Delirium Tremens

Delirium Tremens is the term employed to denote one of the acute phases arising in the course of chronic Alcoholism (q.v.). It is as a rule precipitated by a period of indulgence in excessive drinking, and shows itself at first in the form of general uneasiness and restlessness during the day, followed by sleeplessness, or disturbed sleep with distressing dreams, at night. These initial symptoms usher in the stage of delirium, always accompanied by constant muscular tremors. The delirium almost invariably presents the three main varieties of mental disturbance—illusions, hallucinations, and delusions—to which reference has been made in the preceding article. An attack generally lasts about three days, but it may exist for a period of six or seven days, and, so far as is at present known, there is no means of shortening its duration. The chief danger lies in the great tendency to exhaustion which the disease shows. One attack appears to have a power of predisposing the individual who has suffered from it to subsequent recurrence. The affection frequently induces some degree of mental weakness, and this is more likely to be the case in those who belong to families which have a hereditary tendency to insanity. As above mentioned, no means is known of cutting short an attack, and the employment of drugs in this disease is of at least doubtful utility. The only rational treatment consists in the use of every expedient which can tend to sustain the patient, and avert the great tendency to exhaustion of the vital centres.