Confusion and delirium

As for one of these diseases - clouding of consciousness and delirium, its causes, rooted in the brain itself, are varied. This is either black bile, or hot, inflamed blood, or yellow bile, or red bile, or pure warmth, or hot vapors - in which case the disease is easy to get rid of - or dryness due to previous insomnia, long thoughts or other factors. Actions that dry out the brain and deprive its matter of the innate pneuma that allows it to maintain the mind in good working order. If the disease is rooted in some other organ or in the whole body, then such an organ is, for example, the stomach and its mouth, or the walls of the abdomen, or the uterus, or it can be the whole body, as happens with fevers. All this can arise either. from a simple quality of nature, which is transmitted to the brain, rising, for example, from the toes or hands when they are swollen, or from other swollen organs with a bad nature, or from the hot steam generated by bile or mucus that has become putrid and pungent. Stupefaction is most favorable when it is accompanied by laughter or when the patient is calm, but it is worst when the patient is excited, irritated and violent.

Signs. Know that anyone who has something very painful, but does not complain about it and does not feel pain, suffers from clouding of consciousness; Oily urine during fevers also sometimes indicates confusion. The clouding of consciousness arising from black bile is accompanied by melancholy, suspicion and signs of melancholy, which we mention in the corresponding paragraph; if yellow bile is mixed with black bile, then clouding of consciousness is accompanied by rage and violence, and if black bile is mixed with blood, then gaiety, laughter and swelling of blood vessels are observed.

As for the clouding of consciousness arising from yellow bile, it is accompanied by burning, heat, irritability, grumpiness and strong excitement. The patient sees fire and sparks in front of him, he has a burning sensation in the inner corners of his eyes, his complexion turns yellow, his head burns, the skin on his forehead becomes tense, his eyes are sunken, and he is eager to fight; if the stupefaction is caused by red bile, then all these signs appear stronger and more acute. This also includes the confusion that occurs during fevers. This mostly happens during pestilence fevers.

If clouding of consciousness is caused by pure warmth or dryness, then there is no heaviness in the head and no signs of the presence of matter mentioned in the basic rules of treatment and in the previous paragraphs. When the consciousness is clouded from rotten and acute mucus, patients, along with the clouding of consciousness, show sedateness, every now and then they raise their eyebrows with their hands, and they have a heaviness in their head. Due to the coldness of the mucus substance, they plunge into hibernation, while clouding of consciousness occurs in them due to the warmth manifested when the mucus rots. They do not let go of what they have grabbed, and sometimes imagine themselves as animals and birds. Generally speaking, if clouding of consciousness arises from dry warmth, then insomnia indicates this, and if it arises from moist warmth emanating from blood or putrid mucus, then hibernation is a sign of this.

When the cause of darkness turns out to be vapors rising from any organ, this is recognized by the state of the diseased organ or by the state of the whole body, if the disease covers the whole body, as is the case with all-encompassing fevers. You should also find out whether this is a simple disorder of nature or one involving matter and vapors. The symptoms of all this are mentioned in the paragraphs on headaches.

Treatment. As for the treatment of melancholy, we will talk about it in the paragraph on melancholy, and when treating clouding of consciousness that depends on blood, you need to hurry up and use all the means that balance and cool the blood and correct its composition. Stupefaction from yellow bile and red bile is treated by hasty emptying and changing the nature - either the nature of the whole body, or only the nature of the head, as well as using the cooling and moisturizing agents mentioned in the basic rules; Medicinal bandages are also prescribed, applied after preliminary shaving of the head. If the disease intensifies and worsens, then treat the patient as you would treat mania.

Remedies suitable for hot stupefaction include a cooling wax ointment on the crown, prepared from rose oil and vinegar, or from violet oil and milk, if there is no fever, or from rose oil and poppy seeds; in this case, you should be careful that the couples do not deviate towards the head. If insomnia is also observed during clouding of consciousness, then all ointments turn out to be useless. Sometimes confusion occurs from acute enemas. Therefore, they should not be used, because this excessively increases the distraction of matter from the brain, and only mild enemas should be done.

When the cause of clouding of consciousness is the complicity of any organ, then the head should be strengthened and cooled and the matter should be diverted in the opposite direction. All this has already been explained earlier in the general and specific rules of treatment. In the event that weakness and signs of tumors are not noticed during clouding of consciousness, then you should hit the patient hard on the cheeks, and sometimes you need to hit him so that consciousness returns to him. Often, when nothing helps, we have to cauterize his head in a cross shape. Among the things useful for this disease is pouring a decoction of sheep's heads and legs over the head. Often it is cured by dioecious disease if given to drink for several days in its pure form or with something else - with fruits or sweets