GC: n
S: MEDLP – https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000766.htm (last access: 6 January 2025); NHS – https://www.oxfordhealthformulary.nhs.uk/docs/Guidelines%20for%20the%20management%20of%20alcohol%20dependendence%20-%20Dec%202020_RH.pdf (last access: 9 January 2025).
N: 1. delirium: 1590s, “a disordered state, more or less temporary, of the mind, often occurring during fever or illness,” from Latin delirium “madness,” from deliriare “be crazy, rave,” literally “go off the furrow,” a plowing metaphor, from phrase de lire, from de “off, away” (see de-) + lira “furrow, earth thrown up between two furrows,” from PIE root *lois- “track, furrow.” Meaning “violent excitement, mad rapture” is from 1640s.
Delirium tremens (1813) is medical Latin, literally “trembling delirium,” introduced 1813 by British physician Thomas Sutton for “that form of delirium which is rendered worse by bleeding, but improved by opium. By Rayer and subsequent writers it has been almost exclusively applied to delirium resulting from the abuse of alcohol” [“The New Sydenham Society’s Lexicon of Medicine and the Allied Sciences,” London, 1882]. As synonyms, Farmer lists barrel-fever, gallon distemper, blue Johnnies, bottle ache, pink spiders, quart-mania, snakes in the boots, triangles, uglies, etc.
2. Diagnosis of DT has two distinct aspects. Firstly, the patient must have delirium and second, patient must be in severe alcohol withdrawal. Delirium is characterized by a rapid onset and fluctuating course with disturbances in the level of consciousness, cognition, psychomotor activity, and sleep-wake cycle. Delirium may be caused by a multitude of causes consisting of metabolic, infectious; drug (or its withdrawal) induced, and head injury (or others).
3. There are many possible symptoms of DTs, and some are more well-known than others. The symptoms can include:
- Tremors or shakes. These are among the most common (and most stereotypical) of DTs symptoms. They’re most apparent in your hands.
- Confusion. This is a form of delirium specific to alcohol withdrawal (healthcare providers sometimes call this altered mental status). This, along with tremors, is where DTs gets its name.
- Agitation or anxiety. This can often lead to combative or aggressive behavior.
- Psychosis symptoms. People with DTs may have hallucinations — seeing, feeling or hearing things that aren’t really there. Other psychosis symptoms are also possible, like paranoia.
- Sensory disruptions and disorientation. People with DTs often have reduced awareness of the environment around them because their senses aren’t working properly.
- Bouts of heavy sweating (diaphoresis). People with DTs will have periods where they sweat noticeably and heavily. These come and go.
- Seizures. These often start before withdrawal turns into DTs. Seizures can be dangerous or even deadly if they turn into status epilepticus.
- High body temperature (hyperthermia).
- Headaches.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Fast heart rate (tachycardia).
4. The DTs is a potentially life-threatening condition and psychiatrists may be involved in its diagnosis and further management. Patients should be assessed physically and mentally, with daily checks of electrolytes and for signs of associated infection, such as pneumonia. It should be treated with reducing doses of benzodiazepines (usually chlordiazepoxide) over a period of approximately 7 days. Withdrawal convulsions may require the use of intravenous lorazepam and prolonged psychotic symptoms may be treated with haloperidol.
5. Drugs and Drug Addiction; Mental Disorders: delirium tremens, DT’s, alcoholic delirium, alcohol withdrawal-induced delirium.
- An acute condition that is particularly apt to occur if the alcoholic is suddenly deprived of drink.
6. Characteristic symptoms are dysarthria, ataxia, disorientation, memory impairment, vivid hallucinations, and often delusion of persecution. The delirium is often secondary to intercurrent infection or injury.
7. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the movies The Lost Weekend (1945) by Billy Wilder (1906-2002), and Young Man with a Horn (1950) by Michael Curtiz (1886-1962).
S: Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=delirium (last access: 9 January 2025). 2. PMC – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6286444/ (last access: 6 January 2025). 3. CC – https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25052-delirium-tremens (last access: 6 January 2025). 4. PAGE/SDir – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780702033971000173 (last access: 6 January 2025). 5. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=delirium+tremens&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 9 January 2025). 6. GDT – https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/8399297/delirium-tremens (last access: 9 January 2025). 7. Movsthist – https://www.moviestarhistory.com/movies-3/the-lost-weekend-1945-159-p (last access: 9 January 2025); IMDb – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043153/ (last access: 10 January 2025).
SYN: 1. DT’s, alcoholic delirium, alcohol withdrawal-induced delirium. 2. alcohol withdrawal delirium, alcohol abstinence delirium, delirium alcoholicum, tremor potatorum. (depending on context)
S: 1. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=delirium+tremens&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 9 January 2025). 2. GDT – https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/8399297/delirium-tremens (last access: 9 January 2025).
