Apoplexy - Victorian Health and Medicine

APOPLEXY. Apoplexy is a disease which arrests all voluntary motion, and deprives a person of consciousness, as though he had been struck by a blow. Sometimes a person is warned of the approach of apoplexy by variious symptoms, such as giddiness, drowsiness loss of memory, twitching muscles, faltering of the speech, &c.; but most frequently he falls to the ground without any warning, and lies as though in a deep sleep. While so lying he breathes heavily, with a snorting kind of noise, and with considerable muscular action of the features. The face is red and swollen, the veins distended; the eyes protruding and blood-shot, remaining half open or quite closed, and a foam frequently forms about the mouth.

Apoplexy mostly arises from accumulation of blood in the system, but it may be the result of an enfeebled constitution, and general want of vitality.

Where a person is seized as described, a medical man should be sent for, and the patient should be carried into a cool room, and placed in a sitting posture, in such a situation that the air may be freely admitted to him. The neckcloth, shirt collar, waistband, and other ligatures should be unfastened, and cold water should be poured over the head. Mustard plasters may be applied to the soles of the feet and the calves of the legs, or where the mustard cannot be immediately procured, the feet and legs should be placed in hot water.

If the attack occurs with a person of full habit of body, a dozen leeches may be applied behind the ears and on the temples. It to of great importance that the bowels should be freed of their contents, and as there is a great difficulty of swallowing, one drop of croton oil should be placed on the tongue and repeated every two hours, until the object is entirely accomplished. Blood-letting should in no case be attempted by a non-professional person. Where the fit arises from enfeebled strength (which is indicated by a small irregular pulse) the remedies should be of a milder form, and stimulants may be cautiously administered at intervals:

The most common immediate cause of apoplexy is pressure of the brain, either from an effusion of blood or serum, or from a distention of the vessels of the brain by an accumulation of the blood in them, independently of effusion.

The predisposing causes are the habitual indulgence of the appetite in rich and gross food, or stimulating drinks, coupled with luxurious, and indolent habits, sedentary employments carried to an undue length; the habit of sleeping, especially in a recumbent posture after a full meal; and lying too long in bed.

The exciting causes are excesses in eating and drinking; violent mental emotions; the sudden suppression of piles, gout, rheumatism; or any other cause whih augments the circulation of blood to, or extracts the flow of blood from the brain

Persons below the middle height, robust, with large hands and short thick necks, are generally recognized as apoplectic subjects but it is, in truth, confined to no particular conformation of the body, all persons being alike liable to be attacked by it.

Persons, however, who are predisposed to this disease should not fail to profit by the warnings of its approach mentioned at the commencement of this article. Their diet should be light and nutritious; all luxurious habits should be abandoned, and moderate exercise should be taken. Above all, they should avoid giving way to their passions, as it is well known that many persons have been struck with death in the midst of a fit of anger.

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