episode_0054

Episode 54. Threshold of Pain (2)

****

Istina ran into the ward.

A priest lying in a sickroom as a patient. A priest bringing a patient. A nurse, Hedwig watching, and me.

“Professor! I brought the rope!”

Everyone’s eyes in the ward were focused on me.

I scratched my head awkwardly. No, maybe I need a rope for treatment.

The priest and Hedwig looked at me with narrowed eyes. I tied the patient up with rope. It wasn’t difficult, since he was unconscious.

“Istina. Can you hold the patient?”

“Yes. But why?”

I took the naloxone spray out of my pocket. The patient was still unconscious. This should bring him back to his senses.

The problem comes after you pick it up.

“Get ready to catch the patient.”

“Are you still?”

“If you take the medicine, he will start to run wild.”

“Why… … ?”

Why, because it hurts so badly.

I sprayed the naloxone spray into the patient’s nose. If the medicine works, the patient will start to freak out. He may be in pain alone, or he may really start to run around and make a scene.

It’s right to take maximum safety measures.

Istina looked at me. As if asking what I was still doing. I checked the time.

2 minutes? You should get a response in about 2 minutes.

“AAAHH …

The patient started to flail around on the bed. To be exact, he was only squirming because he was tied up with rope. It was fortunate that his arms were tied.

‘cure.’

‘stability.’

The priest standing next to him fidgeted and used magic with his staff. Even if he didn’t do it, he’d be fine in a few minutes.

I wonder if magic will make things better. I crossed my arms and stepped back.

“Professor! Do you have any sedatives or painkillers?!”

“Cannot be used in this patient.”

“Why?”

Istina’s expression became even more confused. I want to explain right away, but it’s hard to explain because of the patient’s colleague, that priest.

“Hey, priest. Are you a fellow patient? If you leave, I’ll explain.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong?”

“Yes. Anyway… … . Please avoid it.”

The priest who brought the patient left the room muttering. Only Istina and Hedwig, who had no understanding of the situation, stood there awkwardly.

****

The patient was a male priest in his 20s, and the fellow priest who brought the patient appeared to be in a similar situation.

Of course, the guardian didn’t introduce himself.

“What happened?”

“Drugs. Opium addiction.”

Hedwig took a step back from the sickbed. I looked at Istina.

“There are many diseases that can cause a patient to collapse. First of all, it could be myocardial infarction or stroke, but considering his age, that’s not the case. What could be the reason for a patient in his 20s to suddenly collapse?”

“Trauma?”

“It’s not a trauma. You have to look at the pupils.”

Exposure to opiate drugs causes the pupils to shrink. This patient’s pupils were almost dot-sized when he was admitted to the hospital.

“To sum it up, overdosing on opiates can cause a variety of physical changes. Heart rate and breathing slow down, and pupils shrink.”

“Oh, I guess so.”

“That’s why I told that person, the patient colleague, to leave. I can tell him after some time. He needs to think about it.”

The priest sent him out earlier out of consideration for the patient. It seemed as though he still didn’t know that his colleague had collapsed after stealing opium.

It is necessary to take time to think about it and talk to the patient. Surprisingly, opioid addiction is a disease that can be treated medically.

It’s a problem I’ll think about later.

“Where did the opium come from?”

“Probably used as medicine in the temple.”

“Opioid is a painkiller, but why does it hurt when I take it?”

A bit of a complicated issue. To put it simply… … .

“Opioid is a drug that relieves pain. The problem is that if you continue to take opium when you are not in pain, your pain threshold will be lowered.”

Naloxone is an opioid receptor blocker. If you suddenly remove the effects of opiates with this drug, the pain you were suffering from will come rushing back all at once.

It is difficult to use painkillers or tranquilizers for this pain. The patient’s pain threshold has already been broken, and it would be crazy to use painkillers right away on someone who has collapsed from an overdose of painkillers.

“Is that so?”

“If you remove the effects of opium all at once like before, your breathing rate and heart rate will return to normal, but because your pain threshold has been lowered, you will suddenly feel terrible pain.”

That’s why I told you to get the rope first.

Istina tilted her head.

“Professor, since when did you know?”

“I heard he was a patient in his 20s working at the temple. I thought he had taken opium and collapsed.”

