Chapter CLV - The Nidanam of diseases resulting from the excess or abuse of wine

Dhanvantari said:—Now I shall discourse on the Nidanam of Madatyayam (diseases which result from the abuse of wines and spirits) as formerly described by the holy Rishis of yore.

Wine is sharp, acid (gives rise to an acid digestion), dry, parchifying, light, fatiguing and its potency at once pervades the minutest capillaries of the organism, and tends to vitiate the fat of the body. All the preceding properties of wine such as sharpness, etc., tend to produce a disturbed state of the mind, and clouden the intellect. Excessive drinking may even prove fatal. The primary property of wine is to injuriously affect the ten organs of sense-perception of a man; and wine, though heat-making and stimulating in its primary action, deteriorates the strength of the organism in its reaction. The use of the first two kinds of wine is always injurious. It is only the fools of fortune that find pleasures in cups. A drunkard, even if he happens to be a king, cannot maintain the dignity of his position, and only cares for drink in this world. A drunkard king, like a fanged and uncaged serpent, is capable of committing any mischief in the world. Wine is the progenitor of filthy speeches, and the only royal road to wretchedness and misery. In the third stage of drinking there comes unconsciousness. A drunkard suffers more than death-pangs in life, and loses all distinction of virtue and vice, honour and dishonour, or pleasure and pain. He indulges in fits of grief or senseless laughter at intervals, or falls down unconscious in convulsive spasms. A strong man after a hearty meal may bear his wine well. The deranged Vayu, Pittam and Kaphah may also serve as the exciting factors of the disease known as Mada-tyayam. Intoxication, pain at the heart, loose motions of bowels, thirst, unstability of gait, fever with a non-relish for food, vanishings of sight, cough, dyspnœa, insomnia, excessive perspiration, œdema, and tympanites are the general symptoms of the disease.^[1]

The patient in such a case remains in a drowsy state, and talks garrulously even without being spoken to. Fever with a burning sensation in the body, perspiration, distraction of the mind, and fits of fainting are the symptoms, which mark the bilious type of Madatyayam, while vomiting, nausea somnolence, and tympanites are developed in the one which owes its origin to the deranged Kapham. All the above said symptoms are exhibited in the Sannipatika type o f Madatyayam. Nothing can be distasteful or disagreeable to the person who indulges in cups even with a full knowledge of its baneful consequences. Such a person only courts mental imbecility and wilfully kills his mind and intellect. A Madatyaya-patient cannot tell the difference between a chip of wood and an article of fare in respect of taste.

Expectoration of mucous, dryness of the throat, somnolence, incapability of bearing the least sound with a distracted state of the mind and shooting pain in the limbs, diseases of the heart and larynx, epileptic fits; dyspnœa, thirst, vomiting and fever, are the supervening symptoms of the type of Madatyayam, which owes its origin to the disordered Vayu. The self-controlled person, who intelligently foregoes the pleasures of wine, defies all diseases whether of the body or of mind. Intoxication, Epilepsy, and Palsy (corea), are the three diseases which result from the derangement of the vascular and lymphatic systems and are usually found to afflict a person of injudicious diet and living and of an irascible or lymphatic temperament of mind. Each of these diseases is respectively stronger than the one immediately following it in the order of enumeration. This kind of Madatyayam has its origin in the impure blood, or results from the presence of wine (alcohol) in the system, or from any other idiopathic causes such as aggravation of any of the morbific principles of the body; In the Vatajatype of Madatyayam the complexion becomes pale or sallow on account of the anæmic condition of the body, or assumes a dry, reddish, or brownish hue, and the patient is tormented with a kind of listlessness, and takes recourse to acts of low cunning. In the Pittaja type, the skin of the body asumes a reddish yellow colour, and the patient becomes irritable and querulous. Somnolence, delirium or loose talks mark the type which owes it origin to the deranged Kapham. All the abovesaid symptoms are exhibited in the Sannipatika type of Madatyayam. The specific symptoms of the deranged Pittam are usually found to be present in almost all the types of Madatyayam. The patient fails to recognise even the most familiar voices, and palsy, somnolence, and above all, a feeling of exhaustion (prostration) gradually supervene. A languid circulation, or obstruction of the blood in certain parts of the body, and a partial paralysis of the limbs may be witnessed in the Sannipatika type. In the Vataja type of Madatyayam the patient beholds the sky as enveloped in a blue, red, or black colour, and faints away, regaining consciousness very soon after. Shivering, vertigo, cough with a pain about the cardiac region, epileptic fits, and a brownish or reddish colour of the skin duting the fit are the further characteristics of this type. In the Pittaja type the patient faints away seeing the sky wrapped in red or blue, and tegains consciousness Oppressed with thirst, perspiration and a burning sensation in the body. The complexion becomes blue or yellow during the paroxysm of fainting, the eyes become red or yellow, and the patiertt cörrtplainsh of a breaking pain in his body and talks incoherently. In the Kaphaja type of Madatyayam the patient sees the welkin enshrouded with a cloud like pall, and falls down unconscious. Consciousness returns late in this type, and the patient suffers front nausea and salivation after being restored to his senses. Owing to the sensation of numbness and heaviness in the limbs, the patient falls down all on a heap like a goat. All the aforesaid symptoms are combinedly exhibited in the Sannipatika type of Madatyayam. Moreover, the patient suffers from epileptic fits in this Sannipatika type, and falls down unconscious through the aggravated condition of the morbific principles of his body, even in the absence of any frightening or anaesthetic agent. The fit passes off spontaneously as Soon as the dynamics of the morbific diathesis spends itself in the body, and the patient regains his consciousness even without the help of any sense-restoring medicine. The functions of the mind as well as of the sense organs, and the faculty of speech are jeopardised in this disease; and the patient, though otherwise of an unstable and impaired mind, acquires a kind of increased physical strength through the disorder of the hervous system. A sudden derangement of the respiratory System brings on a swoon in Madatyayam, which may terminate fatally, and in which the patient lies stiff and rigid, like a log of wood, with a bluish, shrunken, cadaverous countenance. A little delay in calling in medical help in these cases is often followed by a fatal consequence. It is morally obligatory on a physician to rescue a man from drowning in the ocean of Madatyayam, which, like any other ocean abounding in dreadful sea-monsters, is full of many serious symptoms. There is a dictum in the Vedas to the effect that a drunkard feels merry or irritated at intervals. Vices described before should be considered as appertaining to wine improperly taken or used. “Wine paves the road to hell” is a prohibitory aphorism, which should be interpreted as interdicting the abuse or injudicious use of wine. Wine properly and judiciously taken is same as the divine ambrosia. It gives health, strength and beauty to persons using it, and ultimately leads to their salvation.