Handbook of medicine & therapeutics / by Alexander Wheeler and William R. Jack.

Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook of medicine & therapeutics / by Alexander Wheeler and William R. Jack. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    29/536 (page 9)
    morning, when attendants are sleepy ; the fire perhaps gets low and the external temperature is generally lowered. (Whitla.) DELIRIUM Is such a common complication, we may take it here. There are three types commonly met with— 1. Raving maniacal delirium, usually associated with great violence and extreme muscular activity. 2. Low muttering^ deli|ium of later stages, in which the patient lies still and sunk in bed, and babbles incoherently. 3. Deliriiuii tremens may be met with in any fever com- plicated by alcoholism, or apart altogether from the fevers. It is characterised in particular by_restlessness, tremor, and hallucinations of sight and hearing. In the first case we may employ sedatives or depressants, as bromide of potassium, either alone or with chloral hydrate, opium, or antipyretics to control the fever which causes the delirium. Ice to the shaved head, and cold sponging are also useful. The following formula may prove useful, where the heart is not already weakened— ]^ Chloral Hydrat 3ss, Potass. Brom. . . . . gr. xl. Aq. ad gij. One half at once, the other half repeated in one hour if required. The second type must be met by stimulants, as carbonate of ammonia or alcohol in full doses either by the mouth or in the form of enema. If the temperature is high, such anti- pyretics as quinine in full doses should be used. We may indeed sum up in similar words the treatment of the typhoid state. Delirium tremens is to be treated by careful nursing, frequent giving of fluid food, and the use of hypnotics and sedatives. Bromide, or bromide and chloral, or paraldehyde in large doses may be used, and if they fail, hyoscine injec- tions, beginning with not more than ^ Jo g^-