Talk:Morphine

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)

Morphine, used alone, is an unreliable agent for euthanasia (and by extension, for capital punishment). Unexpectedly high doses can be tolerated by certain people, especially those who are past users of opioids (this would apply to many persons under consideration for either euthanasia or capital punishment). Yet morphine could probably play a more important role in drug cocktails used in sanctioned killing. Morphine is a CNS depresssant with a mechanism of action very different (and at least additive) to that of the barbiturates which are the mainstay of lethal cocktails in the USA. The addition of morphine should improve the overall effectiveness of these mixtures. In addition, where humane methods of killing are sought, the addition of morphine to a lethal cocktail would diminish pain and suffering during and immeditely after dosing.Contrablue (talk) 22:12, 28 November 2009 (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)

Can someone add rectal to administration section —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dnaenterprises1 (talk • contribs) 11:58, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

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:

• http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/24/8495
• http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/content/abstract/175/11/7357

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)

On July 15th, 2009 I deleted the sentence stating that morphine is an endogenous substance (in the first paragraph). However, in light of the evidence kindly supplied by Five, I suggest making a new section that summarizes the findings of Poeaknapo group, Stefano group, and Zhou groups, along with the negative findings of the Boettcher group. Otherwise, it is my opinion that if we just made a blatant sentence in the introduction about morphine’s endogenous synthesis, it might be misleading to the lay readers. In that section it should also be stated that at least three of the labs used neuroblastoma cells, whose DNA is already screwed up, so results are a little bit open for interpretation. Nevertheless, I agree that whether or not morphine is synthesized in the human body is of general interest and, as such, it should be addressed in a separate section of the article. --Elenaschifirnet (talk) 18:53, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

What you are calling endogenous morphine are the endorphines or similar neuropetides.The human body does not produce morphine per se. When I encountered these entries, I was shocked. I deleted the sentence, "the human body produces morphine" a month ago because it is an incorrect statement. I mean there is the possibility that traces of morphine are indeed produced naturally by the human body but there are no confirmed findings of this. I then introduced the sentence that "the human body produces endorphines" which are among other neuropeptides, endogenous substances but not chemically related to morphine. These neuropeptides are the body's own morphine, but morphine itself is normally not produced by the human body otherwise nobody would pass a drug test! Other statements such as "morphine occurs in mulberry and certain hop varietes" are also unfounded. At least there is no confirmation of the occurence of any alkaloids in hops. Some part of the entries for "morphine" were terrible and written by people who do not know the basics. Again, there are no confirmed findings that the human body itself would produce significant amounts of morphine or related alkaloids. If someone would like to disagree, then please add a formally correct reference to a peer-reviewed journal! Five and others did not understand Zenk's paper. He introduced a new biochemical into the human body and then observed if morphine can be produced. But that does not prove that morphine is produced by the human body under normal conditions. You guys do not read the article right. Again, of course, we can introduce a precursor or related substance to any organism and something else is produced from it, but that proves nothing. Osterluzei (talk) 19:39, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

I have looked at this paper from Zenk again, and you guys are right (!sigh), they really were able to detect 10nM of morphine in human neuroblastoma cells. But that proves nothing, absolutely nothing. I have not seen reliable papers that would prove the presence of opiate alkaloids in the human body without dietary or environmental contribution. Also, when then such facts appear on wikipedia, we would start to believe something that is not true. With regard to opioid effects, these larger peptides seem to be the morphine equivalents not morphine itself. These concentrations are so low that these molecules could have come from anywhere. We are nowerdays able to detect pharmacological substances down to the picogram levels in human fluids for example in forensics (hence from the human body as a whole) and there is to my knowledge no evidence that a healthy human would produce endogenous morphine in form of these akaloids, and indeed such effects are caused by neuropeptides that bind to the opiate receptor. Morphine and analogs are agents that mimic the binding of such endogenous peptides, and the receptor was originally favoured due to these large biomolecules. On a physiological, there is no evidence that the human body produces these alkaloids in amounts signficant to cause an effect. If we are looking for certain molecules in biological materials these days, it seems, almost everything is in everything. Drugs in surface waters are reality for example. The question shall be more at what level these xenobiotics cause an effect. The papers used precursors for such morphine biosynthesis and it proves what we already know namely that biochemical process can change and modify subtstances. Also, compare the activity of these alkaloids with the affinity of the endorphines and enkephalines to the opiate receptor. As far as I know, they exceed their affinity many times.

