The Treatment of Chronic Bright's Disease

ISRAEL T. DANA
1885 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal  
If necessary, heat may be employed by the pharmacist in making a clear mixture, the bulk of which might be this elixir of orange, or syrup and water. About twelve or fifteen grains per day. of caffein should be the limit of dose, but much smaller amounts are often sufficient. Abroad, as much as thirty grains a day have been given without damage. Has caffein any bad effect? It has one. In the treatment of a case of dropsy in which I advised caffein, it quickly removed the effusion, but in four
more » ... five days the patient began to exhibit that kind of delirium which is seen in connection with belladonna poisoning. This is the only bad effect that I have noticed, and these symptoms have been most infrequent. It (caffein) isa cardiac stimulant; it is not cumulative, and does not injuriously affect the kidneys. The unpleasant cerebral effect is easily avoided with a little care, and the disturbance of the nervous system can be quickly removed by stopping the administration of the drug. This patient will be kept in bed and the caffein administered, and four weeks from to-day, I shall show von the result.
doi:10.1056/nejm188509241131302 fatcat:n5byymsua5cmll6uwakbdsfdbq