It’s important to take morphine as your doctor has asked you to.
Take morphine with, or just after, a meal or snack so it’s less likely to make you feel sick. Buy Morphine UK
Morphine liquid, injections and some morphine tablets are used for pain which is expected to last for a short time. They may also be recommended when you start taking morphine to help find the right dose.
Morphine granules and some morphine tablets and capsules are slow-release. This means the morphine is gradually released into your body over either 12 or 24 hours. This type of morphine takes longer to start working but lasts longer. It’s used for long-term pain.
Sometimes you may take different types of morphine to manage long term pain and sudden flares of pain that break through the medicine.
Standard tablets are known by the brand name Sevredol. Slow-release tablets are known by brand names MST Continus or Morphgesic SR. Slow-release capsules are also known as MXL or Zomorph.
Morphine does not come as a skin patch. Sometimes people call their pain relief patch a “morphine patch”. However these patches do not contain morphine but medicines which are very similar to morphine called fentanyl or buprenorphine.
Dosage and strength
Morphine comes as:
- standard tablets – these contain 10mg, 20mg or 50mg of morphine
- slow-release tablets – these contain 5mg, 10mg, 15mg, 30mg, 60mg, 100mg or 200mg of morphine
- slow-release capsules – these contain 10mg, 30mg, 60mg, 90mg, 100mg, 120mg, 150mg or 200mg of morphine
- granules (that you mix in water to make a drink) – these are in sachets containing 20mg, 30mg, 60mg, 100mg or 200mg of morphine
- a liquid that you swallow – this contains either 10mg of morphine in a 5ml spoonful or 20mg of morphine in 1ml of liquid
- injection (usually given in hospital)
Doses of morphine vary from person to person. Your dose will depend on how bad your pain is, how you’ve responded to previous painkillers and if you get any side effects.
Changes to your dose
Usually, you start on a low dose of morphine and this is increased slowly until your pain is well controlled. Once your pain is under control, talk to your doctor about swapping to slow-release morphine. This may cut down the number of doses you have to take each day.
When you stop taking morphine your dose will go down gradually, especially if you’ve been taking it for a long time.
How and when to take it | Buy Morphine UK
It’s important to swallow slow-release morphine tablets and capsules whole with a drink of water.
You can choose to take your morphine at any time of day but try to take it at the same time every day and space your doses evenly. For example, if you take morphine twice a day and have your first dose at 8am, take your second dose at 8pm.
How often you take it depends on the type of morphine that you’ve been prescribed. You’ll usually take:
- standard tablets 4 to 6 times a day
- slow-release granules, tablets and capsules once or twice a day
- liquid 4 to 6 times a day
You’ll usually have injections 4 to 6 times a day (sometimes in a pump that you control yourself).
