Opium

Imported from

• Turkey
• India

Description

CDM1865(111-13)

-"It is the chief narcotic now employed; it acts directly upon the nervous power, diminishing the sensibility, irritability, and mobility of the system; thereby inducing sleep, one of its principal effects. From this sedative power of opium, by which it allays pains, inordinate action, and restlessness, it naturally follows that it may be employed with great advantage in a variety of diseases."

-treats: fevers, acute and chronic rheumatism, obstinate and irritation coughs, eruptive diseases (rashes)

-"The younger the individual, the more energetic is its action on the system; hence the great caution requisite in its administration to infants; in fact, it should never be resorted to in any form except upon emergencies; and all opiates, especially syrup of poppies and some nostrums containing opium, which are but too frequently used by lazy nurses to quiet children, should be most imperiously excluded from the list of nursery medicines."

-dosage: will change person to person, depending on age, sex, surrounding climate, and previous opium usage. The lowest fatal dosage has been noted at around 4 grains for a person who is unaccustomed to opium use.

(CDM1865, 176)

In case of overdose: stomach contents must be emptied. Savory recommends either by stomach pump, or by the use of emetics (sulphate of zinc or sulphate of copper), with sulphate of copper being the preferred, at a dose of ten grains dissolved in two ounces water. Cold water is to be pooured over individuals who experience "great drowsiness," or in the instance of coma, fainting, or stupor. (CDM1865, 176)

"Children are frequently very much injured, and sometimes destroyed, by the too free use of syrup of poppies and other narcotics."

Remedies Including Opium Listed in CDM1865

-Sesquicarbonate of Ammonia (16): "combined with opium, it affords a powerful resource in protracted diarrhoea, attended with debility of the alimentary canal."

-Angustura or Cusparia Bark (19): part of a mixture (in the form of Jeremie's solution) used to treat diarrhoea, "with irritability and exhaustion."

-Amtimonial powder (20): combined with opium or camphor to treat fever or other inflammatory diseases.

-Astringent Powder (24): opium (Jeremie's solution) can be used to alleviate pain during the evacuations of the intestines and bowels.

-Black Drop (32): aka Quaker's Black Drop, used instead of opium and laudanum so as to avoid the side-effects of each drug (including delirium, restlessness, headache, sickness, and debility). It might be produced from opium; Savory does not mention. More research needed.

-Camphor Liniment, Compound (38): used to topically apply opium

-Compound Chalk Powder, with Opium (45): relief of diarrhoea that is caused by acidity

-Confection of Opium (50): "is a useful remedy in checking common diarrhoea, and some forms of chronic rheumatism."

-Dover's Power (53-54): can treat rheumatism, gout, diabetes, dropsy, diarrhoea, dysentery, fevers. "Dover's powder is a mild a safe opiate for children, and less liable to disagree than perhaps others."

-Galls (68): combined with opium in treating piles, especially blind piles.

-Laudanum (92): "When judiciously administered, it is one of the most valuable medicines we possess." Can treat pain and spasm (as a liniment), when ingested can stop violent vomiting, provide relief from decaying teeth.

-Morphine, or Morphia (102): alkaloid of opium, often used in the form of the acetate, the hydochlorate/muriate, or sulphate of morphia. Provides similar relief as opium, with less stimulation to the patient. "like opium they reduce their effect by repetition, and, consequently, the dose requires to be gradually increased."

-Jeremie's Solution of Opium (113): does not have side effects of opium ("disturbing the nervous system, or diminishing the secretions"). Used to treat: gout, rheumatism, diarrhoea, cholera, influenza, common catarrh (cold), those who suffer from tic, nervous and spasmodic pains.

-Paregoric Elixir (114): contains opium. Used to treat: the tickling sensation that accompanies a recent cough, hooping-cough.

-Pellitory of Spain (115-16): Used as a gargle or can be chewed. Encourages the flow of saliva, relief from toothache.

-Sedative Liquor or Opium (132): Does not contain narcotine (stimulant). Used as a sedative.

-Sugar of Lead (147): Given with opium to stop pulmonary and uterine haemorrhages.

-Wine of Opium (171): Used in similar cases as Laudanum. "Mr. Ware has applied the wine of opium to the eye in cases where, after active inflammation has been subdued, the vessels remain turgid; two oe three drops of it being introduced under the eyelids."

Diseases Treated with Opium as listed in CDM1865

-Ague, or Intermittent Fever (205): Jeremie's Solution of Opium can be administered along with Flower's Solution of Arsenic during the intermission stages of fever.

-Burns or Scalds (210): Opium is to be given to reduce pain, allow sleep, and also lessen "the disposition to various other dangerous symptoms."

-Cholera Morbus (222): Jeremie's Solution of Opium is included in a draught that is to be taken with pills, should vomiting and/or pain continue past the first stage of treatment. (224) A tincture of opium is include in a mixture that was proposed by the Board of Health during a cholera outbreak.

-Menstruation (247): can be used along with other remedies to reduce pain, resulting from Dysmenorrhoea (painful menstruation).

-Piles, or Haemorrhoids (248): Used in combination of an ointment of galls, to relieve pain.

-Rheumatism (251): Opium can be used during diaphoresis, although it can be replaced by other narcotics that help relieve pain.

-Sickness (255): "The best palliatives against nausea and vomiting are effervescing saline draughts and small doses of opium."

-Toothache (257): Opium is one of the narcotics listed, as is laudanum.

-Typhus Fever (259): Opium is to be used as a stimulant "necessary to sustain the powers of life," should the patient be severely weakened by the disease.

-Aphthous Ulceration, or Thrush (266): Jeremie's Solution of Opium is part of a liniment that is applied during early stages of the infection, before the bowels have been affected.