Drugs that enslave : $b The opium, morphine, chloral and hashisch habits — John Shaqi
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
CASE II.—INTERMITTENT FEVER IN CONSEQUENCE OF MORBID CRAVING FOR MORPHIA.
(IMPOTENCE. DISORDERED SPEECH. ALBUMINURIA.)
Captain B., sent to the Institution by Staff-Surgeon Dr. Peltzer, had been
using injections of morphia in consequence of severe pains from a gunshot
wound in 1871. For a time his medical attendant diminished the drug,
but soon, by the advice of the latter, he purchased a syringe and bought
the morphia, first at a chemist’s, and afterward at a shop where they
sold chemicals; he injected gradually as much as twenty-four grains per
day. Several times his wife tried to stop the injections or at least to
diminish the dose, but this was followed by vomiting, diarrhœa and loss of
sleep, so that the doctor again recommended its further use.
The principal complaints of the patient, on account of which he, on
December 20, 1875, sought admission into the ‘Maison de Santé,’ were:
The appetite is bad, the bowels are so much constipated that they are
sometimes not relieved for eight days. From time to time patient suffers
from disordered micturition, having to strain rather long before the water
passes. Very frequently there was congestion to the head, and during sleep
quivering of the muscles of the face and extremities. Now and then he
suffered from giddiness and headache. He feels unwell, principally in the
morning. Impotent for three years. He was obliged to resort to alcoholic
beverages as stimulants, but he was no drunkard. From September 12 until
the end of October, 1874, the patient had had a shivering lasting two
hours daily, followed by half an hour’s heat and two or three hours’
profuse perspiration. Large doses of quinine taken daily for a period of
three weeks are said to have cured the fever; it is worthy of notice that
the patient stopped the use of the morphia during the latter period of the
feverish attacks. Taking to it again, there was the same characteristic
attack every week or fortnight at first; gradually, however, the free
intervals became shorter, and at the time of his admission into the
Institution the intermittent had again returned to the quotidian type. A
treatment with large doses of quinine for several months, resorted to by
his medical attendant, proved of no avail. Patient is pretty tall; muscles
and subcutaneous areolar tissue very well developed. Face red. Eyes
bright. Tremor of hands, slight degree of difficulty in speaking. Patient
shows great vivacity in talking; his features move quickly; his movements
are brisk. The physical examination of the thoracic and abdominal organs
shows no abnormal condition, except a considerable enlargement of the
spleen.
The morphia was at once withheld.
December 21. Patient had a restless night, feels exhausted and knocked up;
yawns, complains of cold, loss of appetite, severe headache on moving the
head, and pains in the back; this is followed by nausea and at night by
vomiting. Profuse perspiration.
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