Drugs that enslave : $b The opium, morphine, chloral and hashisch habitsKane, H. H. (Harry Hubbell)
Science
Drugs that enslave : $b The opium, morphine, chloral and hashisch habits
Kane, H. H. (Harry Hubbell)
Drug addiction
Sixteen report “weakness of vision,” nine report “double sight,” one
cataract, one sudden blindness disappearing on discontinuance of the drug,
one ptosis, four amblyopia, and six asthenopia. Two cases of temporary
blindness from chloral are also reported. This was in non-habituès.
Keyser,[95] of Philadelphia, reported the case of a gentleman accustomed
to sixty and eighty grain doses of chloral, who suddenly became blind.
Opthalmoscopic examination revealed great retinal anæmia. The drug was
discontinued, and in a few days sight was restored.
Schüle[96] demonstrated that in chloral takers the retina was congested.
The same condition was observed by Bouchut[97] in the retina of children
completely anæsthetized.
Burke Haywood,[98] of North Carolina, observed an elderly man, who, after
some weeks’ use of chloral, began to complain of dimmed vision, which
persisted and increased till the drug was withdrawn, when it gradually
disappeared.
The case of ptosis is reported by Dr. H. C. Bigelow, of Washington, D. C.,
as follows:—
“Female, aged thirty years, married, spare build, nervous temperament,
and active mind. Grains thirty to sixty, daily, for eighteen months.
Emaciated, hysterical, constipated, flatulent. Temper irritable. Ptosis of
the right eye, commencing iritis and photophobia. Ulceration of os uteri.
Had an orgasm while being examined. Vaginismus; sexual appetite strong,
but dislikes her husband and marital intercourse. Suffers from insomnia,
loss of memory, mental unsteadiness. She ascribes all these symptoms to
chloral.”
Dr. N. C. Husted, of Tarrytown, N. Y., reports to me the case of a lady
who has used the drug in from ten to twenty-grain doses, for about
eighteen months. She is troubled with partial amaurosis and excessive
lachrymation.
Dr. Edward Bradley, of this city, reports to me the case of a lady who
took twenty grains of chloral, three times a day, for some time. Eyesight
gradually failed, and she was soon obliged to wear glasses. Her eyes were
thoroughly examined, and nothing abnormal was found. On discontinuing the
chloral the eye trouble speedily disappeared. The effects of the drug on
the general system, especially the digestive apparatus, was very marked.
The habit was broken without trouble.
For a full discussion of the subject here presented in outline, the reader
is referred to my article in the _Record_, already spoken of.
CHAPTER XI.
SYMPTOMS OF ABSTINENCE FROM CHLORAL—DOSES AND DANGERS—TREATMENT.
The symptoms incident to the abrupt withdrawal of chloral from those who
have used it for a long time are rarely severe; never so severe as those
attending the same procedure in opium or morphine habituès. Many chloral
takers voluntarily intermit the use of the drug for weeks at a time,
themselves.
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