Here’s yet another illness we’re somewhat familiar with, at least enough to fear it, and which is only very lightly touched on if mentioned at all in the common off-grid medical texts. The Ship’s Medicine Chest and Medical Aid at Sea is the only one to describe the illness and treatment.
RHEUMATIC FEVER
Rheumatic fever is characterized by fever up to 103°F (39.4°C) and painful swelling of the large joints. The swelling migrates from one joint to another. A knee may be hot, painful, and swollen one day and the next day appear normal, when a wrist, ankle, or should may be involved. Several joints may be affected at the same time. These symptoms may follow a sore throat, a general feeling of not being well, vague pains in joints, a rapid irregular heartbeat, and pain in the abdomen or chest.
This disease is a complication of Group A streptococcal infections. The greatest danger of the disease is the frequency with which it affects the heart. Both the prevention of rheumatic heart disease and its treatment require weeks or months of bed rest. The only way to tell when it is safe for the patient to get out of bed is by certain laboratory tests.
TREATMENT
Medical confirmation of a rheumatic fever diagnosis should be obtained by radio. The patient should be kept totally at rest in bed to protect the heart. Antibiotics should be given only on the advice of a physician. Aspirin should be given in large doses, 1200 mg every four hours, to help control joint symptoms and fever. Local gastric reaction usually can be avoided or controlled by giving milk or an antacid with the aspirin, or between doses of the aspirin. The aspirin dosage should be reduced if the patient develops nausea or ringing in the ears.
Woolen strips wrapped around the affected joints will help. A swollen knee can be made more comfortable if a pillow is placed underneath the joint. Menthol compound ointment can be applied gently to the skin around sore joints to afford some relief. If the patient cannot sleep, pentobarbital sodium 100 mg should be given by mouth at bedtime.
Until four weeks after all joint pains and temperature have subsided, there should be strict bed rest, careful nursing, and special attention to symptoms including heart complications. At the earliest opportunity arrangements should be made to transfer the patient to a hospital ashore.[1]
That concludes the information from the Ship’s Medicine Chest. It neglects to mention that this disease can cause permanent heart valve damage and even death. This is perhaps what parents stress about when a child has strep throat—that it will progress into rheumatic fever.
However, what are the odds of strep throat developing into rheumatic fever? In the 1950s, it was estimated that 1 in 50-60 cases would progress into rheumatic fever. Currently, the odds are less than 1 in 1000.[2] When antibiotics are worth their weight in gold, will you use them on a case of strep throat to prevent a disease with less than 1 in 1000 chance of occurring? Especially when that means they won’t be available for the truly life-threatening illnesses? And when taking the antibiotic only reduces the chances of rheumatic fever by 50%?[3] I wouldn’t. Especially when herbs can handle strep throat.
Herbs for strep throat
· Echinacea
· Elder
· Japanese barberry
· Japanese honeysuckle
· Sagebrush
· Usnea
Risk factors
Populations at greatest risk for developing rheumatic fever include the impoverished, indigenous people, and children and teens.[4]
Links to related posts:
Medicinal Uses of Japanese Barberry
Medicinal Uses of Japanese Honeysuckle
[1] The Ship’s Medicine Chest and Medical Aid at Sea, 1978, 186.
[2] Cynthia Koelker, Armageddon Medicine, 2012, 144.
[3] Cynthia Koelker, Armageddon Medicine, 2012, 144.
[4] Survival and Austere Medicine, 3rd Edition, 2017, 185.
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