Morphine and Chronic Pain

[boroberts34585]

Hello.  Can morphine cause a person to have shiver like symptoms when their dosage is wearing off?  

Can morphine also cause a person to feel warmer or hot and sweaty then go to feeling cold like or shiver like when u need another dosage or is this a drug addiction or all three situations?

Thank you in advance and hope to hear from you IF and when u have time.

[el_em_en_oh]

To answer your question, I'm not entirely sure if there's an actual allergy test for Morphine. My previous Urologist and I discovered my semi-allergy when I was in the ER with a kidney-stone, when my condition first reared its ugly head back in 1991. At first I didn't say anything about the adverse symptoms, as I thought it was a normal side-effect of the drug (I wasn't at all familiar with narcotics back then, as they hadn't dug their claws into me yet).

Intravenous Morphine was administered for the acute kidney-stone pain, and I immediately had the anxiety onset and began to sweat uncontrollably. The blurred vision took about 10 minutes to set in, after I had the Morphine shot, and lasted about an hour (until the dose began to wear off).

From that point forward, they gave me Dilaudid whenever I had an attack. As I mentioned earlier, I identify as a recovering addict, ask they start with Torodol, THEN tell them to bring out the heavy stuff (I just want to be perfectly clear about the fact that I don't go in looking for Dilaudid).

Really dude, if you're having side-effects of the nature you've described, it's best to talk to your doctor and let him know what you've got going on whenever you get Morphine. I've heard from many an ER nurse that Morphine isn't for everyone and has different strokes for different folks.

I hope this answers your question regarding the blurred vision.

Good luck to you, my friend.

[boroberts34585]

Sorry to hear about your past addiction to the morphine/opiates.  Sorry to hear about your sister and her kidneys.  Make sure your doctor runs blood tests on you both for your sister's kidney's and if u ever get sick again like that flu a blood  test for you as well to find out what's going on.  So that's good that u only had a stomach flu and nothing else, glad to hear the promethazine helped you and your sister.  Being drowsy from the promethazine might help me get some sleep, ;o).  Good luck to you HopesNeverLost and Best of HEALTH to you and your sister now and always, take care of each other as I'm sure u2 always do.

[HopesNeverLost]

I can't give you advice on the morphine issue - as I became addicted due to a short term injury that introduced me to opiates and I fell in love and eventually became an addict.

I don't use the promethazine for opiate nausea, but my sister who has sever issues with her kidneys and all sorts of woman-related stuff, is prescribed liquid codeine, but it makes her sick so the doctor has her on the promethazine, and to her it is a godsend. Promethazine, from what I understand, disassociates your stomach from your brain basically (in simple explanation) and eliminates any nausea.A few months back I had a nasty case of the stomach flu for a week and could not stop throwing up, for a day and a half every 20 minutes i was dry heaving... & thats what the doctor prescribed to me and I stopped throwing up very soon after, I stopped the vomiting and dry heaving. It does make you a bit drowsy though. Hope this helps.

[boroberts34585]

Hi  HopesNeverLost.  Yes I absolutely need the morphine although I do try hard to only take what I need.  If I didn't have it I wouldn't probably be around but I also do not want to get rely on it more and more either.  My apologizes to everyone I was in multiple mva's  (3)in the span of 10 months which weren't my fault.  Only way I type on here is laying down on my back which also is not what or how one wants to.  

I have never tried Phenergan (Promethazine) but I'm very glad it works for you and i hope it continues to.  How many do you need to take a day and what's the price on it as I will have to look at getting a sample or a small prescription of it to try.  Thank you and take care HopesNeverLost

[HopesNeverLost]

Talk to your Dr.. It sounds like your dosage needs adjusting, as well as possibly adding some phenergan (Promethazine) for the nausea. It works wonders. Do you absolutely NEED the morphine? You didn't really say why you were taking the morphine. Best of luck.

[boroberts34585]

Hello  el_em_en_oh, sorry to hear about your condition.  I wish you all the best in your  recovery and with kidney stones.  My heart goes out to you with passing kidney stones as well.  

I also have had and still to get what you mentioned with profuse sweating, shakes and blurred vision from time to time which I thought was just poor eyesight or diabetes now maybe I know from hearing from you mention it. It could certainly be from the morphine.

