you get something in return for it every time. I have had patients who took the treatment because friends urged them to, but without the least faith in it, except that they thought “milk wouldn’t hurt them,” and these people have made as good a cure as others who had perfect confidence in the method.
All my patients will bear me out in the statement that no psychological influence has been exerted. The milk diet treatment is a simple thing, and within any person’s reach. It is not necessary to have grand buildings, expensively furnished apartments, showy bathrooms, glittering apparatus, or complicated appliances of any kind. What is needed is a quiet, cool and airy place, with a comfortable bed and the necessary toilet utensils. A vase of fragrant flowers is always acceptable, but showy ornaments or pictures or lace curtains are out of place.
Nor is it necessary to have frequent examinations of the body, of the urine, the blood, or the secretions of the stomach, etc. After a long sanitatium experience, and listening to the histories of many people who had been the rounds of the various institutions, I am firmly of the opinion that these “examinations,” as usually conducted, are mainly beneficial to the staff of young doctors who get the fees, and incidentally, some experience. Of what possible use is it for the patient to learn one week that he has “hypoacidity,” and the next week that he has “hyperacidity,” if his dyspepsia is not relieved?
Such things may have their use in sanitariums conducted with the idea of having the patients stay as long as their money holds out, but they are not needed in a place where the treatment does what it is claimed to do, and patients are steadily improving.
The average person will get better results in a well-conducted sanitarium than he will at home, not especially on account of more skillful treatment, but from causes that are well understood by all physicians.
The change of air and scene, the making a regular business of the “cure,” the relief from home cares and worries, the getting away from the well-meant, but often harmful solicitations of anxious relatives and friends, often the exchange of a stuffy, over-furnished, over-curtained, badly ventilated bedroom for a more healthful one, all these, and many other details, frequently assist in getting an invalid started on the up-grade. But more than all other things combined is the wonderful influence of the new blood made do freely on the milk. Rest and quiet, daily warm baths and plenty of fresh, pure air, are necessary to most people in order that they may take and assimilate the proper amount of milk, and eliminate the waste products.
It is not necessary to have a daily “health lecture,” during the treatment. But frequently, at the start, a little encouragement is helpful to keep the milk going down, because the senses of hunger and thirst do not cry for it, and it is easy to stop drinking for a while.
The best “cures,” in my experience, have been the patients who started in with the full amount of milk, and took it continuously, without interruption other than during the sleeping hours. They did not stop because their stomachs seemed full or for a bad taste in their mouths. Some of them have disregarded nausea and even vomiting during the first days of their treatment. Others have suffered headaches and backaches, and later on, the dull, stretching pain in the stomach, kidneys and liver, which may accompany the rapid growth of those organs. Very many have had returns of the old pains of rheumatism, neuralgia, earache, toothache, pleurisy, peritonitis, and inflammatory conditions of the generative organs, which they may have had years before. These pains usually last about a day, but in chronic cases of long standing, where there has been considerable growth of inflammatory tissue, and adhesions, as between the serous surfaces of the peritoneum and various organs of the abdomen and pelvis, the duration of the pain is somewhat in proportion to the length and seriousness of the disease.
The pain is never as severe as it was in the original disease, except perhaps in some women at the menstrual period, and the pain may be stopped by stopping the milk, and thereby taking off some of the pressure, but that is usually the wrong thing to do, for it is the excess of blood that works the cure.
I do not ask the impossible of any person, but I tell those who are inclined to stop the milk that the pain is only a necessary reaction in the diseased part; that pain means a growth of new capillary blood vessels in a place where the circulation has been stagnant, that the part of organ is growing larger, getting straightened out, coming back to the place where it belongs, stretching its fibrous and sensitive covering (as in the liver and kidneys), pulling on the contracted ligaments, or abnormal fibrous bands which have bound it down and interfered with its action, or stimulating the normal movement where it had been paralyzed.
It is easier to understand why there should be pain with a curative process than it is to explain how there ever can be a cure without pain.
When I have told patients what, to the best of my knowledge and experience, is going on, I leave it to them to decide whether they can stand the pain, or discomfort, with the expectation of a complete cure, or whether they will have to stop the milk temporarily, and perhaps stop the curative process when it is at its height.
