This disease develops in those who have been in the habit of tippling for years. Sometimes it requires twenty-five to thirty years to break down the nervous system to such an extent as to cause the victim to go into a state of delirium tremens. Men who have used alcohol steadily for years, but who have not been known to get drunk, some day may surprise their friends by developing delirium tremens.

A patient with this disease will be very hard to control; indeed, some cases require a strait jacket. The cause is the long-continued action of the alcohol on the brain. The disease develops only in those who are habitual drunkards. Fever patients are very liable to develop an undue delirium, if they have been in the habit of using alcohol previous to their sickness. Pneumonia invariably kills in all cases of chronic alcohol poisoning; in fact, the drunkard cannot stand shocks or diseases of any kind. Fractures of the bone knit very slowly in these subjects, if they knit at all.

Symptoms

At the beginning of an attack of delirium tremens the patient is restless, sleepless, and inclined to be depressed. If he is given the usual amount of alcohol, the symptoms will immediately disappear, and he will be in what to him is a normal state. But if the alcohol is withheld, after a day or two delirium sets in; the patient talks continually, but the talking becomes incoherent; he is incessantly in motion, and wants to go out and attend to imaginary business.

These patients begin by having hallucinations of sight and bearing. They hear voices, and see things that no one else can see. In this regard they are insane. Of course, it is an acute insanity. They see objects in the room; in fact, anything that happens to cross the mind will be objectified in the mental vision. Such cases have to be watched, and sometimes overpowered and restrained, because they have a tendency to injure themselves. If they are in an upstairs room, they are liable to jump out of the window.

Treatment

The disease requires no special treatment. In bad cases it would be well to put the patients in padded cells, so that they will not hurt themselves. They should be fed very moderately on fruit, or a little broth; in fact, while they are suffering very greatly they should not be given any food at all. Those with delirium have to be guarded to prevent them from doing themselves an injury. When better, they should be guarded to keep them from finding liquors of any kind.

Most physicians use morphine, strychnin, and other stimulants to bridge the patient over the depression that follows, but I do not think that it is proper to administer one poison for the purpose of curing the effect of another. The patient may suffer a great deal for several days, but if he is kept entirely away from alcohol, and is properly fed, he will get through his suffering and be in a condition to sleep sweetly within a month. Then, if he is willing to do as he should, and take the proper care of himself, he may remain forever free from his health and brain destroying habit.