Morphine is a powerful opioid analgesic used to treat moderate to severe pain. It works by blocking pain signals from traveling through the nerves to the brain, changing the way the brain and nervous system respond to pain.
Morphine's effects include euphoria and relief of pain. Chronic use of morphine results in tolerance, and physical and psychological dependence. What is its effect on the body? Morphine use results in relief from physical pain, decrease in hunger, and inhibition of the cough reflex.
Most commonly used in pain management, morphine provides significant relief to patients afflicted with pain. [1] Clinical situations that benefit significantly from medicating with morphine include management of palliative/end-of-life care, active cancer treatment, and vaso-occlusive pain during sickle cell crisis.
Giving small, regular or continuous amounts of morphine works very well to help keep the person comfortable by easing their pain and helping them to be able to breathe more easily. Morphine is a safe medication that is used by many people every day. Morphine that is given when someone is dying does not shorten life.
Medicine for pain – an appropriate opioid, for example, morphine, diamorphine, oxycodone or alfentanil. Medicine for breathlessness – midazolam or an opioid. Medicine for anxiety – midazolam. Medicine for delirium or agitation – haloperidol, levomepromazine, midazolam or phenobarbital.
Side effects of morphine
But the body tries valiantly. The first organ system to “close down” is the digestive system.
It works in the central nervous system and the brain to block pain signals to the rest of the body. It also reduces the anxiety and stress caused by pain. When morphine blocks the pain, there are other unwanted effects, for example, slow or shallow breathing.
In the last 48 hours of life, common symptoms include significant changes in breathing (faster, slower, pauses, noisy), increased sleep/unresponsiveness, confusion or delirium, cold/mottled skin (especially extremities), decreased appetite/thirst, loss of bladder/bowel control, and restlessness, often with a "death rattle" from fluid buildup, as the body slows down and organs begin to shut down, emphasizing comfort care.
Morphine is used to relieve severe pain, such as pain caused by: a major trauma (for example, a fracture) surgery. labour pain in childbirth.
Short-term and long-term effects
It can also induce feelings of euphoria, relaxation and reduced anxiety. However, these effects come with risks. Morphine can cause drowsiness, confusion and slowed breathing, which can be dangerous. Over the long term, morphine use can lead to physical dependence and addiction.
However, if you do feel sick, your doctor can offer you a medicine to stop this. Drowsiness: Many people feel tired or find they cannot concentrate as well when they first start taking morphine, and/or when the dose is increased. This often wears off after a week of taking the morphine regularly.
The short answer is no—when used appropriately, morphine does not speed up death in hospice patients. Many people worry about the use of morphine in hospice care.
Taking certain other medications, alcohol, or street drugs during your treatment with morphine may increase the risk that you will experience breathing problems or other serious, life-threatening breathing problems, sedation, or coma.
Opioids are highly addictive, largely because they trigger powerful reward centers in your brain. Opioids trigger the release of endorphins. They tell your brain that you feel good. Endorphins make it less likely that you'll feel pain.
Morphine injection is used to treat pain severe enough to require opioid treatment and when other pain medicines did not work well enough or cannot be tolerated. It may also be used before or during surgery with an anesthetic (medicine that puts you to sleep).
Healthcare professionals often refer to three general stages that occur during the last day of life:
What to do for someone who is dying
Facial muscles may relax and the jaw can drop. Skin can become very pale. Breathing can alternate between loud rasping breaths and quiet breathing. Towards the end, dying people will often only breathe periodically, with an intake of breath followed by no breath for several seconds.
For many people, dying is peaceful. The person may not always recognise others and may lapse in and out of consciousness.
A conscious dying person can know if they are on the verge of dying. Some feel immense pain for hours before dying, while others die in seconds. This awareness of approaching death is most pronounced in people with terminal conditions such as cancer.
Morphine belongs to the group of medicines called narcotic analgesics (pain medicines). It acts on the central nervous system (CNS) to relieve pain.
It has also been found that morphine induces depression of the myocardium that results in decreased heart rate and cardiac output (15). Morphine may also cause respiratory depression (16) which possibly may lead to intubation and ventilator treatment.
This may be because the pain has increased, or they have developed a drug tolerance (your body gets used to the amount of opioid you're taking, and it no longer relieves pain the way it did). Many people don't develop a tolerance to opioids.