The second paper too used a cell culture with the respective precursors. A culture of white blood cells. How should we understand this new science that uses a petri dish with cultured cells to interpret human physiology? To me, it comes as no surprise, that we arrive at wrong conclusions. What has been proven is that human cells seems to posses enzyme systems to synthesize morphine-like alkaloids or morphine itself if we supply the precursors for such in a cell culture. Maybe someday, we will find a biotechnological method to produce such drugs but the molecules of paramount importance, at least with regard to pain regulation, shall be the neuropeptides. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.203.50.249 (talk) 13:45, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

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)

You need to look for deep depression and lone less, I was shot with morphine when I was about 5 years old, I know now, I did not know then. After more than 40 years, I was shot with morphine once more at an emergency room; I can now recapitulate my childhood. Look for her and make sure she is ok. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.179.46.149 (talk) 03:13, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

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) fuk u faggets —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.66.200.40 (talk) 15:49, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

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)

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) .

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.

Diacetylmorphine immediately brakes down to morphine in the body. For example, most orally administred heroin is broken down to morphine in the intestines. The diacetyl- is just a transport form, it can be absorbed much better, e.g. in insufflation or injection and crosses the blood/brain barrier much quicker so that diacetlymorphine is a more bioavailable form of morphine. The half-life or heroin ist just a few minutes. Read it up under the entry for diacetylmorphine. So, this discussion is silly if you do not know anything about pharmakokinetics.Osterluzei (talk) 20:08, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

For equal narcosis : 1 of diamorphine for 1.5 of morphine. With that doses, diamorphine is also 2 to 3 times more analgesic than morphine, but gives the same "morphinic feeling" (euphoria, congestion...). So diamorphine is 3 to 4.5 times more heroic (active) than morphine (heroic is a German term for "active", "medicinal"...). When we give 10mg of morphine, we give only 2.5 to 5mg of diamoprhine, so diamorphine will be felt less narcotic than morphine in an analgesic dose (the narcosis and the congestion correspond to 3.75 to 7.5mg of morphine only). But when it is used as a narcotic, diamorphine becomes 2 to 3 times more addictive than morphine. Someone who takes 30mg of morphine would take 20mg of heroin to feel the same, but his analgesia is 2 to 3 times more active with heroin, it is a stronger heroic than morphine (it goes deeper), just like morphine is a stronger heroic than codeine (or the 10% of morphine freed by codeine). In those 3 cases, morphine is not distributed in the same way and areas. Narcotic and withdrawals (global) : 200mg codeine= 30mg morphine= 20mg diamoprhine (it is the same correspondence for caught sedative doses, drying mucus and somewhat dopamine distribution, nausea and constipation). Analgesic (deep) and dependence : 200mg codeine= 7 to 10 mg morphine = 1.5 to 3mg diamorphine. Diamoprhine is much deeper than the others and can be used at lower doses for an equal result, so there is less withdrawals, narcosis, congestion, etc., in a medical use. It is the same for codeine, when 200mg would give very important withdrawals and insufficient results, we prefer morphine (much stronger). The difference between morphine and diamorphine is quiet the same. The risk is that it gives a deeper dependence when (mis)used as a narcotic...--82.216.67.105 (talk) 00:10, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

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.

