Insomnia; and Other Disorders of Sleep

by Henry M. Lyman

In all chronic affections of the alimentary canal opiates must be used with great caution, for fear of the opium habit, unless the case be incurable. Cancer of the stomach requires their free use. The milder disorders should be managed largely with hygienic treatment. The diet should be so regulated as to prevent the liberation of gas in the intestines, for their distention in this way is fatal to refreshing sleep. A gentle aperient or a large injection of warm water, often proves itself decidedly soporific in such cases. Catarrhal conditions of the mucous membrane prohibit the entire class of alcoholic and ethereal soporifics. Nervous and atonic dyspepsias are often benefitted by the use of bitter beer, and by drachm doses of brandy or whisky largely diluted. These should be taken at mealtime, or with food at bedtime. A glass of hot water shortly before retiring is often useful.

The relief of insomnia in dyspeptic derangement, however, must not be sought through the administration of anodynes and hypnotics alone. Only when the entire life of the patient has been regulated upon a physiological basis can refreshing sleep be obtained. Change of habits, change of occupation, change of locality—these are the only curative measures in a vast number of the cases of wakefulness that occur in modern life. Alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, foul air, late hours, and mental excitement, are the principal causes which must be abolished before healthy sleep can be enjoyed.

Insomnia in febrile conditions.—In the early stages of all acute fevers wakefulness is a very common incident. It is then occasioned by irritation of the brain, and must, therefore, be relieved with opiates. If the patient is not depressed by the disease, the opium should be associated with tartar emetic or aconite, or ipecac. Dover’s powder is very useful in such conditions. In malarial fevers wakefulness should be combatted with full doses of quinine in addition to the opiate. Gelsemium is sometimes a very satisfactory remedy—especially in the febrile attacks to which children are liable. If any evidence of cerebral hyperæmia be observed, it is well to give chloral hydrate and the bromides. Hyoscyamus, belladonna, and cannabis indica are useful when the pupils are contracted and when spasmodic symptoms are present. Lukewarm baths, wet packs, and cool sponging are exceedingly grateful, and often assist in the evolution of a suppressed eruption in the exanthematous fevers.

In the later stages of fever a condition of cerebral exhaustion is sometimes encountered. Irritable weakness caused by starvation of the brain is the prominent feature. The pulse is small and weak. The patient tosses and rolls from side to side. He is perhaps greatly emaciated by an illness of considerable duration. An elevated temperature requires frequent sponging of the body.

Opium, alcohol, and liquid food, are the best hypnotics in such cases. The acetum opii and the deodorized tincture of opium are among the best preparations of the drug, by reason of their stimulant effect. The equivalent of two grains of opium with a full glass of eggnogg, will often procure sleep for such a patient. If there be evidence of blood stasis, with blueness of the nails, hypostatic pneumonia, etc., musk and strychnia should be given in place of opium, and the circulation should be assisted with carbonate of ammonia, as follows:

℞	Ammon. carb.,		gr. v.
	Spt. chloroform,		gtt. xx.
	Aq. camphor,		℥ ss.

To be given in a little milk, as required. Chloral and the bromides are of comparatively little value in all cases where there is considerable depression of the vital forces.

Insomnia in rheumatism and gout.—Opium in a diaphoretic preparation, and associated with alkalies or with colchicum, has always been the most approved remedy for sleeplessness in the acute forms of these painful diseases. Salicylic acid and the salicylates have in great measure superseded the use of opiates for the relief of pain and wakefulness in rheumatism, but they are not always efficient. Opiates, with or without chloral, must then be used. Sometimes a painful case that has resisted all other remedial agents yields promptly to the action of a series of blisters. The chronic forms of rheumatism require the use of stimulant diaphoretics, anodyne liniments containing chloroform and belladonna, and chloral hydrate, or even a Dover’s powder, at night.

Acute gout is rarely seen in this country, but its rudimentary forms, described by Da Costa as lithæmia,[54] are not uncommon. They are associated with wakefulness of a very troublesome character, which only yields to a persistent and long continued course of treatment directed against the diathesis. Careful regulation of the diet, change of air, and anti-arthritic remedies, are of infinitely greater service than any particular hypnotic drug.

Insomnia in syphilis.—In advanced stages of syphilitic cachexia, a variety of wakefulness independent of pain is sometimes observed. It is marked by a tendency to wake at a fixed hour of the night, frequently about two o’clock in the morning, after which time sleep is impossible. The symptoms of constitutional disease are not prominent in these cases, but the history and the evident cachexia make their nature apparent. They usually yield to a mercurial treatment. In their comparative freedom from severe pain, such patients present a striking contrast to certain cases of syphilitic rheumatism, or neuralgia. The nocturnal suffering in such instances is frightful. It can be finally overcome by anti-syphilitic treatment; but, while waiting for the radical cure, palliatives are needed. Chlorodyne and similar combinations of all the anodyne drugs afford the most effectual means of relief. I have sometimes found it necessary to increase the dose until the characteristic delirium produced by solanaceous drugs was manifested. The relief thus procured sometimes continues for many days after the cessation of hypnotic medication.