What is TABES?

Formerly used as a synonym of wasting, shrinking, or consumption. Now used as a synonym of dorsalis or Locomotor Ataxy, a disease dependent upon degeneration and sclerosis of the posterior columns of the spinal cord. Its most pronounced symptom, incoordination of the muscles of locomotion, has served to establish the term Locomotor Ataxy as the common designation of the affection. The anatomic changes consist of atrophy and degeneration of the nerve-fibers, with hypertrophy of the connective tissue, and extend from the lumbar region to the calamus scriptorius. The symptoms are numerous, but the chief are ” lightning-pains unsteadiness and incoordination of locomotor and other voluntary movements, extending even to the upper extremities; disorders of vision, among others the valuable Argyll-Robertson Pupil, q. v; cutaneous anesthesia; girdle-sense; abolition of the patellar reflex; diminution of sexual desire; peculiar “crises,” etc. The disease is a very chronic one, but is not always progressive. It occurs most frequently in males, and usually between the ages of tnirty and fifty. The most common cause, by some authorities said to be the only cause, is syphilis. Other predisposing, exciting or adjuvant causes are prolonged exposure to cold and wet, alcoholism, mental strain and traumatism of the spine. T. coxaria, wasting from hip-joint disease. T. ergotica, a toxemia resulting from the use of ergot; its symptomatology closely simulates that of locomotor ataxia. T. glandularis. Synonym of T. mesenterica. T., Hereditary. See Friedreich’s Ataxia. T., Lacteal. See Hyperlactation. T. mesentericus and T. scrofulosa, old terms descriptive of diseases of the digestive and assimilative organs, sometimes tuberculous, sometimes syphilitic, and attended with wasting. T. neurasthenica, neurasthenia with the symptoms of locomotor ataxia. T. pulmonalis, pulmonary tuberculosis. T. saturnina, the general disability due to lead-poisoning. T. scrofulosa. Synonym of T. mesenterica. T., Suspension Treatment of, see Suspension. T. urinalis. Synonym of Diabetes mellitus.