Beriberi: Wet beriberi cases were bloated with edema usually beginning in the feet and gradually progressing upward to the head. A patient with edema of the feet and legs, after lying in bed all night, frequently found that the edema had spread to his chest and face in the morning.
After being up for several hours, the edema slowly returned to his legs and feet. When the edema became extensive, the patient became nearly helpless unable to get about.
Tropical ulcers often developed in swollen legs, and continued to weep as long as the edema existed. If the edema had been caused by salt intake, it could be, controlled by eliminating salt, but for the most part salt was not a factor, because we rarely had any salt in our diet.
Patients with dry beriberi were usually very thin. Their chief complaint was lightning-like pains (neuralgia) in their legs and feet. The only relief came from soaking their legs in buckets of cold water. Many sat up all night trying to obtain some comfort.
On a rare occasion a dry beriberi patient would develop edema in his feet and legs; strange as it may seem, the edema seemed to relieve the pains of the dry beriberi.
Forty years later, some of the survivors still have leg pains in spite of heavy vitamin therapy indicating permanent nerve damage.
Beriberi Heart Disease: Beriberi heart disease was seen frequently, and often resulted in sudden death. Like the legs and abdomen, the heart became enlarged with edema; the beat became irregular. As some patients lay down, their heart would stop beating, especially if lying on the left side.
If you could get to them in time to sit them up, or to massage their heart, it was sometimes possible to get the heart started again.
Sudden death at night was a rather frequent occurrence. Many American trained cardiologists still consider beriberi heart disease as a reversible condition, but some ex-P.O.W.s still have the same irregularities.
Pellagra: Pellagra was common, manifest by conjunctivitis, glossitis, amblyopia, angular stomatitis, geographic tongues (often with deep grooves and severe sensitivity), and scrotal dermatitis of varying degrees including sloughing. There was increased pigmentation of the skin sometimes patchy.