Alcohol delirium - symptoms, treatment and consequences of white fever

Alcohol delirium is the medical scientific name of what is called white fever. This disease is a psychosis because of the influence of alcohol, after stopping drinking for a second or fifth day. It is expressed in the appearance of hallucinations, chills and most dangerous because the patient can inflict physical injuries.

Delirium - what is it?

Delirium is a short-term (from an hour to several days) psychosis. The term comes from the Latin word delirium and means "madness, delirium." Manifestation of psychosis is a violation of consciousness in the form of hallucinations, clouded understanding, even coma. This condition arises due to disorders that are associated with cerebral and general diseases, under the influence of chemicals, when depriving a drug addict, in the absence of sleep.

The causes of delirium

Alcoholic delirium - this is called in everyday life the white fever, caused by a sharp cessation of alcoholism among the alcoholics, and also extremely rarely - excessive consumption of the "green snake". To put this diagnosis a doctor-psychiatrist can only in consultation with a narcologist. The nature of the described mental disorder is always exogenous, that is, it depends on external factors. The causes of psychosis are divided into three groups:

1. Delirium in diseases of the central nervous system - meningitis, epilepsy.
2. With somatic systemic diseases - renal, pulmonary, heart failure .
3. With prolonged constant intoxication of the body - alcohol, drugs, medical products.

Alcoholic delirium - symptoms

Signs of alcohol delirium begin long before the immediate attack, sometimes in a few days. The patient abruptly stops using alcohol, saying that alcohol is no longer interesting to him; His mood changes, then trembling in the limbs, hallucinations. Then, closer to midnight, there comes already directly alcoholic delirium with instant manifestation and dynamics.

Delirium with alcoholism is characterized by the following symptoms:

1. The general aggressive state.
2. Hallucinations.
3. Loss of memory (partial: the patient remembers his personal data - birthday, last name - but forgets the simplest things about close people, even the names of relatives, can forget the place of residence).
4. Tremor (trembling in the hands, knees).
5. Incoherent speech, jerky sentences, delirium.
6. Disorientation, loss of sense of time and space.
7. Sweating, fever, pallor, chills, pressure.

How long does alcohol delirium last?

The following stages of alcoholic delirium are distinguished in its acute form, which can be manifested as all at once, and separately, and last from three to ten days:

1. Initial - manic state: nonsense, speech is becoming more frequent. Patients are distracted often and fuss. They have an increased sensitivity, they are locked in themselves, they are visited by vivid memories.
2. Stage of illusions , in which the previous symptoms are aggravated, increased excitability is added. The patient in the mind there are bright imaginary images.
3. True alcoholic delirium is a white fever - a person ceases to navigate in time, insomnia appears, hallucinations are not only visual, but also auditory, tactile.

Alcoholic delirium - treatment

Since alcoholic delirium is characterized by a highly excited state, it is not necessary to stop seizures at home. Treatment takes place in intensive care, a narcological dispensary or a psychiatric hospital and lasts about a week, sometimes less. To begin with, intoxication is carried out, there are three stages of treatment:

1. Sanitary supervision: room in the ward with daylight (strong lighting is an irritant, and darkness intensifies delirium and hallucinations), isolation from society. The treatment is aimed at eliminating excitability and insomnia, because the normalization of sleep is the main sign that the patient is cured.
2. Curbing the excitement by using benzodiazepine medications that are tranquilizers. Medicines are given in large doses.
3. The use of drugs to maintain the heart: from ascorbic acid and glucose to nicotinic acid, depending on the complexity of the case.

Alcohol delirium - consequences

Alcohol delirium develops because of the use of alcohol, which is a toxin-a poison for the body. If drunken alcoholics take a break in drinking, they are in for a fever. On the basis of this disorder, there are various, including fatal diseases. The consequences of delirium are as follows:

1. Cardiomyopathy (almost in five percent of cases - a fatal outcome).
2. Pneumonia.
3. Renal failure.
4. Pancreatitis.
5. Cerebral edema.
6. Violation of the salt balance.