Morphine for a stomach ache is overkill?

Question

I remember I went to the ER for a stomach ache I had for a few days. They thought it might be appendicitis, whatever... they did tests and such.

The doctor was female, very soft tone voiced, compassionate... a real puppy/kittens person, also quite attractive if I may add. Anyways! She came into the room with a syringe and I got nervous. She said it's morphine. I asked if that was overkill, all I had was a stomach ache. she injected my I.V with it, and said "Well, now you don't" and smiled.

I always found doctors that would rather comfort their patients then cure them intriguing. Priority wise of course, all doctors look to cure their patients.

Do you guys think that was necessary?

Answer 1

I was in a car accident ( a drunk driver), fractured my back and cervical spine, had 2 operations, 2 years of PT and the only time I had morphine was after surgery until recently. Now my pain is such that I take it everyday.

I don't know what hospital you went to but they never tried to comfort me like that

Unless it was so they could bill your insurance $400 for a shot

Answer 2

Did they run any tests or do anything else to treat your specific condition? If they asked you how your pain was on a 1-10 scale, what was it?

I've worked with a lot of doctors who feel that pain medication is a last resort, and they'd rather do everything else they can to get you feeling better.

Morphine is a little bit excessive for a run of the mill stomach ailment, but they must have thought that you were in a good deal of pain if you came to the ER to have it checked out. They probably wanted to help you relax and feel better so that you could go home if it wasn't anything serious.

Answer 3

No.

Answer 4

Personally no, I think morphine is a pretty strong painkiller, don't you? I always assumed they gave morphine to people in SERIOUS pain, like AIDS or cancer or something. Maybe this is the wrong assumption from me, since obviously the doctor (a professional) gave the ok.
Perhaps if you had told them you're level of pain was strong but not severe, they would have given you something slightly lighter, like a percocet or something.
Don't know how painful your stomach ache was, but after I gave birth to my daughter, they only gave me percocets, and that's recovering from delivering a baby!!
I have heard appendicitis is pretty painful, though, so I don't know. But one thing I can say is I do find the habit of drs to easily perscribe pain medication kind of worrisome, only because there are so many people who inadvertently get addicted to painkillers, that's my whole complaint on that.

Answer 5

Personally, I would never give morphine to a person with a stomachache. If that person has something wrong w/ their gallbladder (because the stomach pain was vague), the morphine will cause severe pain in those cases. It is much better to give demerol.

Some doctors are very nice when it comes to healing the body mentally and physically, I think it was necessary to comfort the patient (you) first. It makes it easier for recovery and I am sure that people recover faster