Does anyone know whether Morphine acts on 5-HT3 receptors? I have come across a few papers that seem to imply that, but I could not find a definite answer.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.215.25.20 (talk) 14:18, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

At first I noticed that it was Gaddum who proposed that Morphine antagonised 5-HT receptors in his paper "Two kinds of Tryptamine Receptor" in 1957, but I wouldn't trust that, since they also thought that LSD was antagonist to 5-HT when in fact it is an agonist with lower efficacy but higher affinity than 5-HT. Another paper I found written in 2006 seems to suggest that morphine might be a competitive antagonist to 5-HT3 (http://www.anesthanalg.net/cgi/content/abstract/103/3/747). Please could anyone who know about it more than I do confirm this? (Or say why this is not the case). --Ev129.215.25.20 (talk) 21:04, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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. superluser_tc 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)

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-

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)

Even if this was a biological possibility (which I don't think it is), the amount of bioavailable morphine would be negligible. The only way I can imagine it happening (and it requires quite a leap of imagination) is if it was introduced as some sort of casomorphin. In which case, it's potential effect on another human would again be negligible.K10wnsta (talk) 09:14, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

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)

Yes, sometimes. When it's not cooked to convert the morphine to heroin, or if it's from morphine tablets crushed and cut with a bulking agent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dnaenterprises1 (talk • contribs) 11:57, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Note HOWEVER; heroin completely metabolizes in your system into morphine within 6 hours. So 6 hours after taking a drug test if you screen clean for 6-acetylmorphine (the metabolite to check if you've taken heroin specifically) but test positive for morphine, it still does not determine whether you are taking heroin or not, because a true pure and full heroin dose would become completely morphine in your system by then anyhow. 4.242.174.52 (talk) 13:36, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

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)

why and how do you get off morphene without any major side affects —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.31.148.171 (talk) 04:01, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

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)

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)

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)

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. Such mice exhibited a significant elevation of cyclic AMP levels in the thalamus compared to control mice. 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)

medicine

this medicine is iatrogenic

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 !

Morphine will only cause a failed UA test for 3-4 days. I assume that you took two tests within the first week of the month. If not, the drug tests produced false positives, you eat 20 poppy-seed bagels a day, or you forgot to mention you shoot 2 bags of heroin a day. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.178.247.59 (talk) 21:52, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

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

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)

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)

Morphine Rejection

About four years ago, I had my gall bladder taken out because of ridiculous amounts of gall stones. After placing me in as an inpatient, they quickly put me on a morphine drip. Oddly enough, I was still in extreme pain. I mentioned this to my doctor, and he switched me to a demerol drip (which worked very, very well). For the life of me, I can't remember what he told me as to why my body wasn't phased by morphine. I've tried researching it, but I can't find anything. When I mention through medical conversations with people that morphine doesn't do anything to me, they don't believe me. I was wondering if anyone knew what this is called, or if there are any medical terms or reasonings behind it. 70.160.220.179 (talk) 03:18, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

Sometimes, pethidine (Demerol in the US) is better working short-term for "visceral" pain with smooth muscle spasticity, in some patients. For most, the pain is adequately alleviated by morphine with an antispasmodic, though.--84.163.113.35 (talk) 04:01, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Demerol does not affect the sphincter of eddi, morphine does, that would ADD pain. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.153.205 (talk) 10:00, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Same with me. I was in for gallstones and the morphine barely helped but when they switched me to something called dilaudin that did the trick. 66.160.226.249 (talk) 17:19, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Clarification on : Morphine withdrawal is considered less dangerous than alcohol, barbiturate, or benzodiazepine withdrawal.[28]

In citation reference # 28, "DEA Briefs & Background, Drugs and Drug Abuse, Drug Descriptions, Narcotics"(http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/narcotics.html), we could not find the said statement.Kindly clarify how the statement was taken, and correct the statement after verification, if any. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Salamath (talk • contribs) 07:08, 9 October 2008 (UTC) This is common knowledge. Morphine withdrawal is never directly fatal. Any fatalities related to morphine withdrawal would be related to a pre-existing condition, (i.e. seizure disorder, hypotension, etc.) Barbituates, alcohol, and notably benzodiazapine medication can, and often do cause seizures when chronic high dose use is abruptly terminated. Seizures are the cheif hazard with these three CNS depressants in acute withdrawal. Not the case with opiates.--FeliksD (talk) 04:47, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Chemical name synonym finder brings up a different chemical as "morphine"

What is this chemical listed as "Morphine"? It is the only thing that comes up when "morphine" is entered at this site. It has a different CAS #, a different IUPAC name & a different chemical formula than morphine. N,N-diethyl-N'-(2-methoxyacridin-9-yl)pentane-1,4-diamine CAS: 23552-18-3 Forumla: C23H31N3O Nagelfar (talk) 16:48, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Who knows why they've labelled that as morphine. All I know is you can't always trust that site to put the correct name and structure together.

