Nervousness caused by sedatives and narcotics acts both upon the mental and the physical organism, and the source of such nervousness can be easily traced by ascertaining the habits of the patient.
Abnormal appetite for sweets and starches
When the patient has used stimulants and narcotics long enough to cause nervousness, the mucous membrane of the stomach is usually in a state of irritation. The presence of blood, under these conditions, causes abnormal appetite, frequently followed by overeating, especially of sweets, starches, and acids, for which the patient usually has a great craving. This is followed by fermentation, and comes into or envelops superacidity and must necessarily be classed with it.
Overeating and the constant use of stimulants and narcotics will, after a time, cause a chronic state of fermentation, and the stomach will seldom be free from acid, the constant presence of which will ultimately cause gastric ulcer, and perhaps stomach carcinoma.
NERVOUS INDIGESTION—THE SYMPTOMS
Nature's final symptoms
The more advanced stages of stomach irritation which are expressed by nervousness cause melancholia and a gloomy sort of pessimism. These are among the last signals the stomach gives to the brain before final collapse, and if these signals are not heeded, the victim may expect to go down in the maelstrom of nervous prostration within twelve months from the time the first signals are given. These fits or spells of melancholia often come on suddenly. The palms of the hands become moist with a cold, clammy perspiration, and the mind is flooded with a train of thoughts such as "What's the use of living?" "Why all this struggle for mere existence?" The victim of this condition invariably believes that his mind is becoming affected; that he is becoming insane, and will soon be a public charge, and shunned by those whom he loves. While under these spells many people take their own lives rather than face what they believe to be insanity and ostracism.
The patient should be made acquainted with his true condition, and shown that it is only temporary, and that all such thoughts are mere mental aberrations which will disappear when the causes of stomach irritation are removed.
The above-named symptoms always point with certainty to an irritated stomach, the severity of which can be determined by the symptoms above described.
Difference between stomach and intestinal irritation