A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Opium Addiction

July 12, 2013July 21, 2016 / Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

I’m pleased to host author and friend, Michelle Griep, this week as she blogs about historical medicine.

Welcome back, Michelle!

What comes to mind when I say Jane Austen? Hold on. Let me guess…

– –Swirling ballroom scenes

– –Dinner parties galore

– –The dashing Mr. Darcy

Any of these answers would be right, of course, but you’d also be correct if you’d shouted out opium usage. Austen’s mother used opium to help her sleep, and her father was an agent in the trade. Elizabeth Barrett Browning took opiates every day from the age of fourteen, Sir Walter Scott consumed 6 grams a day, and Samuel Coleridge was a regular user.

Yes, indeed. I hate to burst your bubble of the romantic days of yore, but opium addiction was an issue to be reckoned with.

The first written account of the non-medicinal virtues of this drug is in De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater, published in 1821. He advocates opium usage not as a pharmaceutical pain reliever but as a trip into “an inner world of secret self-consciousness.” Sounds positively hippyish, eh?

Had Mr. Darcy been hanging out in a nearby opium den, these are the symptoms Elizabeth Bennett should’ve looked for:

· Red or glazed eyes

· Confusion

· Slurred or rapid speech

· Loss of appetite

· Apathy or depression

· Frequent headaches

· Insomnia

While Jane Austen preferred to write of dances and dinners, I dove into the seamier side of things and made the hero in A Heart Deceived a recovering opium addict. Why?

Because addiction is a contemporary problem with historical roots.

It’s just as hard for my fictional character Ethan to turn down a bottle of laudanum as it is for a real person today to pass on a hit of meth. With God’s help, it can be done—which is exactly what Ethan discovers.

So take care, gentlewomen, when searching out your Mr. Right. Opiates have been around since the days of Pharaoh, and are likely here to stay.

Interested in Ethan’s story? Check out A Heart Deceived.

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A Heart Deceived is available by David C. Cook and at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and ChristianBook. Keep up with the exploits of Michelle Griep at Writer Off the Leash, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Opium Abuse during the Civil War Era: 2/2

May 3, 2013July 21, 2016 / Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Author Jocelyn Green returns with another installment in her series of posts on Civil War Medicine. Jocelyn was here last week discussing amputees and prosthetics. You can Part I and Part II by following the links.

As an added bonus, Jocelyn has graciously offered to give away a personalized copy of her latest novel, Widow of Gettysburg, to one commentor. To enter, leave a comment on any of her posts over the next three weeks WITH your e-mail address. Must live in the USA. Winner drawn midnight, Saturday, May 11th, 2013 and announced here at Redwood’s on May 12th, 2013.

Jocelyn has also graciously said she’ll send you a signed bookplate if you have any of her novels and would like one. Again, MUST have your e-mail.

Good Luck!

Today, Jocelyn continues her discussion on opium abuse during the Civil War. Here is Part I.

In severe cases, the individual may have a weak pulse, lower blood pressure, reduced heart rate, difficulty or labored breathing, and changes in the color of lips and fingertips. Seizures, convulsions, hallucinations, confusion and psychomotor retardation also take place.

Common Opium Abuse Withdrawal Symptoms

If the patient suddenly stops taking opium, either by choice or from lack of supply, which often happened among Confederate soldiers especially, the following symptoms could be present.

§ emotional instability

§ depression

§ feeling shaky

§ nightmares

§ exhaustion

§ general body weakness

§ lethargy

§ mental fogginess

§ anxiety

§ nervousness

Signs of Opium Abuse Withdrawal

§ trouble sleeping

§ nausea and vomiting

§ heart palpitations

§ headaches

§ clammy

§ sweaty skin

§ decreased appetite

§ unusual movements

§ hand tremors

§ alterations of the pupils

§ pale skin

Severe Opium Withdrawal Symptoms

In extreme cases, the following might present themselves.

§ irrational thoughts

§ irritability

§ anger

§ confusion

§ fever

§ seizures

§ convulsions

§ hallucinations

Treatment

So what did doctors do when a patient was overdosed on opium? The following case study from the archives of the University of Virginia offers some answers. Though this example took place a decade before the Civil War broke out, we can imagine many doctors may have used similar methods.

“On May 7, 1850, Dr. John William Ogilvie traveled eight miles to a plantation in Barnwell County, SC in response to a reported overdose of Laudanum, or a tincture of opium. The patient had attempted suicide, swallowing the tincture at 4:15 that morning. Arriving at 7:15 AM, Dr. Ogilvie found him still alive. Apparently in a state of melancholy, the patient was conscious and calm, but expressed regret that the doctor had come as he still wished to die. Dr. Ogilvie, however, proceeded to treat the patient without any apparent difficulty. Initially, he administered ten doses of zinc sulphate solution, five minutes apart. The patient began to vomit fifteen minutes after the last dose, and Dr. Ogilvie smelled and saw the drug in his regurgitated fluids. The doctor then proceeded to put a tube down his patient’s throat and forced four pints of warm water into the man’s stomach. Dr. Ogilvie left at 10:45 AM, his patient stabilized and quickly recovering.”

Historically, southern whites were the most susceptible to opium addiction, and prior to 1900, the addiction primarily affected the middle- and upper-class. Country physicians actually had the highest rate of addiction among nineteenth-century professions, so it was not a big leap for me to give an opium addiction to a Confederate surgeon in my novel.

Dependency on the drug during the Civil War was likely magnified by soldiers’ traumatic experiences. Opium helped calm frayed nerves and brought sleep to those who otherwise may not have been able to rest. Not only did it numb physical pain, but it numbed emotional pain, as well.

Up until the Civil War, opium use and abuse was so widespread it was not frowned upon. It was not until the significant abuse during and after the Civil War that doctors began to take drug abuse seriously and medical opiate addiction finally began to disappear.

For further reading:

Courtwright, David T. Dark Paradise: Opiate Addictionin America Before 1940. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.

Hodgson, Barbara. In the Arms of Morpheus: The Tragic History of Laudanum, Morphine, and Patent Medicines. Buffalo: Firefly Books, 2001.

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A former military wife, Jocelyn Green authored, along with contributing writers, the award-winning Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives and Faith Deployed . . . Again. Jocelyn also co-authored Stories of Faith and Couragefrom the Home Front, which inspired her first novel: Wedded to War. She loves Mexican food, Broadway musicals, Toblerone chocolate bars, the color red, and reading on her patio. Jocelyn lives with her husband Rob and two small children in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Opium Abuse during the Civil War Era: 1/2

May 1, 2013July 21, 2016 / Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

As an added bonus, Jocelyn has graciously offered to give away a personalized copy of her latest novel, Widow of Gettysburg, to one commentor. To enter, leave a comment on any of her posts over the next three weeks WITH your e-mail address. Must live in the USA. Winner drawn midnight, Saturday, May 11th, 2013 and announced here at Redwood’s on May 12th, 2013.

Jocelyn has also graciously said she’ll send you a signed bookplate if you have any of her novels and would like one. Again, MUST have your e-mail.

Good Luck!

As you can image by the title of my novel, Widow of Gettysburg, writing it required extensive research into the condition of wounded soldiers and their treatment. I soon discovered that opium was considered a wonder drug by battlefield surgeons. It was sprinkled on wounds to help slow blood loss, and taken orally to relieve pain and induce sleep. Opium and morphine were the most popular painkillers—but they were also used in the treatment of cholera and sometimes dysentery.

The most significant incidence of opium abuse in the United States occurred during the Civil War, when an estimated 400,000 soldiers became addicted to the drug. Two of my characters in Widow of Gettysburg struggle with it. The following signs and symptoms helped guide those storylines.

Opium Abuse Side Effects

These side-effects depend on factors such as the dose, how the drug is taken, and the individual’s metabolism. In addition, these side-effects depend on the duration of time in which the drug has been taken. Opium abuse brings about side-effects such as:

Drowsiness
Sedation
Depressed or slowed breathing
Glazed or red eyes
Slurred speech
Headaches
Confusion
Dizziness
Small pupils
Nausea
Sleeping disorders
A runny nose
Sinus irritation
Excessive energy
Rapid speed
Mania
Loss of appetite
Mood swings
Depression
Apathy
Slowed reflexes
Vomiting
Constipation and other gastrointestinal problems
Extreme anxiety
Restlessness and tension

In most cases, side-effects are experienced at the early stages of abuse and decrease as time goes by.

Depression was one of the most serious side effects of long-term users, and could lead to suicide.

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A former military wife, Jocelyn Green authored, along with contributing writers, the award-winning Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives and Faith Deployed . . . Again. Jocelyn also co-authored Stories of Faith and Couragefrom the Home Front, which inspired her first novel: Wedded to War. She loves Mexican food, Broadway musicals, Toblerone chocolate bars, the color red, and reading on her patio. Jocelyn lives with her husband Rob and two small children in Cedar Falls, Iowa.