This section is from the book "Camping And Woodcraft", by Horace Kephart. Also available from Amazon: Camping and Woodcraft.
Generally the person is conscious, but very depressed and weak. His face is pale and covered with clammy sweat. Do not apply cold externally, but let him sip cold water. Give a little strong black coffee, or a mild stimulant. Let him rest in bed.
When a blood-vessel bursts in the brain, the subject falls unconscious. The face is flushed, lips blue, eyelids half open, eyes insensitive to touch, respirations snoring, pulse full and slow, skin usually cool. Generally one side of the body is paralyzed. The case may or may not be fatal.
Lay the patient in bed with head and shoulders propped up. Apply cold cloths to the head and heat tc the limbs. No stimulants. Absolute quiet and rest.
If you find a man lying apparently dead drunk, make sure, first, that it is not a case of apoplexy.
Usually a dash of cold water in the face will rouse a drunken man. Make him vomit. Then a cup of hot coffee will aid to settle the stomach and clear the mind. To sober quickly, and brace him up, administer a teaspoonful of aromatic spirits of ammonia in half a cup of water.
If the skin is cold and clammy, lay him in a comfortable position, apply dry heat, keep the man covered, and rub his limbs toward the body to increase circulation. Keep the bowels open. Feed first with concentrated broth or soup well seasoned with red pepper. Give him some liquor at judicious intervals, if it can be procured (to deny it is a brutality of ignorance) until he gets on his feet. But if there is none, give him red pepper tea (enough cayenne steeped in hot water to make the stomach tingle). This braces his nerves and helps to avert "the horrors".
If threatened with collapse, apply heat, and inject strychnine.
In delirium tremens, watch the patient carefully, that he may not injure himself or others, or commit suicide; but avoid physical restraint as far as possible. The serious symptoms are due chiefly to sleeplessness, which is to be combatted with such means as you have at hand. Try trional, veronal, or a bromide, if you can get them. An opiate is the last resort. If the heart weakens, give ammonia or strychnine.
 
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