I encourage them by stating the fact, which I cannot emphasize too strongly, and which every one should remember, that in 41 years’ experience with this treatment, on all classes of patients, suffering from heart and kidney disease, brain and nerve disorders, blood clots, paralysis, inflammation of the bowels, ulcerative processes in various parts of the body, chronic specific disease, dilated stomach or chronic poisoning due to lead, mercury, arsenic, or any medicine, I have never known an injury or bad result from pushing the milk diet, with the single exception of the hemorrphagic cases such as those specified under consumption and high blood pressure.
d pressure. I would advise against giving the full milk diet to any patient who had recently been operated on or who had a ruptured artery from any cause. By “recently” I mean within two to four weeks, according to the extent of the operation. I am not afraid to give the milk diet in any case of diseased blood vessels, or in aneurism caused by disease, for I believe the blood carries its own cure for these conditions, but COMPLETE REST MUST GO WITH IT.
It is not possible in this little book to follow each case to the end. There is an infinite variety. If you have learned the great natural principles upon which the treatment is based and follow the directions I have given you, you will be ready for any condition, which may arise.
Don’t leave out some portion, which you think is unnecessary, nor add something to it which has helped you under other circumstances. Try my way first.
Those who take a full milk diet without resting, and fail to cure their disordered, should wait some time before taking the treatment in the proper way. It is best for them to lose the flesh they gained even if they have to wait several months, or take a long fast, before trying my method.
Chapter IV: Starting the Treatment
In severe cases of illness, the success of the milk cure depends on the faithfulness with which the details are followed. Some of these details often seem unimportant to those who know little of the treatment, but, in any case, where a successful result has not been obtained, it has always been easy to point to faults of commission or omission.
It is true that many people have derived great benefit from a milk diet taken otherwise than as I advise, or only partially following my instruction, but I believe that the plan I give herein is one that is always successful, enabling the patient to take the proper amount of milk, and secure the desired results, without any danger.
Before commencing the milk diet, it is usually advisable, and often necessary, to take a fast, from ordinary foods.
For the ordinary case, where the digestion is more or less impaired, and particularly where the constipation is present, the fast should continue at least 36 hours, but the patient is allowed to eat ripe fresh and dried fruits (except bananas) in such quantities as may be eaten with a relish, and as much water may be taken as possible with comfort. Diabetics should fast for five days, not even eating fruit.
While I have started patients on milk only five or six hours after their last meal, sometimes I have regretted it and found that a day’s fast would have saved time. If there is a class of patients who can do without the fast, it is the thin, weak, anemic people, such as consumptives, neurasthenics, etc., especially those whose bowels are in the habit of moving freely every day. Such patients take milk greedily they soak it up like a sponge, there is no initial constipation nor nausea, and the rapid increase in circulation causes a quick elimination of the impurities in the blood and bowels.
On the other hand, those who are stout, plethoric, rheumatic, gouty, dropsical, constipated, or have had skin or blood disease, diabetes, headaches, coated tongue, prolapsed or dilated stomach, or any displaced organ, should take at least one day’s fast, and many people will be benefited, and gain time in the end, by extending the fast over several days.
Those who are not accustomed to fasting periods are usually agreeably surprised to find there is no particular inconvenience to this part of the program, and when the time comes to start in drinking milk, it goes down with a relish; the stomach makes no objection, and the bowels move naturally. Another important consideration is the fact that the organs of digestion are, so to speak, caught at low tide, at their minimum bulk and activity, and building up rapidly in size and function, as they do not on the milk diet, while the mind and body are in a state of as complete rest as possible. There is a natural tendency to make good cells, good tissues, and healthy organs, and to overcome any abnormal habit or loss of natural function that may have been contracted by any organ.
During the fast it is not necessary to take rest, or refrain from the usual work or habits; in fact, I think most patients are benefited by active exercise the day before commencing the milk.
