Quotation from: Manual of Surgery

Written by: Alexander Miles and Alexis Thomson


_Treatment._--A patient suffering from shock should be placed in the
recumbent position, with the foot of the bed raised to facilitate the
return circulation in the large veins, and so to increase the flow of
blood to the brain. His bed should be placed near a large fire, and the
patient himself surrounded by cotton wool and blankets and hot-bottles.
If he has lost much blood, the limbs should be wrapped in cotton wool
and firmly bandaged from below upwards, to conserve as much of the
circulating blood as possible in the trunk and head. If the shock is
moderate in degree, as soon as the patient has been put to bed, about a
pint of saline solution should be introduced into the rectum, and 10 to
15 minims of adrenalin chloride (1 in 1000) may with advantage be added
to the fluid. The injection should be repeated every two hours until the
circulation is sufficiently restored. In severe cases, especially when
associated with haemorrhage, transfusion of whole blood from a compatible
donor, is the most efficient means (_Op. Surg._, p. 37). Cardiac
stimulants such as strychnin, digitalin, or strophanthin are
contra-indicated in shock, as they merely exhaust the already impaired
vaso-motor centre.

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