The Man who Healed Pain

By Akhilesh at 30 April, 2010, 2:25 am

I recently underwent a Grade 3 surgery. It was for multiple kidney stones stuck in the urinary tract. The scans and X- ray showed 5 radio lucent stones lined up in my urinary tract like pearl beads in a necklace. My Doctor was wondering how I managed this feat at such a young age!

Since the situation was a little alarming, my doc asked me, “Tum Mujhse Kya Chahte Ho, Akhilesh.” I answered, “Yeh stones Nikal Deejiye, Sir”. I blurted out what I wanted.

The day of surgery was decided. It was 3rd April 2010, Saturday. The procedure of surgery was to insert Laser guided beams through the urethra to the urinary tract till my kidneys. My brain still has trouble getting around this! The Doctor assured me that it would be a painless procedure. He could say so because he had an anesthetic called chloroform at his disposal. Chloroform makes one unconscious for a period of time and once the person regains his consciousness, person is normal.

I was myself startled with the power of this drug, Chloroform. As I entered the Operation theatre, I was amazed at the equipments that were waiting for me. I jumped onto my bed in the Operation Theatre with a lot of nervous energy. The doctor assured me that had he been in my position he would have felt the same. The anesthetist in the theatre told me that I would experience a “scratch” on my vein in the Hand. The Scratch was to penetrate the ether (refined form of chloroform) into my body through IVP (Intravenous Procedure).

The doctor started asking me what I did at my work place, my profession, etc. I guessed he was trying to engage me in a conversation to check my consciousness levels. As I was talking to him I was desperately trying to hold on to my naturally awake state. But all was futile. In less than 30 seconds, I was starting at a dark black space. It was as if some one has completely switched me off, still being present in the physical body. My only memory is when the nurse was trying to wake me up after the surgery.

Just about 200 years ago, a surgery like above would have been unimaginable, because of the unbearable pain the patient would have to undergo. Dr James Simpson changed all that. He was born on 7th June 1811 in Scotland. He chose to become a surgeon. But in those days performing a surgery was nightmare for doctors. The only anesthetic used was alcohol. The patients were made to drink till the time they would get unconscious. But apart from feeling a bit tipsy, the patients would only cry in agony. The surgeons hurried the operation which was criminal as surgery is a very intricate job. Dr James Simpson said, “Is there nothing that will help patients feel no pain?” He got determined to find a solution.

Following is an excerpt from a post written on Dr James Simpson by M. Radha.
Simpson had to ensure two important things: To find a substance that would kill pain completely and to ensure that pain killer would not do any harm to the patient.
He decided to experiment with a few chemicals and suddenly he struck upon a liquid chemical called Chloroform. But his dilemma now was who was to be the guinea pig. To experiment a new drug on his patients would have been dangerous and unethical. So he decided to experiment it on himself and some of his friends.

The day arrived when Simpson decided to test this drug. He and his three friends inhaled the vapors of this liquid chemical and all of them went unconscious. It was as if they were fast sleep. They saw nothing, heard nothing and felt nothing, not even the passing of time.

We do not know exactly how long the three friends stayed unconscious. It was Simpson who came to himself first. The chloroform had done him no harm at all and he was happy and excited about this. But he had to wait and see what happened to his friends, soon they too recovered one after the other, and they said that they felt quite well.

Simpson and his friend’s successfully tested chloroform on 4 May 1847. But it did not bring relief to any patient till 1855. Most doctors refused to use it. They were very suspicious of this new drug. They said they did not know what injury it might do to their patients’ health. Many religious groups were also against the use of chloroform. They felt that God had good reasons for giving pain to his creatures. Simpson had to work hard to remove other doctor’s doubts from their minds, and to convince them that chloroform could be used quite safely.

In 1853, Queen Victoria allowed the doctors to give her chloroform. One of the three royal surgeons gave it to her before an operation, and the queen later thanked Simpson. She said the drug had taken away the pain and congratulated him on his remarkable achievement. In 1866, Queen Victoria gave Simpson the title `Sir’.

I read about Dr Simpson first in my English Literature class around two decades ago. At that time I was not aware that his discovery will make an excruciatingly painful surgery feel like a walk in the park.

It is Dr James Simpson’s total dedication towards his profession and his determination to exterminate pain from surgical procedures that we can feel no pain even though our body is undergoing laser beams and knives.

PS: This article is dedicated two surgeons and physicians.
Dr Dilip Raja who performed surgery on me for kidney stones.
Dr James Simpson the Man who healed pain: without his discovery, the surgery would not have been as simple as it is today.

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