Discussion
Just curious I spose - can't a morphine od kill? My brother in law is terminally ill with breast cancer secondaries in 4 places, and we're just back from an awful trip to say our good byes - he's 400 miles away so can't just pop in at will.
He's on liquid morphine to help pain (obviously) but also to help the breathing - tumours on lungs. I was a bit surprised by this - if it were me I'd be glugging from the bottle to end it earlier rather than later (and before anyone asks, I have breast cancer too, with lousy prognosis, so it's not just sabre rattling).
Am I right in thinking this would 'do the job', as it were - I was surprised to see he had it, that's all - expecting morphine injections administered by someone else.
He's on liquid morphine to help pain (obviously) but also to help the breathing - tumours on lungs. I was a bit surprised by this - if it were me I'd be glugging from the bottle to end it earlier rather than later (and before anyone asks, I have breast cancer too, with lousy prognosis, so it's not just sabre rattling).
Am I right in thinking this would 'do the job', as it were - I was surprised to see he had it, that's all - expecting morphine injections administered by someone else.
I'm not a doctor so would wait for someone more qualified but a person can build up quite a substantial tolerance to opiates if they use them for a while. People who are opiate naive could be killed by a dose that wouldn't even touch the sides of a regular user. If your brother in law has been using it for a while it's possible that he isn't feeling much of an effect from it and he might also be way off the scale for the amount of morphine required to OD.
Sounds like a pretty horrific situation, you have my deepest sympathies.
Sounds like a pretty horrific situation, you have my deepest sympathies.
I sympathise....Went through this with my dad although he was 79 and had a good innings......Horrible.
Yes, they could up the dose but as far as I am aware there is a very fine line between doing this and being open to charges of murder....A terrible dilema for medical staff.
Hope you get better btw....
Yes, they could up the dose but as far as I am aware there is a very fine line between doing this and being open to charges of murder....A terrible dilema for medical staff.
Hope you get better btw....
I'm so sorry about your brother-in-law, it must be very difficult to be so far away. 
In answer to your question: Yes, a morphine OD certainly can kill - mostly by shutting down respiratory drive eg you go unconscious and forget to breathe. It's also an incredibly effective painkiller, though, can take orally with no problems and just up the dose as needed. It can be by injection or (often) syringe driver if someone's very ill and near death. One of the advantages is that as long as you can swallow or put it in a feeding tube you can avoid having to have injections.
Basically, as long as you ONLY take enough to get the pain down/to bearable levels, it's nowhere near enough to be dangerous. Obviously that's very individual. Like toast boy said, if someone's never had morphine or any opiate/opioid before then say 10mg might be enough to sort out pain from a broken arm very nicely indeed, on the other hand someone with long-term very severe pain who's been on it for ages, increasing doses as the pain worsens, 200mg wouldn't be surprising at all.
I'm on a couple of different types of morphine long-term: prolonged-release formulation twice a day to provide blanket coverage of general pain, and then a fast-release liquid one (Oramorph, probably what your BIL has) for unusually bad pain, only when needed. When you take prolonged-release regularly (eg it is part of your day-to-day normal) then the side effects don't really happen any more, it doesn't make me sleepy at all for instance - it's a fantastic painkiller for that reason.
In answer to your question: Yes, a morphine OD certainly can kill - mostly by shutting down respiratory drive eg you go unconscious and forget to breathe. It's also an incredibly effective painkiller, though, can take orally with no problems and just up the dose as needed. It can be by injection or (often) syringe driver if someone's very ill and near death. One of the advantages is that as long as you can swallow or put it in a feeding tube you can avoid having to have injections.
Basically, as long as you ONLY take enough to get the pain down/to bearable levels, it's nowhere near enough to be dangerous. Obviously that's very individual. Like toast boy said, if someone's never had morphine or any opiate/opioid before then say 10mg might be enough to sort out pain from a broken arm very nicely indeed, on the other hand someone with long-term very severe pain who's been on it for ages, increasing doses as the pain worsens, 200mg wouldn't be surprising at all.
I'm on a couple of different types of morphine long-term: prolonged-release formulation twice a day to provide blanket coverage of general pain, and then a fast-release liquid one (Oramorph, probably what your BIL has) for unusually bad pain, only when needed. When you take prolonged-release regularly (eg it is part of your day-to-day normal) then the side effects don't really happen any more, it doesn't make me sleepy at all for instance - it's a fantastic painkiller for that reason.
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff