Talk:Morphine

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[edit] Overdose

I've read in another article that there have been people allegedly executed by morphine injection; perhaps this article could benefit from covering that topic a little bit-- or at least mentioning that such a thing is possible. ekedolphin July 6, 2005 04:12 (UTC)

Google for a reference. Without that, it will sound strange - morphine would need to be given in a massive dose to cause immediate respiratory depression and death. JFW | T@lk 6 July 2005 15:38 (UTC)
Considering this letter in BMJ (http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7591/440-c) that seems unlikely. --206.194.127.112 (talk) 20:20, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Is there an LD-50 for morphine? If so, why is it not here? In a Tom Clancy book (Rainbow Six), clancy writes that pateints in pain can be given more than the lethal dose and suffer no ill effects, as long as they are in sufficeint pain. Is this true? --2tothe4 22:12, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

I know from first hand experience that even though I am opioid tolerant, I recently had a bout with extreme pain, and I was able to handle an amount of heroin that would normally floor me, so I believe this is true. Plus the pain makes you more alert. -Azrayl PS Can some one tell me how to add a timestamp?
There isn't a definitive LD50 for morphine, because the lethal dose depends on the patient. The lethal dose in an opioid-naïve patient is much lower than for a person who has developed pharmacological tolerance to opioids. Therefore, it is true that morphine doses can be escalated, in certain patients, beyond what might be considered a "lethal" dose. -Techelf 12:49, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
The LD-50 is a dose that will, on average, kill 50% of the people who take it. So it's certainly true that roughly half the population can take more than the LD-50 and survive. (You probably already knew that, but I thought I'd clarify)--Superluser 20:28, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Movingturtle 11:52, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

My impression was that LD50 numbers generally only exist for lab animals. How would you come up with a human LD50 figure for a drug? Obviously direct experimentation would be criminal, and people who die from overdoses generally won't have taken a known amount of the pure substance unless it was administered in a medical setting. Those receiving it medically won't be a representative sample of the general population for a number of reasons.--Eloil 10:40, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] can be produced, or is produced?

"According to recent research, it is also be produced naturally by the human brain."

As is above, the sentence is wrong. Is it can be produced or is produced? Gakrivas 09:43, 29 September 2005 (UTC)


I'd also dispute the correctness of the fact. The brain does not produce morphine but DOES produce neurotransmitters called opiods that act in the same places as morphine. User:Movingturtle

Morphine IS produced in the human brain, there are other entheogenic opioids in the body but they have found that small traces of morphine itself are produced and not from outside sources. Look for yourself. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0405430101v1?view=abstract --Five- 19:56, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

More studies:

From the second: "Human plasma contains low, but physiologically significant, concentrations of morphine that can increase following trauma or exercise. We now demonstrate that normal, human white blood cells (WBC), specifically polymorphonuclear cells, contain and have the ability to synthesize morphine."

I think endogenous morphine in the human body is notable enough to be worthy of mention in the lead paragraph.--Eloil 10:54, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 2 year old daughter

My daughter recieved 7mg of morphine when she was supposed to recieve .7mg. There were no immediate side effects. Are there any long term effects that can arise?

Not really. The risks are associated with the immediate effects. Immediate risks are respiratory depression (slow or absent breathing) and coma (which predisposes to aspiration pneumonia). Provided these do not occur any long-term harm is very unlikely. JFW | T@lk 20:01, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Discovery and isolation

In the History section dates for isolation and discovery need proper research and references. A cursory glance at Google results shows theredsiopfajdspofiasdiopfpodsiuoyoiuyiouyioyoiuyuiyuiyuiyuyuyuyuiyuiy are discrepancies in dates and the inventor. Kpjas 08:26, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] morphine replacement

Could it be theoretically possible to synthesize a compound that is 100 times stronger than morphine and not addictive? Specifically at the receptor level? Filly

The first part of your question is possible (and already done), but probably not the second. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid approximately 100-times the potency of morphine. Unfortunately, current understanding of opioid-receptor pharmacology is that μ-opioid receptor activation, responsible for most of the analgesia, is also associated with the dependence-liability of opioids. -Techelf 08:07, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

There is a way to use opioids and avoid addiction according to a few studies, using small doses of opioid/NMDA antagonists in conjunction with the opioid agonist. Magnesium has also been shown to prevent tolerance and psychological addiction to opioids.(as well as other drugs) --Five- 9:57 9 December 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Erm... disambigious link?

The disambigious link to Morphia, a dutch band seems non-related to me, anyone in favor? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.89.140.71 (talk • contribs) .

[edit] The study in switzerland saying morphine is stronger than heroin

"In a randomised double-blind study with crossover at an outpatient clinic in Bern, Switzerland, morphine was proven to have stronger effects than heroin at equianalgesic doses. Respiratory depression, miosis, sedation, itchiness, and euphoria were more pronounced with morphine." --Azrayl 09:12, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

This is just plain wrong. If anything the study probably proved the exact opposite. Anyone versed in opiates knows that diacetylmorphine has more euphoria than morphine. If the opposite was true morphine would be more sought after than heroin, and people would not conver morphine sulphate pills to morphine hcl, then diamoprhine hcl using a home-bake process, as commonly found in the netherlands. Unless several sjhfgkj'lfdi'ljources can be found to validate that morphine is stronger than heroin (ridiculous) then I am going to remove this. --Azrayl 09:12, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

UPDATE: okay after reading the quote several times I realize it should say "stronger side-effects" rather than "stronger effects" and this is why I got confused as to why it was in there. I will put it back with the changed "side-effects" --Azrayl 09:12, 15 July 2006 (UTC)
Actually, I have read that study and I can safely say that it did indeed say that morphines effects were stronger at equanalgesic doses. I have to say that I myself was surpised as I have always thought morphine is second fiddle to heroin among the opiates. Now, after reading it a few times, I realized the key words and they were EQUANALGESIC DOSE (which basically translates to doses of morphine and heroin that would bring about equal pain relief, but morphines effects were more intense in doing so - this in turn translates to "heroin being safer as there is less incidence of respiratory depression, miosis, and euphoria")! This means about 10mg morphine IM and 5mg diamorphine IM. Granted, heroin is MORE POTENT, but the study seems to indicate (and they were adament) that morphine is more intense in it's effects. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find the study report published by the scientists online (where I had originally read it). It was in a Medical Journal online and they seem to have taken it off. TheGoodSon 06:12, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

I strongly agree with Azray on this one that that particular article needs to be found. It may in fact be quite possible that that side effects of morphine are more pronounced, but euphoria is probably more likely to occur in heroin use, as diacetyl morphine has direct action on mu receptors, but then is also metabolised into morphine, which then in turn also activates mu receptors, and is then further metabolised. It is possible though, that heroin's effects are not any different than morphine, but just has a much faster onset. This may reduce the body's down-regulation process in regards to endorphin (the neurohormone morphine mimicks), which may cause fewer side effects, as the action potential takes place before the body can "fight it" so to speak. Of course, all of this is complete speculation without hard evidence. Please find that article. Thank you. iownutopia 21 July 06


Well if you think about it, heroin is only just a pro-drug, meaning it exists only in the external form. Heroin is actually converted into morphine (almost 100% of it) and morphine is the molecule which causes all the side-effects of heroin. The only difference, as mentioned above, is that heroin has a quicker onset of effects. Think about it like this: heroin is a boat carrying morphine to it's destination because morphine would take longer to get there by just swimming. This is really just what i;l