A few months ago, I received a letter from a young lady magazine writer, who had taken a course of milk diet, after a fifteen days’ fast. She wished me to tell her some way to prevent “decay of the teeth,” which on the milk diet. She claimed that cavities had formed in the teeth, not only in her own case, but also in the cases of a well-known author, and his family, who had all taken the milk diet, after excessively long fasts.
I was glad to be able to inform the lady that whatever deterioration of the teeth she had experienced, was entirely due to the fasting period, and not in the slightest degree to a milk diet. Some of her friends had fasted several weeks, until they were extremely emaciated, and, I believe, they had taken the milk rather irregularly, and usually started on only three or four quarts per day.
In all my experience, I never knew of anyone suffering the slightest damage to their teeth, during, or soon after, taking a milk diet. In my case, my teeth were in bad shape before I took the treatment, and I had had a great deal of dental work done, but for twenty years afterward no dentist saw the inside of my mouth, as it was unnecessary.
Several experienced dentists who have taken the milk cure fully agree with me in the belief that it is a great benefit to the teeth, either in young or old people, and that it can cure Riggs disease, or pyorrhea.
Milk has all the elements necessary to build teeth with, and in fact, it is on an exclusive milk diet that babies grow teeth more rapidly, and more perfectly, than they ever do afterward, on any diet.
Speaking of these long fasts—two, three and even four or five weeks long—I must say that I never saw any case that showed permanent benefit from them, and I certainly have seen a number of people who had hopelessly wrecked their health and even their minds by this unnatural starvation. Indeed, the mental condition of some of these patients who came from “fasting sanitariums,” was pitifully weak. Perhaps this condition was present before they fasted, and possibly it was owning to this fact that they were induced to continue the fast so long.
I think I never ordered a longer fast than five days, but several years ago a young many insisted on taking a two-week fast, under my supervision. It was interesting and instructive to me, as I have been unable to find out from any book, or publication, recommending long fasts, just what happens to the functions of the faster.
This man remained in bed about two-thirds of the time, and at other times was taking rather long walks, about five miles daily. He took some light exercise several times daily, sat in the sun, read, etc.
He had no serious disorder, was well-muscled and nourished, but had a tendency toward constipation, and some lack of vigor not uncommon in men past 30.
About the third day of his fast, he was rather irritable and nervous and felt uncomfortable, but not hungry. After that he seemed fairly contented, except on the days when his bowels did not move, and on these days, or rather the next morning, his temperature and blood pressure would show a considerable drop, while the pulse was usually higher at the same time. He had difficulty in keeping warm, although the weather was mild.
I could not see that anything was gained by the fast beyond the fifth day, although he responded quite well to the milk diet that he took following the fast.
During his fast he had a daily warm water bath, drank warm or hot water, and slept outdoors, with hot water bottles to make him comfortable.
On the tenth day he took the juice of one orange; on the eleventh day the juice of five oranges, and the next day took two-and-a-half quarts of full milk.
Enemas were used several times to move the bowels, until he started on the milk, when the bowels began to move almost too freely.
In beginning the milk diet, take the weight in the morning, with as little clothing on as possible. Make a list of what you wear, and at the end of the week, wearing the same outfit, weigh at the same hour of the day. More exact results are secured by emptying the bladder each time before weighing.
Measurements can be taken of the limbs, hips, waist, neck, and especially the chest, both expanded and contracted, and comparisons made from time to time.
In regard to the amount of milk to be taken, I will make the following statement: The average adult, when consuming daily two or four quarts of milk containing 4 per cent of butter fat, and 9 per cent of other solids, will not lose flesh; with another quart or two he will gain weight, and with still further increase of a pint or two he will secure the necessary energy and stimulation to throw off disease.
There are several arbitrary rules as t the quantity necessary, such as taking an ounce-and-a-half of milk for each pound of the normal weight or the highest weight in health, or, taking in a quart of milk for every foot in height, but none of these will fit all cases. They are however, a useful guide, especially in estimating the amount to be given children, when the first rule can be safely followed.
The last 1,000 cases that I have had under observation have averaged about six quarts of milk daily, containing about 2 per cent of butterfat, and 9 per cent of solids no fat. The males usually go over that amount and the average female patient will take slightly less.
