Antityphoid inoculation: Neurasthenia.
Case 180. (Consiglio, 1917.)
A corporal, 39, began to be sleepless and weary, with headache, pains in the back, and dizziness. He was homesick. Upon hospital examination he was very variable in mood, rather hostile in attitude, and at the same time suggestible. He was so confident of being sent home that he anticipated the diagnosis by sending his belongings back to Sicily at the time he was transferred to hospital from his regiment.
After a month’s rest and psychotherapy, the man’s general condition was greatly improved; he was no longer sleepless and had no longer any sign of neurotic disorder. He still maintained that his memory was weak, although in point of fact his memory was very good and quick. He could narrate all the facts about his neurasthenic state. The man’s complaints were out of all proportion to any demonstrable somatic disorder. He was discharged, cured, to be put to work at shoemaking, with the diagnosis, neurasthenia. This neurasthenic state developed after antityphoid injection.
Re the occasional curious effects of antityphoid injection, see Case 65.