fdaskslkgf;lkjgdsf;jkgfdpokgt is. The two drugs are exchangeable. Also I should mention that POTENCY does not automatically mean "stronger". Oxycodone and hydromorphone are "more potent" than morphine, but morphine has a higher liability to be abused and is much more intense in it's effects. So I am no longer surprised that morphine maybe more intense than heroin is - it's just that heroin has been all over the place and in peoples minds, it's on the news all the time, it gets more attention, it's more taboo, it's more chic, "cooler" and people just get shocked when they hear that heroin may not be what they thought it was (i think this is what happened here to myself at first, Azray and the rest)...you get my drift? It is LEGAL for prescription in the UK and some other countries. In fact, heroin is used much in the same way morphine is used in British hospitals - it is considered safer and I've heard from doctors who think it is a better alternative to morphine (which is well known and documented to cause morbid psychological conditions including a sense of "not being real", low self-esteem, sense that death is immenent, etc etc). There have been cases where people have literally become crazy from long term morphine use, especially terminally ill patients. Basically, morphine degrades the human soul and mind even in the medical setting, which heroin does not. TheGoodSon 22 July 2006 09:26am (UTC)

TheGoodSon writes "morphine degrades the human soul and mind even in the medical setting,"

Huh? There is no basis for that claim. Sure there have been cases where people on long term morphine use have become "crazy." People on long-term apple use have become crazy too, not to mention people on long-term use of figs. There is no basis for thinking that morphine "degrades" the human soul or mind, whatever on earth "degrades" is supposed to mean, anyway. It has more pejorative connotation than any sort of denotation. It means little more than the existance of people on morphine doesn't meet with your approval.

TheGoodSon- I assume you are not a doctor, because your medical knowlege is woeful. After an operation most people are grateful for morphine's pain relieving properties, and it is fine to use providing it is not abused and used for more than a short term analgesic. Are you a heroin user by any chance? I have noticed you also added a lengthy article to the Withdrawal section about how addicts constantly think about morphine, and that withdrawal sysmptoms last for life- all unsourced and doubtful. Hence it has been removed, as I refuse to take the comments of somebody who says "morphine degrades the human soul and mind even in the medical setting" seriously........you obviously have an agenda which shouldn't be acted out in the Article.

[edit] Morphine Pharmacology

The morphine pharmacology has been changed from what I originally put to say specific receptors were associated with various effects opposed to thought to be responsible for their effects. It is not proven what receptors mediate what effects a hundred percent and this should be specified. Also, the mu receptor is abbereviated while kappa receptor is not. The whole pharmacology section should be expanded on and not so simple and general.

[edit] legally where?

The article has the phrase "Morphine is used legally" without a statement of where these uses are legal. I wouldn't be surprised if some countries (e.g. Afghanistan) have no laws restricting the use of morphine. I propose that this be changed to describe where these uses are legal. I don't know the laws in every country, or else I'd do it myself. --Superluser 20:21, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Morphine is used legally in hospitals, dumbass :p

In every country? For all of the reasons listed? I'd bet that you could find at least one country where at least one of those uses is not legal. The point is that this section is too general, and should include some specificity. superlusertc 2007 July 16, 22:06 (UTC)

Well, there are no laws in Somalia, so I guess it's legal there. There are plenty of places where enforcement of laws is so innefective so that it's almost defacto legal. I can't really think of any nation that actually, deliberfdpohkgfophkifgately allows morphine to be used for only recreational purposes, however, and if there are finding such a list would be somewhat of a task. Watermark0n 21:47, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Morphine Pharmacology

This part really needs fixed. It currently is a few random facts and a little misinformation, over-generalizations, etc.

The same anonymous user to leave the above line left some similar complaints in the article itself. I have removed them. I know nothing about morphine so I don't know if any further changes to the article are needed or appropriate, but I do know there is a right and a wrong way to go about requesting changes to an article. I would suggest that the anonymous user who feels that changes need to be made should actually make those changes himself. If he knows enough to see that the information is incorrect, he should know enough to improve it. --Suttkus 14:47, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Okay, I have made a few changes but somebody who knows more about neuropharmacology needs to work on it, I know enough to say that some of it is misleading or just incorrect. I will continue to keep making it better. If I made a change someone doesn't agree with, please just revert that one part, I added a lot of correct information. Feel free to reword any of it as long as it remains accurate. Also if something I put doesn't sound right just ask in here and I will put sources. --Five- 23:35 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Your edits look very good, Five. Please feel free to continue making any corrections or alterations you feel are necessary. I know anyone who disagrees with your edits won't hesitate to let you know! Welcome to the 'pedia. :) Sarah Ewart 10:23, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Oops, glad someone fixed that, I put the wrong enzyme --Five-

