The
Belladonna
Treatment
from
"Bill's Story"
The "Big Book" of
Alcoholics Anonymous
Page 7
"Under the so-called belladonna treatment my brain cleared."
The
belladonna treatment is described by Bill Pittman:
AA The Way It Began
ISBN 0-934125-08-2, available from Hazelden books.
"Upon Wilson's arrival at Towns Hospital, he was placed in a bed and the Towns-Lambert Treatment was
begun. Dr. Lambert described the belladonna treatment as follows:
Briefly stated, it consists in the hourly dosage of a mixture of belladonna, hyoscyamus and
xanthoxylum. The mixture is given every hour, day and night, for about fifty
hours. There is also given about every twelve hours a vigorous catharsis of C.C.
pills and blue mass. At the end of the treatment, when it is evident that there
are abundant bilious stools, castor oil is given to clean out thoroughly the
intestinal tract. If you leave any of the ingredients out, the reaction of the
cessation of desire is not as clear cut as when the three are mixed together.
The amount necessary to give is judged by the physiologic action of the
belladonna it contains. When the face becomes flushed, the throat dry, and the
pupils of the eyes dilated, you must cut down your mixture or cease giving it
altogether until these symptoms pass. You must, however, push this mixture until
these symptoms appear, or you will not obtain a clear cut cessation of the
desire for the narcotic...(17, p. 2126; 209,p.186)
The exact contents of each ingredient is outlined below: