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THE HEART AND BLOOD VESSELS
Author(s) -
U Feine,
Winkel K zum
Publication year - 1938
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1938.tb110126.x
Subject(s) - citation , library science , medicine , computer science
Dr. Scott briefly discusses the symptoms of morphinism and their physiological basis. The remarkable tolerance which addicts develop to large doses of the drug-doses even ten or twenty times the normally fatal dose-is a well-recognized, though ill-understood, fact. "From the point of view of treatment it is essential to realize that in established addiction the stimulant effect of morphine is more pronounced than the narcotic . .. It is one of the phenomena of tolerance that the primitive vago-stimulant action of morphine is conserved while its narcotic action tends to disappear . ., Shortage of supplies means the diminution of vagal control and sympathetic over-action, while abstinence ushers in a series of sympathetic explosions which may even endanger life." The bulk of the little book concerns itself with treatment, and the Lambert method, as modified by Dr. Laughton Scott, is still adhered to. Drug addiction presents grave problems. It is easier to make an addict than to cure one. The practitioner of medicine can play an important part in prevention by using, wherever possible, other pain-relieving drugs than those of addiction and by always exercising the greatest caution in ordering narcotics. For those who may have the task of curing an addict, Dr. Laughton Scott's book is a useful guide.