[edit] weird question

I'm currently dating a cancer patient who iskhlgdg;lg receiving morphine. I've heard that it can be trapped in sperm and released through oral intercourse, with the recipient recieving similar benifits from the morphine...is this true? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.207.160.238 (talk) 05:43, 10 May 2007 (UTC).

I'd very much doubt it, but I could be wrong, I guess. Exigence 17:12, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Morphine sold as heroin

Is morphine ever passed off as heroin?


   I'm sure it's happened. People have passed off flour, sand and any number of other things as it. 83.147.180.185 20:01, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Opiates

These replace the psycho-chemical version of pleasure. It is no more complicated.

  It's much more complicated than that. Alcohol, marijuana and cocaine for example all induce "pleasure" in users, but none of these drugs act on opioid receptors in the brain. Pleasure is a complicated and subjective thing and no one areea of the brain completely dictates your mood. 83.147.180.185 20:04, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bioavailability

This article says that the bioavailability is around 30%, but I'm pretty sure that it is lower than that. What is this citing? Who ever said the bioavailability (I'm assuming this is oral) was around 30%?

Alright, I'm just going to change it to ~15%, because that's what the conversion guide on a box of fentanyl patches says....

Bioavailability 25%: From J. Cannon, Pharmacology for Chemists, pg. 179-- Ashujo September 5, 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashujo (talk • contribs) 22:19, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Comparing with Fentanyl

Fentanyl is an opioid analgesic, first synthesized by Janssen Pharmaceutica (Belgium) in the late 1950s, with an analgesic potency of about 80 times that of morphine.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fentanyl


Studies done on the efficacy of various opioids have indicated that, in the management of severe pain, no other narcotic analgesic is more effective or superior to morphine.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine

And, what should be your point? It's perfectly compatible. Analgesic potency is only an approximate index given to obtain similar analgesic effect in terms of dose. It doesn't say anything about the quality of the overall therapeutic effect achieved. The second statment just means, that no other opioid ("narcotic analgesic") was found to be superior to morphine in the treatment of severe pain. Meaning, that while 0.2 mg fentanyl can have similar analgesic potency to 15 - 20 mg morphine, the analgesic effect of fentanyl is not qualitatively superior, or better than that of morphine. Hope it's clear.--84.163.127.69 10:38, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Street/Slang Names

I've removed the following list. It's all unreferenced, and is basically listcruft. Perhaps someone might like to pull out the most commonly-used three or so names and add a mention of them to the article? Kla’quot (talk | contribs) 07:44, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

  • M
  • M.S.
  • Miss Emma
  • Dreamer
  • Hospital Heroin
  • Blue Velvet -- with tripelennamine
  • Gunk
  • Contin
  • Dope
  • Morf
  • khflgsosfGerman boy
  • Emsel
  • Monkey
  • Cfdg;lkdsfgotton Brothers -- refers to cocaine, morphine and heroin
  • Whiz-bang -- combination of cocaine/heroin OR cocaine/morphine
  • White stuff
  • Hardcore
  • Hard stuff
  • C&M -- cocaine and morphine
  • New Jack Swing -- heroin and morphine
  • Morphia
  • First line
  • God's Drug
  • Hows
  • Mister Blue
  • Adolf
  • Unkie
  • Coco Pop (For Co-codamol)

[edit] addiction info appears incorrect

i cut out the following text because i believe it to be wrong or misleading.

