Patient/caregiver was educated on how to take Morphine as follows:
- Take the prescribed morphine dose at recommended evenly spaced out time intervals without fail. This allows maintain constant levels of pain medication in the blood, which helps better pain control. Observing compliance with the dose and schedule also helps to avoid forgetting the medication and consequent exacerbation of pain and discomfort.
- Do not change the dose on this medication without consulting your doctor.
- This medication can induce some nausea and vomiting, when taken on empty stomach. Taking the medication with a glass of water and some food or snack can help avoid these unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms.
- Drink 6 to 8 full glasses of water daily, while you are taking morphine. Liberal intake of water with morphine helps prevent constipation, which is one of the major side effects of morphine.
- Do not wait for the pain to peak to have your morphine pill. Pain medications work best when taken at the first appreciation of pain, before the pain peaks.
- When taking morphine as an oral syrup/suspension, use a measuring spoon/cup to measure the correct dose being taken, in order to avoid risk for over/under dosing.
- Take the regular morphine tablet as a whole. If you encounter difficulty swallowing the whole regular tablet, you may cut the pill and swallow it in pieces with a glass of water. You may also crush the pill and sprinkle the powder on a spoonful of soft jelly or applesauce and swallow the jelly or sauce along with the medication.
- If you are prescribed morphine extended-release tablet or capsule, swallow the pill as a whole and do not open or cut or crush the pill. Opening or cutting the extended-release pill can result in rapid absorption of the drug into the blood stream, thus resulting in toxicity and compromised therapeutic effects.
- Morphine can induce extreme dizziness and makes one very drowsy. Starting the medication at a low dose and gradually increasing the dose, as needed, to achieve the desired pain control, can contribute to reducing the risk for drowsiness and dizziness due to the medication. A number of OTC cough medications and antihistamines, muscle relaxant medications, antidepressant medications, antipsychotics, and antianxiety medications, can potentiate the dizziness and confusion caused by morphine and so, must be avoided taking along with morphine. If the dizziness becomes bothersome, report it to your physician and other health care personnel, for any change in plan of care to be considered.
- Continue taking morphine as ordered, for the recommended time period. Discontinuing the medication abruptly can result in unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, such as, exacerbation of pain episodes, precipitation of seizures, muscle aches, rapid heart rate, restlessness, insomnia, and hallucinations. Discontinuing the medication should be gradual and only as recommended by your physician.
- Morphine intake can be habit-forming and carries an abuse potential. Do not abuse morphine by continuing to take the medication, even beyond the prescribed time interval and even after you attain relief from the pain.
- If you miss a dose, try taking it at the earliest notice of noncompliance. If it is time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and take the dose scheduled. Taking an extra dose to try making up for the missed dose can result in overdose and toxicity, causing severe depression of respiratory center in the brain and death. Notify your doctor and other health care personnel regarding your dose noncompliance.
