Sleep in its relations to diseases of the skin / by L. Duncan Bulkley.

  • Lucius Duncan Bulkley
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sleep in its relations to diseases of the skin / by L. Duncan Bulkley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    tutes perfectly normal, healthy sleep. Many will have drowsiness during the day or evening, and insomnia or un- freshing sleep at night. Many will have long periods of vigil or wakefulness on retiring, or will awaken frequently, or very early in the mourning, with inability to further sleep. In some the sleep will be heavy, like a log, and troubled or not with vivid and annoying dreams; in others the sleep may seem fairly good, but is wholly unrefreshing in character, and the ])atient will be as tired in the morning as on retiring, or even more so ; and patient inquiry will often discover many other aberrations from healthy, restful sleep. These may de- pend ujion any one or more of the six principal causes al- ready mentioned, or perhaj s othel'S. Now, while these conditions exist, and they could be am- plified very much more, perfect nutrition and iimervation do not and cannot exist, and the skin tissues, even if restored to a comparatively normal state, by either external or internal measures, will readily yield again and become diseased. It is^he failure to properfy recognize and treat these and other derangements of the system which has led in some measure to the recogTiized obstinacy of skin diseases ; and the derma- tologist can never practise his branch in the highest and best manner unless he is thoroughly competent in general medi- cine, and skilled to recognize and treat the functional and other disturbances of the system which have so much to do with the vigor and health of the individual and all the tissues. In a not inconsiderable number of cases of eczema I have known the eruption to first appear after a period of sleepless- ness, which in different cases, had occurred from quiet dif- ferent causes; and time and again I hava known fresh at- tacks of eruption to come on, apparently from the same cause. How far this element of imperfect sleep has to do with the causation of other skin diseases I cannot tell posit- ively at the present time. It is hoped that others will ob- serve the matter closely and report their experience. 2. Disturbances of Sleep Accompanying or Caused by Diseases of the Skin.—The first disturbance, which will occur to every one, is that arising from itching. As all know, this is often a most distressing feature in many cases. From earliest infant life to extreme old age one afflicte