Morphine - Are There Any Medical Reasons for Taking This Substance?

Are There Any Medical Reasons for Taking This Substance?

Morphine is used most often to ease the pain of dying from cancer. Cancer causes tumors (abnormal growths) in just about any organ in the body, from the brain to the limbs. These tumors can cause intense pain that never goes away. Morphine does not shrink tumors. Rather, it causes the brain not to respond to the pain that the tumor causes. Patients know they are in pain, but they feel more comfortable. Their anxieties are also eased by the relaxing components of the morphine.

Newspapers and magazines report cases of end-stage cancer patients who, with high doses of morphine, are able to take care of themselves around the home, do tasks such as gardening and attending family functions, and even work on projects they want to finish before death. hospiceA special clinic for dying patients where emphasis is placed on comfort and emotional support. workers who try to make dying patients as comfortable as possible report a greater sense of calm and less trauma for the patient and family when morphine is used to sedate and control pain.

Recovery from surgery without morphine would be a terrible ordeal for many patients. Even though the drug is often used only for the first few days, it greatly eases the pain and trauma the patient feels after a procedure. Used in this way it does not promote addiction. As the body recovers, doctors reduce the doses of the painkiller, eventually switching to over-the-counter products such as aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen.

Morphine's Not for All Patients, Though

For chronic, or ongoing, conditions such as back pain and migraine headache, morphine is never used as the first drug for treatment. Typically the drug is only prescribed for people who have used other opiate or opioid painkillers, or other prescription drugs, with disappointing results. Morphine's side effects—toleranceA condition in which higher and higher doses of a drug are needed to produce the original effect or high experienced., constipation, nausea, drowsiness, and dizziness—make it a drug of last resort for people in pain.

Some people suffer pain that does not respond to morphine. This kind of pain, known as nerve damage, is particularly frustrating both for patients and their doctors. If nerves are damaged, they cannot read the chemical message morphine sends them.

Terri Schiavo

One of morphine's main uses is in end-of-life situations where doctors try to control pain and suffering. In March of 2005, after a long legal battle, Terri Schiavo—who was diagnosed with severe brain damage and no hope of recovery—was removed from the feeding tube that had kept her alive for fifteen years. As she perished from starvation and dehydration, doctors administered morphine to ease any suffering she might have felt. Terri Schiavo died on March 31, 2005.

Doctors who prescribe morphine must be certified to do so by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Morphine prescriptions require extra paperwork to determine how much medicine each patient receives and whether or not the doctor is

Sniffer dogs are used by custom officials to search planes, cars, trucks, ships, and trains for illegal substances. These trained dogs are able to detect cocaine, marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine, and morphine-based drugs, among others. Hous
Sniffer dogs are used by custom officials to search planes, cars, trucks, ships, and trains for illegal substances. These trained dogs are able to detect cocaine, marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine, and morphine-based drugs, among others. © Houston Scott/Corbis SYGMA.

over-prescribing it. In response, doctors tend to under-prescribe morphine for two reasons. First, doctors do not want to be seen as dispensing drugs without good reason. Second, doctors do not want to take the chance that a dose they deem safe for a patient might actually lead to a fatal overdose.