Professor Parkins while staying at the Globe Inn when in coastal Burnstow to "improve his game" of golf, despite being "a convinced disbeliever in what is called the supernatural", when face to face with an entity in his "double-bed room" during the storys climax, is heard "uttering cry upon cry at the utmost pitch of his voice" though later "was somehow cleared of the ready suspicion of delirium tremens". In the 1945 film The Lost Weekend, Ray Milland won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his depiction of a character who experiences delirium tremens after being hospitalized, hallucinating that he saw a bat fly in and eat a mouse poking through a wall.Writer Jack Kerouac details his experiences with delirium tremens in his book Big Sur.The M*A*S*H TV series episode "Bottoms Up" (season 9, episode 15) featured a side story about a nurse (Cpt. Helen Whitfield) who was found to be drinking heavily off-duty. By the culmination of the episode, after a confrontation by Maj. Margaret Houlihan, the character swears off alcohol and presumably quits immediately. At mealtime, roughly 48 hours later, Whitfield becomes hysterical upon being served food in the Mess tent, claiming that things are crawling onto her from it. Margaret and Col. Sherman Potter subdue her. Potter, having recognized the symptoms of delirium tremens orders 5 ml of paraldehyde from a witnessing nurse. During the filming of the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Graham Chapman developed delirium tremens due to the lack of alcohol on the set.
Delirium tremens (DTs) is a rapid onset of confusion usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol. When it occurs, it is often three days into the withdrawal symptoms and lasts for two to three days. Physical effects may include shaking, shivering, irregular heart rate, and sweating. People may also hallucinate. Occasionally, a very high body temperature or seizures may result in death. Alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs to withdraw from.Delirium tremens typically only occurs in people with a high intake of alcohol for more than a month. A similar syndrome may occur with benzodiazepine and barbiturate withdrawal. Withdrawal from stimulants such as cocaine do not have major medical complications. In a person with delirium tremens it is important to rule out other associated problems such as electrolyte abnormalities, pancreatitis, and alcoholic hepatitis.Prevention is by treating withdrawal symptoms. If delirium tremens occurs, aggressive treatment improves outcomes. Treatment in a quiet intensive care unit with sufficient light is often recommended. Benzodiazepines are the medication of choice with diazepam, lorazepam, chlordiazepoxide, and oxazepam all commonly used. They should be given until a person is lightly sleeping. The antipsychotic haloperidol may also be used. The vitamin thiamine is recommended. Mortality without treatment is between 15% and 40%. Currently death occurs in about 1% to 4% of cases.About half of people with alcoholism will develop withdrawal symptoms upon reducing their use. Of these, 3% to 5% develop DTs or have seizures.The name delirium tremens was first used in 1813; however, the symptoms were well described since the 1700s.