Hiding under the bed covers ...

I am on morphine and dont think they will be taking it off me anytime soon. Have you had really bad with drawels. x

i am also on morphine,what are the withdrawal symtoms,does anyone know:confused:

I ain't a clue don't think I wanna find out either. lol, x

i am also on morphine,what are the withdrawal symtoms,does anyone know:confused:

Very similar to heroin withdrawal, as they are both strong opiates, and as such it really shouldn't be attempted unless under close medical direction and supervision.

I can't take morphine (projectile vomiting for 6 hours from 1mg of morphine, tripping on co-codamol, other selection of fabulous side effects) so I take methadone, which has even worse side effects. I came off it once before to see if it was still helping and that took 12 weeks even from a low dose. This time I'm probably back on it for life.

Very similar to heroin withdrawal, as they are both strong opiates

Identical, indeed, except that heroin, being even more addictive, is likely to make them even worse.


There's a good reason why doctors are loth to prescribe morphine to long-term pain patients unless there is absolutely no alternative. Unfortunately, as it's still easily the strongest painkiller available, sometimes there is none.

Identical, indeed, except that heroin, being even more addictive, is likely to make them even worse.


There's a good reason why doctors are loth to prescribe morphine to long-term pain patients unless there is absolutely no alternative. Unfortunately, as it's still easily the strongest painkiller available, sometimes there is none.

Diamorphine is very roughly twice the strength of morphine and is regularly used. Another opiate is Fentanyl, it's much stronger than both diamorphine and morphine and it's onset of action is much quicker. It is given in micrograms instead of milligrams which both diamorphine and morphine is administered in, outside of the clinical setting it is used in patches for people suffering from chronic pain.

Sorry .. I was feeling well sorry for myself when I posted that. having had a bad dose of chronic pain and having to top up my Zomorph with Oramorph .. it's not nice reducing it, not nice at all. I don't even want to think about how I felt and write it down here, I'm sorry to those who want to know.

I've been on Fentanyl patches, but they didn't help .. and Oxycontin, which gave me bad dreams and hallucinations ... it's not fun trying to find a pain reliever that works for you. And when I say "works" .. the Zomorph doesn't actually take the pain away completely, but it does dull it.

Life's a gas ! :D :D

Stick with it Saffy. People who don't live with chronic pain aren't equipped with sufficient information to make a judgement.

So many people judge when they hear that others are taking painkillers, but if you had ever lived in serious pain you'd consider chopping your arm off if it stood a chance of helping your pain.

In fact, I actually went in to hospital with my bag packed ready for my arm to be amputated in the hopes of helping my pain at one stage. It was only when the doctors decided that the surgery could blight me with even worse phantom pain for life that they decided not to do the operation.

As a sufferer, you get the choice of living in pain or trying to do something to make life bearable. I actually choose not to live pain free because if I get rid of the pain completely I'm both sedated (which is very unpleasant to live with constantly) and I have really bad side effects from the pills. I choose to have a balance in my life, which leaves me pain-reduced rather than pain free but also allows me to think properly.

One foot in front of the other ;)

Diamorphine is very roughly twice the strength of morphine and is regularly used. Another opiate is Fentanyl, it's much stronger than both diamorphine and morphine and it's onset of action is much quicker.


Hmp. The way the doctor explained it to us is that the fentanyl patches (which my wife uses) simply administer the morphine directly into the bloodstream, instead of via the stomach.

No, fentanyl is a completely different molecule. It's a synthetic opioid which works by the normal opiate µ receptor, which means I probably wouldn't be able to use it and was originally a derivative of pethidine.

I have chronic back and ankle pain and was on the patches for about a year, I became tolerant very quickly and was on the max dose within 4 months. I became increasingly suspicious that they were not actually helping my pain after about 8 months and along with that and the awful side effects decided to take myself off them over Christmas. It took about 5 weeks to stop the withdrawal symptoms.

I now dont take pain relief at all, its not that my pain has gone but the game isnt worth the candle. I just cant deal with the side effects and the fact that I have to keep increasing the dose which in turn makes the side effects much worse.

My alternatives are cortisone injections or burning the nerves in my back. Neither sounds good to me.

Hmp. The way the doctor explained it to us is that the fentanyl patches (which my wife uses) simply administer the morphine directly into the bloodstream, instead of via the stomach.

Fentanyl is the perfect choice for patches due to it's comparative strength. Skin absorption is a really inefficient way to absorb a drug so it make perfect sense to use a drug that you don't need a lot of, for it to have an effect.

Patches are good for a continuous dose of painkillers, when they work they give you a constant dose of painkillers over a prolonged period.