Friday, November 18, 2011

Citze* (for Citize*)

You might want to sit down for this one. Especially if you've just had a baby/episiotomy or are suffering from hemorrhoids, prostate problems, anal or vaginal fissures, genital herpes, inflammatory bowel disease, or bladder infections. Pretty much anything that ails you "down there." Sitz baths, which some people call "sits" baths and which comes from the German word Sitzbad—a bath (Bad) in which one sits (sitzen)—are ones in which the bather sits in water that just covers the buttocks and hips. They work by increasing circulation to the affected area and keeping it clean. You can buy "sitz baths" that attach to the commode, or you can simply run a little water in the tub. Some people like to add mineral salts, baking soda, or vinegar to the water. You can also alternate between hot and cold immersions every few minutes. It doesn't necessarily make you a good citizen to take them, but it does show a certain can-do spirit to try healing thyself at home before running off to see the doctor. See if you can find any samples of this typo that might be sitting in your catalog today. This one occurred 38 times in OhioLINK and 323 times in WorldCat.

(Nineteenth-century bathtub in Ludington, Michigan, from Wikimedia Commons.)

Carol Reid

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