How often if u don't mind me asking how long or how many times do you get the blurred vision?  Is there a way a doctor or your doctor tested you with an allergy test on the morphine just so I know that maybe my doc needs to do the same for me.  I've had doctor's say morphine isn't addicting but as I hear from you and others and prescribed it I do know it's addicting and you are right.  Thank you for your insight as well.  Good luck and all the best to you  el_em_en_oh.  Thanks again.

[boroberts34585]

First of all thank you Luvmigrl8 for your response and your long explanation it is greatly appreciated by me.  Hope you are doing better after your surgeries on your back.  Or at the very least the meds are working for you and you and able to enjoy some of your time and day's.  

I was on morphine then the patch and morphine now just morphine and 4-6 times a day but even that's not enough as I could take one pill then another within an hour.  I definitely understand with you about the not being able to sleep and needing meds.  

I am scared because I don't want to ruin my stomach, etc and need to hear from others that have been through or who are going through the same chronic pain and situtations.  It was nice to hear from you with your opinion.  Do you get sleep now and how much a night or week?  Just curious if your sleep has improved over the years with more meds?  Feel free to answer or just read my posting's without answering.  I don't want anyone to think I'm noisey.  

I do get nausea and vomit with whatever dosage I've always been on so I'm getting frustrated with that also.  Do you also have nausea and vomit?  Thank you again for your insight, help and encouragement.  Good luck and best of health to you also Luvmigrl8.

Thank you :0)

[el_em_en_oh]

Hello there...

I'm not speaking to WD symptoms, I'll say that up front, but I've had those specific symptoms when a morphine dose is wearing off.

Unfortunately for me, I'm a recovering-addict that has regular onset of kidney-stones (10-12 stone passages a month, on average). I say 'unfortunately', because I usually have to go through passing a kidney-stone without narcotic pain medication. I do, however, request that I be administered narcotic pain medication IF the pain becomes unmanageable with non-narcotics, and I'm suffering.

I have a slight/semi allergic reaction to Morphine, and get high-anxiety onset, profuse sweating, shakes and blurred vision from it. Whenever I go the ER with a kidney-stone, I identify as a recovering-addict and ask they administer Torodol, and Dilaudid if the pain is beyond the positive influence of Torodol.I seem to tolerate IV Dilaudid quite well, as opposed to Morphine, so if you truly do have an allergy to Morphine, it's an alternative.

I will say, however, that you think hard before asking for Dilaudid over Morphine, especially if you're in recovery. Unless you truly need super strong narcotic pain-killers for legitimate pain, I'd steer clear of both of them as they are HIGHLY addictive. I only take them under the strict & watchful eyes of the ER/hospital staff, and make sure that my wife is with me at all times (to keep me honest).

I hope that helps a bit.

[Luvmigrl8]

hi,  this can happen to you when any narcotic pain med is wearing off... if you have been on it for a long time then your body will sometimes get used to it and will need it more often.  it is withdrawl symptems from the morphine.  if you are in chronic pain and your meds are wearing off then you need to talk to your dr... you should keep a constant dose in your system so that you are constantly going thru withdrawls and feeling those symptoms along with your pain.  it is no fun to constantly be going thru that... when i started on pain meds after one of my back surgeries my dr put me on 10/325 percocetes 4 times a day.  i didn't know much about meds then and i took them all durning the day and at night i couldn't sleep and my arms felt like i had creepy crawlies in them and i had no clue.  after a while when my pain never got better i was sent to a pain management dr and that is when i found out that i had been going thru withdrawls every night...  it sucked!!!  
you really need to talk to ur dr and tell him/her what is going on.  if you r taking this for chronic pain then don't feel like you r a drug addict.  ur body becomes dependant on this med.  unfortunatly when it wears off u will feel those symptoms.  but if you are feeling it that much then ur dose needs to be adjusted.  
how often do you take ur morphine?  if you are taking it 2x a day ur dr may want to adjust u to 3x a day.  i have to take my pain meds 3x a day.  if ur dr thinks that your dose is already too high then maybe going down a level and taking it once more per day so that u won't go thru this.  ex.. if you are on 60mg extended release 2x a day then ur dr may want to try 40 mg er 3x a day.. or if ur dr doesn't mind keeping you on that 60mg and adding one more per day then that would be nice.  dr's can be really hesitant to add meds but they also need to know that you can't live like that with going thru withdrawls so much.  
i hope that ur dr can help you out.  i know how aweful it feels to be going thru that every day and all of the time.  call ur dr and set up an appt to talk.  :)  goodluck