Morphine pain, medications

Morphine and cocaine Morphine is medically the most important alkaloid present in opium. Opium itself consists of the dried milky exudate extracted from unripe capsules of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), which is grown mainly in Asia, but also in some parts of India and China. Morphine is a powerful analgesic and has been used to treat severe pain. However, its addictive properties complicate its long-term medical use and it is also a drug of abuse. In addition to morphine, opium also contains codeine, which has similar, but weaker, actions. 

Despite an intensive research effort over the past two decades involving many innovative approaches in the global academic community and by the pharmaceutical industry, the latter representing an aggregate investment in excess of 2.5 billion, the only new opioid-based pain medications either in clinical development or on the market are alternative dosage forms of the classical opioids, morphine, loperamide, and fentanyl, or compounds such as tramadol. ... 

Codeine, also known as methylmorpliine, C H2 NOt H20, is a colorless white crystalline substance, mp 154.9 C, slightly soluble in water, soluble in alcohol and chloroform, effloresces slowly in dry air. Codeine is derived from opium by extraction or by the methylation of morphine. For medical use, codeine is usually offered as the dichlotide, phosphate, or sulfate. Codeine is habit forming. Codeine is known to exacerbate urticaria (familiarly known as hives). Since codeine is incorporated in numerous prescription medicines for headache, heartburn, fatigue, coughing, and relief of aches and pains, persons with a history of urticaria should make this fact known to their physician. Codeine is sometimes used ill cases of acute pericarditis to relieve severe chest pains in early phases of disease. Codeine is sometimes used in drug therapy of renal (kidney) diseases. 

The AHCPR guidelines recommend using the WHO three-step method for managing cancer pain. Patients should be started on a nonopioid pain medication, such as acetaminophen or a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agent. If this does not relieve their pain, proceed to the next level of a weak opioid agent, such as codeine or hydrocodone, with or without a nonopioid. If this does not relieve their pain, proceed to the final level of a strong opioid, such as morphine, with or without a nonopioid. 

For example, pain from sickle cell crisis can be debilitating and require the patient to receive a narcotic analgesic such as morphine. This medication blocks the pain and creates a euphoric effect giving the patient relief from the pain of the disease. 

The male client diagnosed with renal calculi is receiving pain medication via a morphine patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump. The HCP prescribed the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) indomethacin (Indocin) in a rectal suppository. Which action should the nurse take ... 

The Harrison Act was unusual in that it was actually a tax law, and for the next fifty years American drug laws followed this model, indirectly making the use of certain pain medications a criminal act. The law taxed the nonmedical use of drugs like morphine and cocaine, strong painkillers to which up to 5 percent of the American population was addicted in 1900. The tax for nonmedical use of these drugs was far more than the cost of morphine or cocaine. People who used the drugs without paying the tax were subject to criminal prosecution. 

For term infants under 6 months of age, if non-opiate pain medications are inadequate, use dosing tables above, but limit drugs to morphine and fentanyl. 

After removal of the common femoral artery vascular sheath and proper hemostasis is achieved, the patient is placed on monitoring for 4-5 h and patient controlled analgesia (PCA) pump and i.v. hydration are initiated. At the end of the monitoring period and if no untoward events are noted the patient is sent to the floor. Routine nursing checks and care are adequate thereafter. P.R.N. medication should include (in addition to the morphine or fentanyl PCA pump), anti-nausea and additional pain medication for breakthrough pain. Hydration is critical not only because of the patient s NPO status prior to the procedure and possible nausea, but more importantly to mitigate the consequences of a possible tumor... 

Drugs with no therapeutic use (cannabis, LSD) and so are not prescribed Drugs with medical use — heroin and morphine for pain relief, amphetamine for narcolepsy and cocaine... 

Here are the positive talking points for morphine. First, morphine is a highly effective agent for the treatment of severe pain. It is generally given by injection and relief is very fast. Second, morphine is widely available. Finally, morphine is cheap. For the latter two reasons, morphine is nsed worldwide, not just in developed countries that can afford more expensive (and sometimes extremely expensive) medications. 

In addition, morphine has served as a point of departure for the discovery of many medically usefnl derivatives. These inclnde codeine, a pain reliever and cough suppressant, levophanol, an orally active analgesic (morphine is not active when given orally and is nsnally given by injection), and many other modem and highly potent opiate analgesics. 

Opium Street Names Auntie Emma, big O. black stuff, block, gum, hop, ope, tar (brand generic called tincture of opium, laudanum, paregoric (CIII), B O suppositories [CIII]) Use Some medical uses (antidiarrheal, antitussive, antispas-modic) illegally used to produce morphine and h oin can be swallowed or smoked Actions Narcotic contains morphine Effects Pain relief, euphoria, drowsiness/N, constipation, confusion, sedation, resp dqjression and arrest, tol -ance, addiction, unconsciousness, coma, death... 

These drug products are used in a number of ways to treat various medical conditions, including the common cough, diarrhea, and pain. Surgeons and dentists also use morphine, the most important chemical substance within the opium poppy, as an anesthetic. Unfortunately, most opium is turned into heroin and ends up in the veins of addicts. 

The word analgesia is from the Greek an-, meaning not or without, + algesis, sense of pain. Codeine is more potent than other pain-relieving medications, such as aspirin and ibupro-fen, but less potent than the really serious painkillers—morphine, oxycodone -I- acetaminophen, hydromorphone. When a... 

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