Morphine Addiction and Abuse in Orlando

What Is Morphine Used For?

Morphine is used to treat many different medical conditions, including: 

• Acute pain
• Chronic pain
• Acute pulmonary edema, or fluid build-up in the lungs
• Neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome

People abuse morphine in different ways. Some may take the drug without a prescription or more often than prescribed. Others may attempt to use morphine in ways other than intended, such as crushing the drug into a powder and snorting or injecting it. However, drug manufacturers have developed abuse-deterrent morphine formulations to counteract this. This makes the morphine more difficult to cause a high when injected or snorted.

Morphine Brand Names

Although some dosage forms of morphine are available as generic drugs, morphine is also available under a variety of brand names. These include: 

• Arymo ER
• Duramorph
• Infumorph 
• Kadian
• Mitigo
• MS Contin

Morphine Dosage

Morphine doses are highly individualized. The dose a doctor prescribes is often based on how opioid tolerant a person is. For example, for a person who does not regularly take opioids, a typical morphine starting dose is 10 mg by mouth every four hours as needed for pain. However, a person who regularly takes opioids may be prescribed a higher dose of morphine.

To lower the risk of addiction and overdose, doctors generally prescribe the lowest effective morphine dose for the shortest possible period of time. 

Morphine Formulations

Morphine comes in a variety of dosage forms so that it can be given to a person in different ways. Although morphine can be used in many healthy patients who need an opioid, the drug is strongly associated with end-of-life care. For this reason, it is available in more dosage forms than other opioids. These dosage forms can, in turn, be easier to administer to a person at the end of their life who has trouble swallowing.

Is Morphine Addictive?

Yes. As a Schedule II controlled substance, morphine carries a high risk of addiction. The drug is addictive because it triggers the brain’s reward pathways, leading you to keep seeking morphine even when it is not medically necessary.

Beyond addiction, you can also become physically dependent on morphine, where your body feels like it needs morphine to function normally. People who are dependent on morphine also experience uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking it, which further encourages their addiction. 

Morphine Abuse Statistics

Morphine is a prescription opiate that plays a part in the opioid epidemic currently happening in the United States. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse and SAMHSA: 

• Roughly 21–29% of patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them.
• An estimated 4–6% of people who misuse prescription opioids transition to heroin.
• Overall, almost 8% of Americans age 12 or older misuse their opioid prescriptions. This is equivalent to around 0.2% of the total American population.
• Nearly 50,000 Americans died from opioid-involved overdoses in 2019.  

Morphine Side Effects

The potential side effects of morphine are like other opioids. Some of the common short-term side effects of opioids include:

• Dizziness
• Trouble sleeping
• Nausea or vomiting
• Constipation
• Itching
• Visual changes
• Mental fogginess
• Depression
• Euphoria
• Low mood
• Weakness
• Fainting
• Agitation
• Restlessness
• Nervousness
• Delirium
• Seizures
• Sedation
• Coma

Morphine Overdose

Morphine can also cause more dangerous, even deadly, side effects. This includes the possibility of an overdose. An overdose is a medical emergency; if you witness any of the following symptoms, administer naloxone (Narcan) if available and call 911:

• Small, pinpoint pupils
• Unresponsiveness
• Slow or shallow breathing 
• Choking or gurgling sounds 
• Limp muscles 
• Pale, blue or cold skin  

Morphine slows the central nervous system as it binds to mu opioid receptor sites in the brain. Because the brain controls breathing and heart rate, if someone takes too high a dose of any opioid, including morphine, their breathing can slow to a deadly point.

If morphine is combined with other central nervous system depressants, the risk of overdose increases. For example, if someone takes morphine with another opioid, a benzodiazepine like Xanax or combines it with alcohol, the risk of an overdose increases significantly. For this reason, morphine carries a Boxed Warning against using benzodiazepines and opioids together.