Exactly! Opioids increase suffering and ruin the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Americans. 80k+ yearly overdose deaths, plus a percentage of those using opioids for recovery become addicted to it.
Is that a worthy tradeoff? I presume (could be wrong) but we did fine recovering with surgical operations 80 years ago without opioids.
One of the first complaints made by the postoperative patient on returning to consciousness is pain. This if due to the actual operative procedure should be at once relieved. William J. Mayo taught us long ago to give morphine during the first twenty-four hours for the pain which we make; viz., by cutting, retracting, suturing, etc. The discomfort caused by such procedures is relieved best by this drug and it is given by us if there be no contraindications for its use, regardless of the amount until full relief is experienced or its physiologic effects obtained.
24 hours post operation is fine. But giving them for weeks after an operation seems unnecessary. I've also heard that oxycontin in the USA is given to pregnant women to deal with pain.
Most countries do without them now and have always done without them except in special cases such as palliative cures. You get opioids during recovery in the hospital, but not once you're discharged. You might get codeine rarely, but that's it.
Is that a worthy tradeoff? I presume (could be wrong) but we did fine recovering with surgical operations 80 years ago without opioids.