Shell-shock amblyopia.
Case 272. (Myers, February, 1915.)
A private, 20, lay in the booking-hall of a station, October 28-29, not securing much sleep; motored in a bus next day to another place at 7.30 p.m.; went into billets at 8 p.m.; mounted guard 10-11.30 p.m. and 1.45 to 3.45 a.m.; and went to the firing-line for the first time at 11 a.m. October 31. The platoon advanced through two sets of trenches, which were full, and had to retire. About 1.30 p.m. they were found by the German artillery.
This man had been rather enjoying it and was in the best of spirits until the shells began to burst. The platoon was retiring over open ground. He was kneeling on both knees, trying to creep under wire entanglements, when two or three shells burst near by. Three more shells burst behind and one in front. The escape was described by an eye-witness as a miracle. He managed to get back under the entanglements and into the trench, and shortly, as the fire slackened, rejoined his company.
His sight had become blurred immediately after the shell burst. Opening his eyes hurt him, and the eyes burned when closed. The right eye “caught it” more than the left. At the same time, he was seized with shivering, and cold sweat broke out, especially about the loins. He thought the shell behind caused the greater shock, like a punch on the head without pain. The shell that burst in front had cut his haversack away, bruised his side, and burned his little finger. This shell he thought caused his blindness.
He was led to the dressing station by two comrades, opening his eyes to see where he was going but finding everything blurred except immediately after opening his eyes. There was no diplopia. Objects seemed to dissolve. He was weeping and worrying about becoming blind. The horse ambulance took him to a hospital and thence to another hospital, and thence he went by motor ambulance at night to the starting point, where he arrived five days after he had entered the field. He could remember nothing about the ambulance trips. There was a slight deafness which soon passed off. In hospital he shivered almost incessantly in bed, and he kept thinking about his experience and the shell bursting. The shivering ceased November 3. No micturition from the afternoon of October 30 until the afternoon of November 2. No movements of bowels from October 30 to November 5.
It seems that this soldier had been for two months in the Aisne district, sleeping badly on account of lumbar pains and toothache. There had been albuminuria, and the patient said he had failed to pass a medical examination. The fields of vision were found to be distinctly contracted. There was difficulty in taste and smell, which the patient said he had lost since the shell-burst.
Hypnosis was tried but the patient “insisted on resisting.” The suggestions were offered during the concentration period. November 13 taste and smell began to return and the fields of vision were less contracted. He was transferred to England for further treatment, and by November 27 had become much improved and not so “nervy.” February 1 he had begun to attend hospital as an out-patient.