Compared to other narcotic pain relievers, such as codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, morphine is considerably more liable for abuse and dependence. More potent narcotics, such as hydromorphone and fentanyl, have high abuse potential, but still less than that of morphine. Only heroin, which is nearly identical to morphine, is comparable in dependence liability. Physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms can appear after only five days of administration. In a Japanese study, mice, which received morphine (10 mg kg-1 s.c.) twice a day for 5 days showed withdrawal syndromes such as jumping, rearing and forepaw tremor following naloxone challenge (5 mg kg-1 i.p.) on the 6th day.[1] Such mice exhibited a significant elevation of cyclic AMP levels in the thalamus compared to control mice.[2] Brown University Professor Julie Kauer and colleagues found as little as a single dose of morphine could contribute to addiction. A single dose of morphine can block a process in the brain associated with learning and memory for as long as a full day after being ingested. In a study, researchers found long-term potentiation, or LTP, is blocked in the brains of rats given as little as a single dose of morphine. The drug's impact was very powerful, with LTP continuing to be blocked 24 hours later -- long after the drug was out of the animal's system.

i don't believe that it is generally accepted that morphine has a higher abuse potential than other narcotics. i do see a couple of studies quoted in the following paragraph that may suggest this, but (1) there's no way to verify the link; (2) you can find studies in favor of almost any point of view, regardlefvbgfds',gld,fslgss of whether the views are commonly accepted.

this paragraph also tries to expound the "one dose can get you hooked" theory, which is definitely not generally accepted; and the info about japanese mice is hard to interpret and of questionable relevance. Benwing 03:47, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

I think you've made a good call. So far what I've read says that the potential for abuse is way overblown, e.g. [1]. Whatever good information there is in what you've cut needs to be put into more context. Kla’quot (talk | contribs) 04:04, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
Now that I'm looking at the remaining paragraph (section 5.1 "addiction"), I think it's highly flawed and really should be removed. There's already stuff a few paragraphs below about addiction (which also appears flawed, but perhaps not so badly), and this paragraph shows total confusion between physical and psychological dependence, and both of the studies it quotes are more than 40 years old. The second paragraph of the lower section (section 5.2 "withdrawal syndrome") also contains some rather questionable assertions, based on dubious sources -- e.g. one of them is from the US DOJ (unlikely to be a neutral source) and another is based on rat studies, but is used to make claims about humans. I don't have time to fix it but I hope someone else does; meanwhile, I've tagged the info as disputed. Benwing 03:24, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] medicine

this medicine is iatrogenic


[edit] How long will it take to get out of your system ?

If you accidentally took an extended form of the drug by mistake, how long will it take to be completely out of your system ? I took one of my moms, misstaking it for one of my perscription IB proffen. and failed two UA's in one month costing me two great jobs!

      Know one will ever believe you when you say it was a accident,  even with a perfect record,  no tickets no nothing !



                                                 75.164.187.59 (talk) 05:34, 15 March 2008 (UTC)Trevor

[edit] Morphine effects on immune system section

This section is very nice, but REALLY needs references, particularly because it cites specific papers from scientific literature. (They would have been very useful to me personally, too.) Mlbish (talk) 18:33, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

IL-10 it's a pleoitropic cytokine whose main function it's anti-inflamatory (it even says so in the article's link to IL-10), as for example downregulating T cell proliferation. I've never heard (or read) about it's function on B cells though I might be wrong. ´´´´´´´´´´´´´Dayenu (talk) 02:57, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Referencens not correct

Am I the only one who noted, that references 22, 23 and 24 are the same? Given they are used to backup one particular (questionable) thesis, I don't think it's correct to do it this way.--84.163.108.227 (talk) 23:07, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Nice catch! #19 was the same too, and the paragraph for 22-24 was largely plagiarized from the abstract of the paper in question. I consolidated references and summarized the study (the plagiarist left out one of the main findings - 5 of the 8 addicts preferred heroin after multiple injections despite their very similar subjective ratings). Some more recent references on the matter would improve the section dramatically. St3vo (talk) 01:29, 23 April 2008 (UTC)