On the pathology of delirium tremens, and its treatment without stimulants or opiates / by Alexander Peddie.

  • Peddie, Alexander, 1810-1907.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the pathology of delirium tremens, and its treatment without stimulants or opiates / by Alexander Peddie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the other thinking and judging correctly. Asps are also crawling on his breast, and he cannot shake them off, etc. Pulse is 100, soft, and of very good strength ; pupils contracted ; tongue clean; no appetite. Tremors, not only of his hands and tongue, but of his head and whole body have much increased to-day; and his voice also is bleating and unsteady. Says he has slept none for some nights, and is much afraid of the one approaching. He also states he had vomited himself freely with some antimonial solution which he had beside him since last illness ; and likewise that he had been well purged. Desirous of ascertaining whether any other depressing or sedative agent would answer as well as the antimony formerly employed, the following was prescribed ^ Tinct. Aconiti gtt. x., Aquae 3iv.,—a tablespoonful to be given every two hours, and some beef-tea occasionally. 2d day, 10 a.m—Has spent a very restless night ; had some short, but very disturbed sleeps. Asps and other reptiles are crawling in great multitudes about the bed. Appearance of countenance most wretched ; skin slightly clammy, and of a dirty colour; tongue a little white ; pulse 110, weaker than yesterday; urine scanty, and high-coloured ; no appetite. Had taken during the course of the night one-half of the mixture (Aconite 5 Ml), but being un¬ able to visit him frequently, so as to watch the effects of the medicine, and fearing it might prove too depressing for the circulation, I withdrew it, and ordered instead 10 drops of Ipecacuan wine, to be given every two hours, and 5i. of the Pulv. Jalapse Comp, at noon. To have also beef-tea. 4 Pijj_—Much more excited and delirious; says there is a court sitting in judgment on the five senses, etc. Tremors are excessive, and he is sweating profusely. He confesses to me that his attendant, thinking him very weak, had at noon given him a wine-glassful of spirits. And on close questioning, also admits that he has some morphia in his possession, but will not say whether he has taken any, and will not give it up. To have 20 drops of the Yin. Ipecac, every two hours. 10 p.m.—Is rather better. Pulse 108. Says that he has had a great many strangers visiting him, pressing him very much to go out with them. Pupils contracted. 3d day, 10 a.m.—Has passed a most agitated night; walking from room to room incessantly ; sometimes waving a white handkerchief from the window, under some notion of making peace with God. Has taken a little breakfast. He had gone to bed a little before my visit, and is lying with his eyelids half¬ shut, and squinting when they are open; is working with his hands in the ail, as if arranging things, or seizing objects between the finger and thumb, or pointing a way. There are great general tremors, and considerable twitchings of the eye'brows. Pulse 110, and very weak. To have plenty of good beef-tea ; also the Yin. Ipecac, to be continued. 4 p.m.—Pulse 114. Is sitting up in bed, very pale, and talking more hu¬ morously. A lady and gentleman, whose portraits are hung on the wall, have been speaking to him from out of their frames, and annoying him much, but he had discovered that by a particular wink of his eye, he could make the one jump into the frame of the other, and thus stop their discourse.. His attendant delivered to me a small packet of morphia which was found in his