Lord Bacon in his Aphorisms says, “Many persons declare that they cannot talk milk as a food, and the reason is that they do not take enough.” Dr. Stephen Smith of New York, In “Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette,” says his childhood experience at the farmhouse gave him a clue to the solution of Bacon’s unexplained maxim. Noticing that in making cheese the operator weighted first the milk, then the “rennet,” and recorded the result, he was led to inquire why so much accuracy, and was informed if there was too much “rennet” for the milk the curd would be so hard that it could not be pressed into a cheese, and that if there was too much milk for the “rennet” the curd would be so soft that it likewise could not be formed into shape.
A very soft curd is necessary for digestion, while a hard curd prevents the penetration of the digestive fluids. Hence it is easy to see why it is best to take plenty of milk with this treatment.
It is wrong, if not positively dangerous, to attempt the exclusive milk diet on any amount of milk less than that required to noticeably stimulate the circulation and promote body growth. A possible exception might be made in the case of convalescents from severe, acute fevers, where a few glasses of milk daily might keep them going temporarily until the ability to digest solid food was recovered. Even in those cases, water would be a safer drink, and probably would do as much good.
There is no halfway method of taking the milk diet for people who have much the matter with them. Enough milk must be taken to create new circulation, new cells, and new tissue growth, and cause prompt elimination of the waste and dead matter that may be poisoning the system.
A patient should start with the full amount of milk; cases that begin on a smaller quantity and try to work up to the proper amount often fail to get the best results. They get the stomach in the notion of taking three or four quarts, and then find it difficult to increase the amount, while those who start on, say, six quarts daily, have little or no trouble after the first day or two. In beginning in this way we take the stomach by surprise, and as the milk keeps coming, the stomach is compelled to dispose of it, and soon does so, in the natural way, without difficulty. It is rather common for patients to say, the afternoon of the first day, that they feel so full that they cannot take another glass, but as they continue taking the regular quantity, ways and means are provided, and the sensation disappears the same day or that night, and does not return.
On the contrary, if you humor the stomach, and stop when it desires you to, you will likely have to repeat the whole process the next day.
It must be remembered that stomachs of this kind are not normal, and have been out of condition so long that they are not competent judges of what is best for them.
When milk continues to come in and the stomach becomes over- distended, the lower outlet opens and allows some of the contents to pass into the intestine. This is desirable because milk can be perfectly digested in the intestine and the process stimulates and improves intestinal activity. Undoubtedly this action goes on in the case of suckling babe and assists in rapidly developing its dormant digestive functions.
If other food were taken with the milk this intestinal action would not take place satisfactorily, but with milk alone, digestion and assimilation may go on throughout practically the whole length of the alimentary canal. The addition of even a cracker to the milk seems to cause the stomach to hold all its contents for hours without discharging much into the intestine. Fruit does not have the same deterrent effect when eaten with milk, but it is not advisable to use fruit during the first few days of the start.
On the morning the milk diet is commenced, the patient remains in bed and takes the first drink as soon as the milk is available, but starting on the even hour, or half hour, and takes the same amount every half hour. The following day’s drinking begins as soon as the patient is awake in the morning, using the milk supplied the previous evening. The amount of milk taken in twenty-four hours is calculated from the time the first glass of the new day’s supply is taken, until the same time the next morning.
If six quarts is the daily amount, use a glass marked to contain six ounces; if seven quarts is the allowance, take seven ounces in a drink. If five-and-a-half quarts are taken, the glass should hold five-and-a-half ounces, and so on. Using these amounts there will be thirty-two drinks taken in twenty-four hours. If the first drink is taken at 6 a.m., and none are missed, by 8:30 p.m., thirty drinks will have been taken, two to be taken any time in the night when awake.
This is the only way that such an amount of milk can be absorbed by a weak stomach and it IS always absorbed, digested, or discharged, where the directions here given are followed.
