Recollections: Opiates and Steroids

IN WHICH OUR VICTORIAN LADY TAKES OPIATES, BUT DOES NOT WEAR A FRILLY WHITE NIGHTGOWN



Just a belated note for those of you who do not yet know: after surgery I was taking prodigious amounts of an opiate called Oxycodone for head-aches and also some Steroids to keep swelling down ( Decamethezone—which I kept calling Death-mexizone on accident). The opiate thing is funny to me, in a very nerdy sort of way, because nineteenth-century art often shows ladies in frilly white night dresses passed out cold with a bottle of laudanum (a liquid opiate) on the bedside table. I wrote about it in my thesis actually. Opiates are known for their ability to give insane and brightly-colored dreams. I would like to say I had these, just for interest’s sake, but I believe the steroids counteracted this considerably. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to physically beef up like a Russian or East German Olympian either.