The structures given in this (Wikipedia) article are referenced to peer-reviewed academic papers.

Ben (talk) 16:53, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Strange indeed, I have never heard of another chemical known as 'morphine', but I would't advocate it's inclusion into the article about the opiate.--Metalhead94 ^{T C} 16:30, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Does Morphine kill sperm cells 24 hours after the last dose?

A friend of mine had unprotected sex and the guy had been in the hospital the night before. His friend and him looked it up and told her that Morphine kills the sperm 24 hours after the last dose. Im not sure where they found it and i am not able to find anything on it and i wouldnt like to see my friend knocked up over a lie. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.213.167.96 (talk) 04:32, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, but that is not true. The only thing that helps in such a case is emergency contraception, as soon as possible, but not later than 72 hours after sex. And even that does not help against infections with sexually transmitted diseases. --ἀνυπόδητος (talk) 10:12, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Is this okay?

Some people with access to relatively pure morphine from whatever source use various methods to turn it into heroin and, less frequently, other derivatives like hydromorphone or oxymorphone. These range from the home-bake labs of New Zealand which use codeine extracted from OTC or prescription preparations which is turned into morphine and then acetylated with acetic anhydride to a related method in which powder containing morphine salts or base is put in a spoon and wet with acetic anhydride at a proportion of 1 ml of acetic anhydride to 1 gramme of morphine content and the bowl of the spoon tightly covered with tin foil and baked in an oven at a temperature around 80°C but not above 85°C for 1 to 5 hours and reheated on the stove over low heat if needed until the mixture is dry and no longer emits the characteristic noxious fumes of acetic anhydride. The result of these processes is often a mixture of morphine, heroin, 3-monoacetylmorphine, and 6-monoacetymorphine in varying proportions.

It seems like it's giving instructions on how to make heroin...

64.126.94.10 (talk) 06:52, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

This information is readily availiable, and anyone that could/would convert morphine to heroin isnt getting their information from wikipedia. Having said that this is a bit like a how to guide, and written in poor style. I have edited it.

Tpepper88 (talk) 20:05, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Side Effects table

What do you guys think to the side effects table present in this article. I find it is messy and distracting and do not like the format of it at all, but don't want to delete because someone obviously spent sometime compiling that. Is there anyway we can reformat it to make it more readable? Or another way to list the side effects not in the table? All Opinions welcome. Tpepper88 (talk) 20:10, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Salt Table

DO you guys think that the table that lists all the different salts of morphine is within the scope of this article? I dont think any general audience, or even most of the scientific audience reading this article is going to have any use for it. It also takes up alot of space and is unrelated to any text presented in the article. What do you guys think about getting rid of it? Tpepper88 (talk) 20:10, 1 January 2009 (UTC) I agree, get rid of it. Only one is used in the pharm. industry. Rest is chemistry related. --FeliksD (talk) 04:42, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

MS-Contin

This article forwards here, but there is virtually no mention of the extended release nature of this drug. I think it should be mentioned more than in passing. 152.133.7.130 (talk) 19:28, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

The "Contin" in MS Contin, as like the brand name OxyContin, stands for Continuous Release, CR, the same as XR/ER for extended release. MS Contin is simply Morphine Sulfate Continuous (release). The brand name itself implies it. Being the plethora of brand names (not to mention the multitude of generic names, which are however at least of more informational pertinence, seeing too how brand names number many more) and the fact that the brand name is very straight-forward as to what the product is (unlike very many others), mentioning it in passing is enough just in that MS Contin is such a notably popular brand name of morphine in the U.S. (if you are trying to distinguish why its has not the mode of action as immediate release forms, the fact that it is sulfate and not a hydrochloride adds to that fact just as much as the pill binder extended release). Nagelfar (talk) 14:48, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Area postrema