It is necessary to be exact as to the time and quantity taken. Each glass should be sipped slowly, taking several minutes to finish it. The milk must be mixed with the secretions of the mouth. Do not gulp it, or let it run down the throat, as you might water. Now and then, I come across a patient who will take long draughts of milk, say two ounces at a pull, but drawn into the mouth in a rather small stream. They are young people with active salivary glands, and doubtless the action of sucking the milk through a small mouth opening at the same time draws saliva into the mouth. Such patients say the milk tastes better to them taken in that manner than it does taken in small swallows and “swished” around in the mouth by the tongue, but the latter is the safest way to start on. A straw, or glass tube, or drinking cup may be used.
Many patients sleep more than half the time. If asleep when drinking time comes, take your glass when you awaken, but do not try to make up for lost time. Continue thirty minutes apart. Milk is supposed to require about one-and-a-half hours digestion, and all dietetic plans before this have allowed at least that much time between meals. I use the half-hour interval because it gives the best results. Milk is probably curdled as soon as it arrives in the stomach; the sugar, albumen, salts and water begin to be absorbed immediately, other portions are passed on to the intestines, where the fat is quickly absorbed by the lacteals. The nitrogenous portions may not be taken up into the blood for twenty-four hours. So it is useless to set any particular time for the digestion of milk or other food. Doubtless a part of the milk will still be in the stomach at the end of thirty minutes, but its mixture with a fresh portion has no bad effect. On the contrary, it works well in practice.
A patient, in describing the effect, once said: “After fairly started, the first glasses seem to pull the others after them by suction.”
If an invalid’s stomach is very weak, or particularly deficient in the digestive juices, and especially if the milk is taken too rapidly, tough curds, which are slow and hard to digest, may be formed in the stomach at first. In the vomit of persons who were drinking quantities of milk too quickly, or at too low a temperature, I have seen these cheesy bodies so large and firm that it seemed impossible that they could have come up through the oesophagus. Where the conditions that I recommend as to rest, bathing, air and the small frequent and regular drinks of milk have been followed, I have never known of these curds being formed in such amounts as to prevent their digestion, with the exception of a few very weak people who were attempting to take their milk too cold.
It would be a sad mistake if we were to give up the idea of a milk diet because of a few curds in the stomach at first. It is also a mistake to peptonize the milk, or to add anything to it, to make it easier to digest. Let the fact be recognized that the fault is with the stomach and not with the milk. It is purely a functional fault and must be corrected, and, when the stomach is able to handle the milk right, it will also be able to digest ordinary foods as well.
There is seldom any difficulty in taking the milk after the first day or two if the start is made under proper conditions, and, after that, all that is necessary is to continue building up the digestive organs and the system generally by three or four weeks of this plan of treatment.
I usually start patients on milk which is near room temperature, or at least not below 60 degrees F., but if there are symptoms within the first two or three days of indigestion, distress in stomach, nausea, or vomiting of thick curds, the patient goes on warm milk immediately and does not take any cold milk for several days.
In cold weather, if any trouble of this kind is anticipated, it is better to start on warm milk at the beginning, but in most cases, especially in mild weather, it is unnecessary to warm the milk.
On cold nights, if drinking the cold milk prevents the patient getting to sleep again, provision should be made to warm the milk.
The most satisfactory way of warming the milk is to have a pan containing about three inches of warm, almost hot, water, and set each glass of milk in it for two or three minutes until it is warmed through. The milk ought to be about blood heat, although it can be heated in this way to 115 degrees without harming it, but the milk must not be left long in the water, and must be taken immediately. No more than one glass can be heated at a time. The most convenient way of keeping the pan of water hot is a small oil stove, kept burning continuously at such a heat as may be necessary. An electric plate can be used to heat the water. If the patient has not nurse the whole arrangement must be set near the bed so the patient can prepare the milk without getting up. Taking this warmed milk, according to the other directions, indigestible curds are never formed. Do not take a glass of cold milk early in the morning, as it effects might last all day.
It is not practicable to use thermos or vacuum bottles to keep warm milk in all night because the milk would spoil, but a bottle of hot water, or several of them, can be arranged for the night, and a glass of milk warmed at any time by emptying in the hot water into a small pan, and setting the glass in it. Never warm milk directly over gas or hot stove.
