I'm still not convinced guys...
Patrick Plunkett wrote:
> Pethidine is known to have a higher incidence of vomiting than the other
> "classic" opiates
I have never observed or seen any evidence that pethidine has a higher
incidence of vomiting, and the BMJ paper John quotes supports this view. The
only negative thing quoted in this paper relates to multiple dosing in renal
failure patients - hardly applicable to the average A&E punter!
BMJ 1997;314:1531
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/314/7093/1531
Helen Vecht wrote:
> It doesn't appear as effective as morphine.
> Addicts seem to love it.
> Its duration of action is shorter than that of morphine.
Yes, most people agree its efficacy is not quite the same as morphine's, nor
its duration of action...but therein lies the advantage; it's great for
moderate pain in the patient that you might want to send home within a few
hours. Finally addicts love diamorph most of all, but that doesn't stop us
using it - in Britain at least.
In short I have used pethidine widely for some 15 years and have not
observed any particular problems with it nor have I observed any
disadvantage when compared with morphine.
Adrian Fogarty
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