That article says that morphine directly stimulates the area postrema and causes vomiting, but vomiting isn't listed as a side effect here, except as part of withdrawal. Which article is wrong (or misleading)? 81.131.66.245 (talk) 14:58, 2 June 2009 (UTC) In many non-tolerant individuals, nausea and or vomiting is a potential side effecy of opioid therapy. It is common in an ER setting when IV opiates are administered, an antiemetic (anti-nausea/ vomiting drug) is given simultaneously to avoid this side effect. Tolerance to nausea and vomiting occurs rapidly among chronic users... --FeliksD (talk) 04:40, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

ms contin vs oxycontin

how does a 60mg ms contin compare to oxycontin? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.244.117.134 (talk) 01:51, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Oral bio-availability of morphine is poor compared to oxycodone/-contin. (which is why morphine is often made into a pro-drug; e.g. acetylated; i.e. made into heroin.) Morphine has much more binder-filler due to potential abuse. If you are asking oxycontin in particular (binder filled extended release and not the oxycodone chemical itself in comparison), I'd say it is a bit more than 50% more required to make it equal, we are talking about two HCl salt versions in ER (extended release) formats. I would have to say, purely from personal experience and a non-professions / laymans one at that; that you need twice MSContin to get the effect of oxycontin, rather than only half again as much. But DO NOT take that as proper medical advice. Thank you and be safe and do not get addicted to pain killers. 4.242.174.52 (talk) 13:20, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

In my ever so humble opinion, this is not the forum for discussing abuse potential of a narcotic medicine. That being said, According to CMDT manual, and various other equianalgesic dosing tables, 90-120 MS Contin is equivalent to 40mg Oxycodone ER (Oxycontin,) assuming a q. 12 hr dosing schedule. —Preceding unsigned comment added by FeliksD (talk • contribs) 23:40, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Human and other mammal cells produce morphine

There are many articles online about studies revealing that animals including human naturally produce a level of morphine. There are 2 links below. I think we should fit this into the article somehow.

http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22412/

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/8238/8238morphine.html

http://news.healingwell.com/index.php?p=news1&id=521292

Should this be added? Danno81 (talk) 08:07, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Ok, there is, I just missed it!

"In 2003 there was discovery of endogenous morphine occurring naturally in the human body. Thirty years of speculation were made on this subject because there was a receptor that apparently only reacted to morphine, the mu3 opiate receptor in human tissue.[12] Human cells that form in reaction to cancerous neuroblastoma cells have been found to contain trace amounts of endogenous morphine.[13]"

I'll shut up now Danno81 (talk) 08:08, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Huh. Interesting how brains think alike, the last part, about the neuroblastoma cells, was added just a few days before your inveighed that you believed that information was missing; I suppose there is a collective consciousness out there. 4.242.174.52 (talk) 13:43, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Different morphine salts, more information?

The freebase conversion ratio is nice, but could we also get water solubility, lipid solubility, and BBB crossing bio-availability of each? 4.242.174.52 (talk) 13:22, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

For water solubility of particular salts, one can refer to the Merck Index, Pharmacopoeias and the like. Lipid solubilities (I assume you mean solubility of particular salt in oil/fat) are generaly low to virtualy none (except higher alkanoic acid salts, but even those are just marginaly better fat-soluble than more polar morphinium salts), and doesn't really matter in medical context. The blood-brain-barrier crossing and bio-availability are not affected by the anion coutnerpart in a salt of morphinium — even morphinium bond to a high-molecular catex resin (e.g. morphine resinate) has practicaly the same bioavailabilty (if given p.o., in terms of AUC) as readily water soluble salts in "immediate release" galenics (simple morphine sulfate tablets, oral solutions etc.); once systematicaly resorbed, the anion doesn't contribute to pharmacokinetics anymore, as for the crossing of the blood-brain-barrier and the like, it's all about the morphinium (N-protonated cation) — morphine (free base) equilibrium, lipid solubility of morphine as such and eventually passive or active carriers in the BBB. Cheers,--93.192.179.179 (talk) 00:29, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Morphine/ APAP Combination Products?

