Neurosyphilis : $b Modern systematic diagnosis and treatment presented in one hundred and thirty-seven case historiesSouthard, Elmer Ernest
Science
Neurosyphilis : $b Modern systematic diagnosis and treatment presented in one hundred and thirty-seven case histories
Southard, Elmer Ernest
Neurosyphilis
1. What is the relation of the syphilitic and alcoholic process in
Robert Fielding? One does not like to break the so-called rule of
parsimony in diagnosis, but it would seem that the effects in
Fielding are the combined effects of syphilis and alcoholism.
=Differential diagnosis between NEUROSYPHILIS, DIABETIC
PSEUDOPARESIS and BRAIN TUMOR.=
=Case 64.= A large and imposing person, Calvin Hall, 55, had been
employed as a doorkeeper and guard, in which position he was on duty for
12 to 14 hours daily. Eventually, however, he had begun to have a good
deal of pain in the legs and a few months before observation, one day,
his legs gave way and he fell to the floor. There was, however, no loss
of consciousness, and he was carried to a general hospital. The result
of an examination there was that his family was informed that he had
some nervous trouble.
Hall now began to be melancholy and wept a good deal. His appetite and
sleep remained intact. He felt too weak to walk. At the end of about a
year, he began to improve and again became able to do a little light
work. About a month before coming to the Psychopathic Hospital, about
two years after the onset of symptoms, Hall suddenly began to talk
excessively, in a rambling and rather senseless way. A fortnight later,
he began to suffer from insomnia and restlessness.
Some medical facts were available: It seems that at 25 years this
patient had become infected with syphilis though there had never been
any secondary signs. He was married four years later but there had not
been any children. Moreover, for four years past, the patient had been
treated for glycosuria.
Upon admission, the patient’s sensorium was clear, but his orientation
was only partial. He could give a fair account of his life, but it
appeared that his memory was somewhat impaired. There were auditory
hallucinations (voices of relatives). He often mistook the identity of
persons about him. He talked in a grandiose fashion of his great
strength and especially of a God-given power to read minds. His flow of
thought was rapid, rambling, circumstantial, and with traces of
irrelevance. He was rather continuously busy and at times restive. There
was a good deal of emotional agitation and apprehensiveness, and again
the patient would become suspicious and tearful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account