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Dealing With Adverse Effects of Morphine


Morphine, a highly potent opiate it acts directly on the nervous system to help relieve pain. In the management of intense pain, no other narcotic analgesic is more effective. Morphine is very addictive when it is compared to other substances, tolerance and physiological dependencies quickly develop.


Research has also shown that morphine can actually alter the expression of certain genes in human DNA. Morphine affects two groups of genes for proteins involved in mitochondrial respiration and de-escalating related problems. The long-term use causes severe cases of constipation.


During the '70s and '80s, evidence showed that people who use morphine for extended periods have an increased risk of infections such as increased pneumonia, TB, and HIV. These studies lead scientists to believe that long-term use of morphine may also affect the immune system.


The most concerning adverse effects of morphine use is its addictiveness. Its abuse potential is among the highest of all drugs known to man. Compared to other narcotic pain relievers such as codeine, hydrocarbon, oxycodone, morphine is considerably more liable for abuse and dependence. Physical dependence and withdrawal symptoms can appear after only five days of use.


Withdrawal symptoms that are associated with morphine addiction are felt just before the time of the next dose, and can be as early as six to twelve hours after the next administration. The adverse effects of morphine can cause severe psychological dependence. The psychological withdrawal of morphine is long and painful. When in withdrawal people suffer severe depression, anxiety, insomnia, forgetfulness, along with low self-esteem, paranoia, and other psychological disorders. Morphine and heroin addicts have the highest relapse rate of all drug users.


Adverse effects of morphine is dangerous, it should only be taken when it is necessary and only when it is prescribed by your doctor.

What Are the Adverse Effects of Opioids?


Chemical substance that has morphine-like action in the body is an opioid. Its main use is for pain relief. These agents work by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract. The receptors in these organ systems mediate both the beneficial effects and the undesirable side effects. There are four classes narcotics:

Endogenous peptides-these are produced naturally in the body
Opiates-these are produced by morphine
Semi-synthetic opioids-hydromorphone & oxycodone
Fully-synthetic opioids-fentanyl & methadone


Common adverse reactions in patients taking opioids for pain relief are nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, dry mouth, and constipation. Adverse reactions in patients that take opioids that infrequently happen and are usually dose-related are respiratory depression, confusion, hallucinations, delirium, hypothermia, bradycardia (low heartrate), tachycardia (fast heartrate), dizziness, headache, urinary retention, and muscle rigidity. Some patients can experience hyperalgesia, this is when a patient that is using opiods as pain relief has pain as a result of their medication.


Both therapeutic and chronic use of opioids can compromise the function of the immune system. Other concerns about opioids are tolerance, dependence, addiction, and abuse. The issuses can cause doctors and patients concerns and they are the most common reason for which inadequate use of analgesia for patients with chronic pain. Putting these issues into the context of analgesia is important.


Tolerance is the tendency of the body to adapt to the presence of opioids and is a common reaction to any chemical, including caffeine. The tendency of the body to make unpleasent withdrawal syndrome is dependence of opioids in which case opioids are stopped after a tolerance has been developed. Addiction is a psychological craving for certain effects of opioids, such as euphoria, that many people experience when the drugs are taken in large doses. In the context of addiction abuse is the misuse of opioids.