Emily Dickinson said it best:
After great pain a formal feeling comes--
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
The stiff Heart questions--was it He that bore?
And yesterday--or centuries before?
The feet, mechanical, go round
A wooden way
Of ground, or air, or ought,
Regardless grown,
A quartz contentment, like a stone.
This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived,
As freezing persons recollect the snow--
First chill, then stupor, then the letting go.
The subject of pain and pain control is a huge one -- suitable for textbooks not blog entries. However, we would like to bring to your attention two recent articles from the NY Times which address this topic. It is shameful that opioids are not available to the majority of the world's population considering they are safe and cheap.
1. Drugs Banned, Many of World’s Poor Suffer in Pain September 10, 2007
2. Japanese Slowly Shedding Their Misgivings About the Use of Painkilling Drugs Sept. 10, 2007
3. In India, a Quest to Ease the Pain of the Dying September 11, 2007
4. Francis W. Peabody wrote a classic piece "Notes on the Effects of Morphine" in 1927. It was completed shortly before he died of stomach cancer and while he was relying on opioids so he could function. Here it is for those who are interested: Download peabody_on_morphine.pdf