Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T11:23:32.523Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Nature and Treatment of Delirium Tremens and Allied Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

R. W. Armstrong  and
Jonathan Gould
R. W. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Littlemore Hospital; University of Oxford
Jonathan Gould
Affiliation:
Broadmoor Institution; Department of Psychological Medicine, St. Bartholomew's Hospital
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Delirium tremens and toxi-infective delirium are not now common diseases, but are still encountered often enough for their treatment to present problems. Delirium tremens is a medical emergency and intercurrent pneumonia is a serious complication, more likely to occur if the patient's over-activity persists. Toxi-infective delirium is less frequently accompanied by crude over-activity, but this may be a source of significant added strain in the severely ill patient, in whom it is more likely to occur. The standard treatment for delirium tremens is by sedation, and the giving of fluids and glucose. Paraldehyde seems to be the drug of choice. Opinion is divided on whether it is advisable to continue to give moderate amounts of alcohol. Sedation is the standard treatment in toxi-infective delirium, and here barbiturates tend to be used.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 101 , Issue 422 , January 1955 , pp. 70 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1955 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Gould, , Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 1954. March.Google Scholar
2. Idem , Lancet, 1953, p. 570. 21 March.Google Scholar
3. Kloster, , Nervenartzt, 1938, 11, 413.Google Scholar
4. Mainzer, and Kraus, , Brit. med. J., 1939, p. 331. 12 August.Google Scholar
5. May, , Med. Record, 1939, 150, 124 and 162.Google Scholar
6. Sciclounoff, and Flagg, , Revue Méd. de la Suisse Romande, 1940, p. 715.Google Scholar
7. KiENF, et al., J.A.M.A., 1940, 114, 22, 2191.Google Scholar
8. Sydenstricker, , Amer. Psychiat. Assoc. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1940.Google Scholar
9. Bowman, et al., J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 1939, 90, 569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Idem , J.A.M.A., 1939, 112, 1217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Wortis, et al., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1938, 94, 891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Idem , Arch. Neurol. and Psychiat., 1939, 41, 655.Google Scholar
13. Rosenbaum, et al., Amer. J. Med. Sci., 1940, 200, 677.Google Scholar
14. Wortis, , Quart. J. Study Alcohol, 1940.Google Scholar
15. Idem , New York State J. Med., 1939, 39, 1178.Google Scholar
16. Wortis, et al., Amer. J. Psychiat., 1941, 98, 340.Google Scholar
17. Idem , New York State J. Med., 1941, 41, 14, 1461.Google Scholar
18. Brodsky, , J. Connecticut Med. Soc., 1938, 2, 228.Google Scholar
19. Roch, and Sciclounoff, , Schweiz. Med. Wochenschr., 1938, 50, 1343.Google Scholar
20. Bowman, , Goodhart, and Jolliffe, , J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 1939, 90, 5, 569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21. Brain, and Strauss, , Recent Advances in Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, 1946. 5th edition, p. 152. London: Churchill.Google Scholar
22. Spies, and de Wolf, , Amer. J. Med. Sci., 1953, 186, 521. October.Google Scholar
23. Cleckley, et al., J.A.M.A., 1939, 112, 2107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24. Jolliffe, et al., J.A.M.A., 1940, 114, 307.Google Scholar
25. Sydenstricker, , South. Med. J., 1938, 31, 11, 1155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26. Idem , Amer. J. Psychiat., 1941, 98, 83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27. Idem , Proc. Roy. Soc. Med., 1943, 36, 169.Google Scholar
28. Seliger, , Amer. J. Psychiat., 1948, 1052, 129.Google Scholar
29. Fischbach, , J.A.M.A., 1952, 149, 10, 927.Google Scholar
30. Foster, , J. Nerv. and Ment. Dis., 1949, 110, 1, p. 1. July.Google Scholar
31. Spies, et al., J.A.M.A., 1939, 113, 931. 16 September.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32. Strauss, , Reason and Unreason in Psychological Medicine, 1953. London: Lewis.Google Scholar
33. Bomford, , Brit. med. J., 1953, 4811, p. 633. 21 March.Google Scholar
34. Brain, , Lancet, 1953, i, p. 959. 16 May.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35. Pirie, N. W., Brit. J. Phil. Sci., 1952, 2, 8, 269.Google Scholar
36. Airing, , Amer. J. Psychiat., 1941, 98, 83.Google Scholar
37. Idem et al. , Arch. Neurol. and Psychiat., 1941, 46, 649.Google Scholar
38. Spies, et al., Amer. J. Med. Sci., 1938, 196, 461.Google Scholar
39. Idem , ibid., 1939, 199, 268.Google Scholar
40. Urbach, , Exp. Med. and Surg., 1952, 10, 1, p. 7.Google Scholar
41. Mills, , J.A.M.A., 1941, 117, 18, p. 1500. November.Google Scholar
42. Quastel, , Physiol. Rev., 19, No. 2, p. 135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
43. Idem , Brit. Med. Bull., 1953, 9, 2, 142.Google Scholar
44. Bowman, , Physiol. Rev., 1939, 19, 2, 184.Google Scholar
45. Demolle, , quoted by Kinnier Wilson in Neurology, 1947, 1, 696. London: Arnold.Google Scholar
46. Spies, , J.A.M.A., 1940, 115, 523.Google Scholar
47. Cowgill, , The Vitamin B1 Requirements of Man, 1934. Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
48. Himwich, et al., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med., 1933, 30, 904.Google Scholar
49. Idem , J.A.M.A., 1933, 100, 651.Google Scholar
50. Toulase, et al., Annales Médico-Psychologiques, 1931, 89, 1, 124.Google Scholar
51. Idem , ibid., 1933, 91, 1, 1.Google Scholar
52. Enzière, , Arch. de la Soc. des Science Méd. de Montpellier, 1932, 13, 581.Google Scholar
53. Wordsworth, , Brit. med. J., 1953, 1, 935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
54. Spifs, et al., J.A.M.A., 1940, 115, 523. 17 August.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.