[mojaveman]

Originally Posted by Red Flag 1

The pain medicine of choice during the Civil War era was Laudanum. Laudanum was a opium alcohol mixture that was potent, very effective, and readily available. Not only was it the drug of choice for pain relief for Civil War Veterans, it was widely used by civilians. Narcotic addiction was very high in the immediate post Civil War period. There was a a letter titled, "Confessions of a Young Lady Laudanum-Drinker" dated 1889 by an unknown author http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/...y/laudlady.htm, written to a doctor describing her troubles with Laudanum. It is still available today by prescription. It was not until the 1914 Harrison Narcotic Tax Act that narcotics became regulated and subject to control.

There are many that deal with moderate to severe chronic pain every day, from a variety of causes. Using long acting narcotics is effective in dealing with such pain; however, it is not without drawbacks. All previous major armed conflicts have wrestled with this problem, and today we have a specialty that can address chronic pain management. A system that seems to offer the best hope are multidisciplinary approaches. This includes providers from General Medicine, Surgery, Orthopedics, Anesthesia, Psychiatry, and Physical Medicine. This combined approach may well be able to tailor an approach that reduces the need for narcotic use long term. Every major war brings advances in medicine. Perhaps we can see some advance in the chronic pain issue that has haunted us since before our Civil War. It is very difficult to look a wounded war veteran in the eye and say no to the request for pain meds that are clearly needed; perhaps that is why the problem has lasted so long.

RF 1

Correct on Laudanum, my father was offered it during the final weeks of his life while he was dying of cancer but he refused it.