Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-06-20
WATCHING MORPHINE FIENDs.
Nerve Raekins Experiences Of
Trained Nurse.

Nerve Raekins Experiences Of a
81 Trained Nurse.
you newspaper women think you
have queer experiences sometimes"
said the trained nurse rather con-
temptuously. But you really don't
know anything about queer exper-
iences."
| Go on" said the newspaper woman.
"Tell your story"
WELL" said the trained nurse in a
grumbling tone, don't ever think you
have seen life until you have done de-
tective and trained nurse work on the
same case. ....... ....I
II was called one Gay to yolns
woman living with her parents in a
fashionable residence district. She
was q widow with an income Of $500
month in her own right. She had a
little boy. He was q beautiful child,
and she was, or had been, a beautiful
woman. ..r
when first saw her. every tooth In
her head was loose and liberated. 80
that she could take no solid food. Her
body was covered with wounds and
scars. She would talk for twelve hours
at a stretch and never speak word
Of truth.
"She would pawn everything she
! could lay her hands on, and she was
filled with suspicion Of every one who
approached her. She was. In fact, a
morphine wreck.
"She had taken the drug first under
a physicians orders, to alleviate pain.
He had given her q hypodermic sy-
ringe and taught her how to use 1t.
Before, her parents knew 1t she had
become a slave. Then they put her
under the care Of another physician,
and he installed me to see that his or
ders were carried out.
II noticed very soon that she could
MT set her whole foot on the ground.
She walked on her toes. That spelled
cocaine to me.
I'VE watched and found she was
taking the second drug on cotton wool
in her mouth. That made her case
Especially bad. You shouldn't mix
your pizens any more than your
drinks.
I'VE kept her old prescriptions for
both drugs, getting them filled at the
drug store where she had always sent
them. But we got the order Of the
physician who gave them to have the
prescriptions diluted according to the
orders Of the new doctor.
"Then we began to reduce the dose
little by little with water. The result
was very peculiar study Of morphine
psychology. ''-'| ~
"She was thoroughly convinced that
she couldn't live without morphine
and she was so suspicious Of the new
doctor and myself that we had to be
exceedingly careful. have never seen
such a set, immovable determination
for anything as possessed her to have
morphine.
"5he demanded her hypodermic reg
ularly, and at the usual time the pains
drug would :, overcome her, and
she would become nervous and hys-
terical. The moment she got the dose
she would be satisfied.
"Yet we had reduced that dose until
finally she was getting practically
pure water, with just enough morphine
in It to deaden the pain Of the injec-
ton. Now IL you can tell how much
of that was mental and how much
physical, how much real and how
much self-deception, you will do better
than either the doctor or could.
within six weeks she could chew
beefsteak, and her health was much
Improved. Still we didn't dare to lei
her know what had been done.
/ "Her parents had given up the
struggle, as she supposed, and were
letting her have the drug. II she had
really believed otherwise she would
have driven me and the doctor out OF
the house. Yet one day saw plainly
that she had eluded me in some way
and got full dose.
81 racked my brains to see how II
could have been done. She had had
a social call during the afternoon, and
II could not follow her into the draw
ing room. I inquired among the SER
wants, and found she had called up q
messenger boy Immediately on the de-
parture Of the visitor.
II went to the nearest A. d. T., Office
and found the boy who had answered
the call. He had, as suspected, beer
to drug store for her.
T got the doctors name and went
to him. He was a young fellow who
had never treated her professionally
He had called on her socially that af.
ternoon, and she had got the prescrip-
ton out Of him.
'T got his order on the drug store tc
dilute the mixture according to my or
ders. Then had to 60 back to the
drug store and fix 1t up with them
It took me a solid day to chase thai
thing down.
Fortunately 1t was so early in the
treatment that she did not have sense
enough to detect the difference be.
tween the two doses. After that she
could send her bottle to either place
and they would send her the diluted
mixture.
whenever I had any time OF
would spend 1t tracing things she had
pawned and redeem them. She would
pawn things that she wanted herself
when she had money in her purse
Then she would send messenger boys
for wine and liquors.
"a trait Of morphine poisoning Is
that the victim will drink without any
sense or judgment. She would drink
alcoholics like water. or course, she
could only get them when she eludeo
the whole family. One day she drank
pint Of pure gin and got crazy
drunk.
well, eventually that woman be-
came perfectly well physically, though
still under the impression that she was
taking her full dose. We had elimi-
| tod tho nhysical demand for the