Istina nodded. She seemed very curious. Well, that aside. We should move on to the next treatment for the patient.

“That, Professor.”

It seemed like the priest had finally come to his senses. We turned our heads to the priest who was lying down.

“Please release this rope.”

That’s right.

****

The patient sat up in bed, his condition improving. Now I can finally ask him some questions.

“What is the patient’s name?”

“This is Tyrael.”

“Have you taken opium?”

“No.”

“I already know you took opium. I even kicked out my colleague to tell him about it.”

“Um… … . What should I do… … .”

It’s a bit frustrating, but let’s be patient a little longer. I think the conclusion will come out soon.

“Patient. Do you use opium powder for pain relief in the temple? No, right?”

“No.”

It was as expected.

This patient is in an environment where he cannot avoid exposure to opium. If he had not collapsed, it would have been different, but if he had collapsed, we must come up with countermeasures.

Besides that, I guess there’s a lot of opium in the temple?

It’s one thing to use it generously on patients, and another to not get caught until the priest passes out after taking it.

“As you know, the patient collapsed because of opium. You have to stop.”

“Oh my.”

“Change jobs. It would be better to go somewhere where you use opium less frequently.”

It was a bit of a shame.

It doesn’t seem like he was exposed to opium on his own accord. He was just unlucky. If it had been a modern hospital, there would have been many options.

I can’t think of a solution.

“Follow me to the clinic. Hedwig and Istina… … do what you want.”

dissolution.

The patient followed me.

****

Creak. The door to the examination room closed gloomily today. The patient sat in the examination room, staring at me with empty eyes.

“It doesn’t seem like someone else’s business.”

“Yes?”

Was it Tyrael?

On the surface, he may seem like a piece of trash who works in a temple and steals opium, but on the contrary.

He may be a healer who works hardest and sees the sickest patients. So he may have been exposed to more opium than average. It’s hard to tell.

“First of all, will is important. Try this. Say, ‘I don’t do drugs, and I want to live like a normal person!’ ”

The patient coughed a little.

“Oh, I don’t do drugs, and I want to live like a normal person… … !”

“Yes, that’s good.”

“That’s it?”

“No, wait a minute. The patient’s will is the most important thing. I’m not saying that drug addiction can be solved with willpower.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“It’s a drug called naltrexone. If you take it, you won’t think about drugs, and even if you take drugs, you won’t feel the pleasant effects.”

I placed a glass container on the table. The patient reached out to take the vial, but I moved the vial back a little.

“Just a moment.”

“Yes.”

“There are some side effects. If you take this medicine, you won’t think about opium, and you won’t feel the effects of opium. However, if you take this and eat opium, there’s a high chance that you’ll die.”

Tyrael frowned.

“Why?”

“In reality, there are many patients who die because they cannot feel the effects of opium. If the patient has no will, if he or she does not have the confidence to not take opium, it is better not to give it to him or her.”

The priest sighed.

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

“Sometimes in life, there are freebies. This is not it. This is something that comes with a price.”

It’s a matter of life and death.

“I failed the test God gave me once, but now that He gave me another chance, shouldn’t I grab it? ”

I put the glass bottle on the desk.

Oh, no. You don’t have to give it to me.

“The teacher will be hospitalized for a while anyway. Come to think of it, there is no reason to give him medicine.”

The priest looked at me with the eyes of a strange person. But what I said was right. The patient was going to be admitted anyway, so why give him a glass bottle?

“No… ….”

“Please take it when you are discharged.”

I think I’ll have to be hospitalized for a week.

****

Hadwick is off work.

I took Istina back to the lab. Fortunately, there was less work than usual.

Istina took out a notebook and pen and was scribbling something.

“What happened to that priest?”

“I’m going to hospitalize you for about a week.”

“Will that cure it?”

I don’t know about that. It’s a mental issue and a will issue at the same time.

Just because you use medicine well doesn’t mean you’ll be cured.

“Istina. A student I know had a birthday a few days ago. What should I give her as a gift?”

“Are you talking about the princess?”

I nodded.

Istina tilted her head.

“If you were an ordinary student, I could give you advice, but I don’t know what you would expect from a princess.”