1964 Awake! - Theocratic Collector.com

although at times a hundred tablets have
been swallowed without fatal results.
Taking aspirin for fever is also being
discoUl'aged by more and more physIcians
on the premise that
a serious condition
may well be masked
thereby. In fact,
these physicians are
urging patients to let
a fever take its
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course, unless it is
dangerously high, for fever is one of the
body's ways of ridding itself of poisons
and therefore is a process that should not
be interfered with.
For Children?
Increasingly, mothers are using aspirin
to still their children. This is unwise and
that for more than one good reason. When
a child cries or whimpers, the wise mother
will be concerned with getting at the
cause and remedying the situation rather
than with merely stilling the child. Espe·
dally when a small child has a fever or
some toxic condition, repeated doses, even
though very small, can present a danger
because of the cumulative effect of aspirin.
Not only are mothers increasingly feeding
aspirin to their children, but, increasingly,
children are being accidentally poisoned
because of having emptied the
aspirin bottle, thinking it to be candy.
Manufacturers have made the situation
worse by candy-coating aspirin. Why coax
children to take a drug on the pretext
that it is candy? Aspirin should be kept
out of the reach of children, for at times
they have managed to remove even safety
tops of bottles with their teeth.
It might also be noted that one should
not keep more than a several months' supply
of aspirin on hand. If the bottle smells
like vinegar, or the pills are no longer firm
JANUARY 8, 1964
but tend to crumble, it is 110" longer advisable
to use them.
In view of the serious side effects that
accompany heavy and continued use of aspirin,
the wise perM
son will keep his use
of aspirin at a minimum.
And while it
may be true that
there are always nat­
ural ways of reliev-
ing distress, circumstances
do not always permit resorting to
these; besides, often the sufferer does not
know just what can bring him relief. Obviously,
under such circumstances taking
aspirin may be the lesser of two evils.
Why are more and more people taking
more and more aspirin? One reason might
be that youths have found that an aspirin
in a cup of coffee or a cola drink gives
them an unusual sense of well·being. An·
other reason may be that people are less
and less willing to put up with any kind of
distress. No doubt another reason is the
increase of headaches, colds and other distresses
caused by overindulgence in food,
liquor or other bodily pleasures. Certainly
it is true as never before that men are
"lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of
God." And not to be overlooked are the
pressures associated with earning a living
and fear of what the future may bring.
-2 Tim. 3:4; Luke 21:25,26.
Of course, to the extent that psychosomatic
factors are the cause of one's ills,
the remedy may lie, not so much in putting
an aspirin pill in one's stomach, as in exercising
self-control and putting the right
kind of knowledge in the mind and cultivating
good mental habits. For that there
is nothing better than the inspired Word
of God, the Bible, and the aids that help
one to understand it.-Gal. 5:22, 23; Phil.
4:8.
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