- The "potential side effects" section includes possible liver damage due to APAP content. There is no Morphine/ APAP formulation currently marketed in the United States. - Concomitant use of other opiates/ opioids, and use of benzodiazapines is a relative contraindication. These medications are WIDELY prescribed as adjuvant medications for pain/ pain+ anxiety in the U.S. (i.e. "breakthrough medicine." This should be clarified.

--FeliksD (talk) 23:34, 17 October 2009 (UTC) heloo i am kjhfwbjkfhak hjwhwhK —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.232.163.82 (talk) 23:15, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

History

Paracelsus, who fancied himself as a travelling doctor

Whatever one may think of his theories, Paracelsus actually was a physician. He testified that he had a doctorate from Ferrara, and no one seems to have challenged that. Although there is no proof either way, and he may not have possessed a doctoral degree, he was referred to and dealt with by others as a doctor.

His travels were not entirely voluntary. He was forced out of various medical marketplaces, because his ideas about medicine or religion were not acceptable to his competitors.

This article states that morphine was later found to be more addictive than alcohol or opium. I am just wondering how "addictive" is being measured. If it is by the dangerousness of the withdrawals, I would've thought that alcohol was much higher. This sound a bit like an assumption based on observation of people who are "addicted" within the context of one substance being legal and one illegal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.243.114.41 (talk) 09:17, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

76.208.32.9 (talk) 17:00, 28 October 2009 (UTC) David Harley

Use of the word poison

This is a small thing but I will ask anyways. In the article it uses the sentence: The latter is an antidote to reverse the effect of the poison. I think technically you could label morphine as a poison but it doesn't seem necessary. An overdose of any substance could cause death, while morphine is more lethal then many others, I don't think on a wiki article about the drug that it should be refereed to as a poison. Could we just change it to say: The latter is an medicine to reverse the effects of the drug. Or something similar. I could be wrong about this, perhaps in this case poison should in fact be used, so if someone could offer their opinion before I change it. 66.190.244.233 (talk)

Morphine has no acute organ toxicities so you are right in that it'd be technically incorrect to call it a poison. Even if for legal reasons some companies put "poison" on tinctures of opium (some constituents, namely thebane, in opium are poisons however, they have that as correct on a technicality, but mu agonist opioid narcotic pain killers are not per strict medical definition poisons.) Nagelfar (talk) 14:16, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

2D image plate of the anion salts from the named salts given in the article?

The structure of morphine is an interesting link with many molecular images of morphine in different stages/conformations which may be of some use. It is similar to a idea of mine seeing as many anion salts of morphine are given well in a nested form in this article under the Forms of morphine, salts & chemical form to freebase conversion ratios, and one doesn't often see how the different anion salts appear along with their two dimensional molecule image respective that they are the salt of, someone would be doing wikipedia a favor to make a plate of many small instances in rows and columns bundled with the nested list of them I was thinking. ("Anion salt" as a term for such salts when added to a freebase molecule, also deserves its own page I was too thinking, as one may guess from my linking the word above.) Nagelfar (talk) 15:06, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

This link here speaks a little on the solubility of the different salts of opioids and morphine in particular, maybe one could use this to add to that conversion table in the article, besides the freebase conversion ratios, the solubility of each salt of morphine in addition. Nagelfar (talk) 14:10, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

9B1 anti-morphine antibody?

Three analogs of morphine are proposed based on the protein crystal structure of the 9B1 anti-morphine antibody reported by Pozharski et al. (2004). There is nothing on Wikipedia currently regarding this. The morphine analogues in the above .pdf are of interest as well. Nagelfar (talk) 10:00, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Too big and poorly formatted

While this may offend the person who created it I consider this to be too big...

