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Suggest Remedy For Pain While On 80mg Of Morphine

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Posted on Thu, 30 Jul 2015
Question: I was on 130 mg morphine twice a day but pain specialist said it was too high and reduced it to 80 mg twice a day. This is useless for my pain. What is the highest dosage you can take when in a lot of pain?

Thanks. XXXX
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Answered by Dr. Dr. Matt Wachsman (30 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
There are several answers.

Detailed Answer:
Ok... at what level does someone risk dying from an overdose.
patients receiving 50 to 99 mg/d had a 3.7-fold increase in overdose risk. 160 mg per day would still be considered too high. Certainly if someone has a fatal illness, we wouldn't care about this; otherwise about 40 twice a day. Personally I get a bit worried at 75 mg a day and that is generally the maximum I prescribe.

At moderate to high doses, the narcotic itself gets to be the primary issue and not either the pain nor the underlying condition. People get used to the effects of them (tolerance) and their effect dwindles. People get depency... stopping them for any length of time and there is bad feeling (generalized pain. and also shakes/sweats/etc).

So, at doses over 40 twice a day, certainly a specialist on the underlying condition needs to be consulted. Probably also a pain management person. Frankly, drug problem specialists are generally needed at over 100 mg a day.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Dr. Dr. Matt Wachsman

Addiction Medicine Specialist

Practicing since :1985

Answered : 4214 Questions

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Suggest Remedy For Pain While On 80mg Of Morphine

Brief Answer: There are several answers. Detailed Answer: Ok... at what level does someone risk dying from an overdose. patients receiving 50 to 99 mg/d had a 3.7-fold increase in overdose risk. 160 mg per day would still be considered too high. Certainly if someone has a fatal illness, we wouldn't care about this; otherwise about 40 twice a day. Personally I get a bit worried at 75 mg a day and that is generally the maximum I prescribe. At moderate to high doses, the narcotic itself gets to be the primary issue and not either the pain nor the underlying condition. People get used to the effects of them (tolerance) and their effect dwindles. People get depency... stopping them for any length of time and there is bad feeling (generalized pain. and also shakes/sweats/etc). So, at doses over 40 twice a day, certainly a specialist on the underlying condition needs to be consulted. Probably also a pain management person. Frankly, drug problem specialists are generally needed at over 100 mg a day.