Indications: Pain relief or analgesia Cough suppressance Antidiarrheal effects Recreational uses: Antidepressant effects Anxiolysis Drowsiness or somnolence (nodding) Euphoria Relaxation Sedation Stress relief

Contraindications: Dissociatives like ketamine (K), phencyclidine (PCP), dextromethorphan (DXM), and nitrous oxide (N2O) Sympatholytics like alpha blockers and beta blockers Tranquilizers like alcohol (ethanol), gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (G, GHB), barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and nonbenzodiazepines Other opiates and opioids (narcotics or analgesics) Miscellaneous depressants, anesthetics, hypnotics, and sedatives

Side effects: Cardiovascular: Bradycardia or decreased heart rate Cardiac arrest, cessation of heartbeat, or heart failure Hypotension or decreased blood pressure Palpitation or abnormal heartbeat Faintness or syncope Flushing of the face Orthostatic hypotension or very low blood pressure Ear, nose, throat, and skin: Flushing Pruritus or itching Xerostomia or dry mouth Eye: Intermittent blurring Pupil constriction or miosis Visual distortions Gastrointestinal: Constipation Nausea and vomiting or emesis Hepatological: Hepatotoxicity or liver damage (due to acetaminophen or paracetemol (APAP; Tylenol) in many morphine preparations) Liver failure (again, due to acetaminophen) Renal failure or kidney failure Musculoskeletal: Fasciculation or muscle twitch Neurological: Analgesia Psychological: Antidepressant effects Anxiolysis Confusion Drowsiness or somnolence (nodding) Dysphoria Euphoria Relaxation Sedation Stress relief Respiratory: Bradypnea or slow breathing Dyspnea or shortness of breath Hypoventilation, respiratory depression, or shallow breathing Respiratory acidosis or an abnormal decrease in the pH of the blood Respiratory arrest or cessation of breathing Miscellaneous/Severe: Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion Coma or unconsciousness Death or termination of life

Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 19:04, 23 January 2011 (UTC)

I agree. That's why I shortened it and removed certain parts which were of doubtful factual accuracy --- analgesia is not an adverse effect, nor is reduction of stress. Those are beneficial effects; no patient is ever going to complain of being in less pain. --Nmatavka (talk) 00:11, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

OTC information

In some areas, notably England, morphine is sold over the counter as a weak pain killer and antidiarrhoeal; it fills the role played by codeine in other countries. This is in spite of morphine being listed as a class A drug; although the penalties for its unauthorised possession and supply are dire, it continues to be sold behind the counter. I didn't know where to put this, so I'm leaving it up to you all. --Nmatavka (talk) 23:46, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Withdrawals

Obviously the person that wrote the articla on morphine withdrawals has never been addicted to morphine, nor have experienced the withdrawals. I have, and I can tell you that the information is not correct. Not even close. This person makes it sound like you have some heart palps and some diarhea and then you are done. If only it were that easy. Trust me when I tell you that morphine withdrawal is like having your bady put into a wood chipper, all your nerve endings feel like the are being burned with fire, and your head feels like it will explode. And that is the milder symptoms. I know, because I am experiencing withdrawal as I am typing this. The withdrawal do not get easier with each passing day. They get worse. I have been withcrawing for 4 days now, and with each day the withdrawal symptoms have increased. I find it particularly annoying when people write articles about something they now little or nothing about. Many apologize, I am not feeling myself at the moment. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sharmari (talk • contribs) 18:51, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Morphine Chemistry Section: One Major Mistake

"A number of salts of morphine are used.... Morphine acetate, which is another name for heroin is a Schedule I controlled substance."

No. Morphine acetate is the ammonium salt of acetic acid. It is not the name for heroin. Heroin is diamorphine or diacetylmorphine. The names differ inherently ("-yl" as in "acetyl" vs "-ate" as in "acetate) because the acetate in morphine acetate is an anion. Morphine acetate is a salt form just like Morphine sulfate (note: the "-ate" suffix is not a coincidence). The majority of the oxoanions get the "-ate" suffix. The other suffix used is "-ite" and there are special rules that detail how to affix prefixes ("hypo-," "per-") as well. The "Acetyl" (suffix "-yl") in the CORRECT name for heroin reflects the covalent, rather than ionic, nature of the bonds between the TWO ("di-" prefix) equivalents of acetic acid.68.6.76.31 (talk) 02:48, 30 January 2012 (UTC)