Urgent - info needed on morphine overdose, please

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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:25 pm

I would really appreciate it if anyone here is, or knows, a doctor who specialises in emergency medicine or opiate overdoses. I have tried Google with limited success.

A friend has an elderly relative who has long-standing health problems and is prescribed morphine, which is delivered via a patch. It appears they have may been given a higher than necessary dose. They were hospitalised and treated with an antagonist yesterday evening, and are now displaying symptoms which appear to be like those of a stroke. My friend is having trouble finding anyone on the medical staff at the hospital who can explain/reassure. The medication was changed on Thursday to a higher dose, and I suspect that fear of repercussions may be in play.

I would be hugely grateful if someone could explain what may be going on so that I can pass that information on.

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:44 pm

For sure, monitor breathing and perform mouth to mouth if necessary. Have her ingest laxatives but don't induce vomiting. The syptoms of a morphine od can resemble a stroke or coma but if caught in time, the antagonist given along with laxatives and IV fluids, the syptoms should pass within 48-72 hours. I hope she'll be ok. Let me know. Rep

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002502.htm

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:15 pm

Thank you both of you, and to those who sent PMs. Very Happy

I think I now have some info to be going on with, and perhaps more importantly, some reassurance to pass on. Many thanks. Very Happy

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:07 am

I am certainly no doctor or expert. I have heard that a drug called Naltrexone (Brand name Revia, USP) is an opiate brain receptor blocking agent and can block opiate effects. Check rxlist.com. (My Mom was a RN, and I read the PDR often). Check with the Doc's and see what they say. Just thought it might add to your knowledge bank. Best wishes for your friend. Did I understand you correctly? She might have been on too high a dose, and they increased it more morphine wise? Or they increased the antagonist dosage? I would have to say, if no one on the hospital staff can explain or reassure, to find another hospital. That is a display of incompetance to a high degree.

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 12:24 am

Narcan is an opioid antagonist used often by paramedics to treat opioid OD in Australia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naloxone

Good Luck.

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:30 pm

Thank you. Smile

Joe, she somehow (yet to be determined) came to be overdosed on the morphine she is on for pain relief. What appeared to be the symptoms of a stroke are now abating, so I think it may have been shock or confusion caused by the OD. The alarming thing is, as Joe said, that I had to come here for the reassurance that my friend could not or did not get from the hospital. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:16 pm

Now that the situation seems to be getting better, I suggest you confiscate the remaining morphine patches and send them to me so that I can,ummm, uh, run some test on them in my lab to properly verify their strength and quality. I'm always willing to do scientific research for the benefit of all mankind.

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:35 pm

So noble, Rep, but then I would expect nothing less from you. Laughing

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:46 pm

Repro would also be willing to pay you for the patches, via Western Union, of course.

It looks like you got all the info that I was going to type in. I'm glad the symptoms seem to be abating. I hope your friend gets better soon.

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:16 pm

The patches will create disorientation and cause the patient to hallucinate.
My mother was given some of these patches and she had no idea what was going on for about 3 days.

Make sure that the dosage is very low for your friend if he is in pain.
I slapped the F***ken doctor for this.

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:24 am

Notes;
When I had hip surgery, they had me on a PCA loaded with morphine, and I would hallucinate at night. I thought they had put me into a janitors closet with a microwave oven the nurses would come in to use, and the TV was bolted to the celing, not the wall. Luckily, earlier life experiences taught me that I was only,..... uh, nevermind.
Reprob8, I wish I still had some of those poppy seeds my friends brother brought back from Viet Nam in the 70's. Alas, it is a distant memory. They were some of the prettiest flowers though. Grew them in my friends Grandma's garden!

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:22 am

as long as the patient is under medical supervision in a hospital there should be no big danger for the person with an overdose.

They can give "Narkanti" or "Apomorphine" or NaCL-injections.

In special cases O2 for breathing problems or massage for the heart in order to re-animate

hopefully the patient you talk about has survived Very Happy

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:49 pm

JoeTam wrote:

Reprob8, I wish I still had some of those poppy seeds my friends brother brought back from Viet Nam in the 70's. Alas, it is a distant memory. They were some of the prettiest flowers though. Grew them in my friends Grandma's garden!

I swear to God, we MUST be related somehow. In the late 70's, I came home from college with a pony tail, a new tattoo, a pierced ear, and no money. Dad, being the tightwad he was, wanted to know where all my money was going. I told him I spent a lot of it on pot. When he found out how much it cost, he demanded I give him some seeds and he grew some behind a dilapidated old shed. The plants eventually grew about 7 feet tall, he hung them upside down in the shed to cure and sent me back to college with 2 hefty bags full of pot. It was pretty good stuff, too! He actually smoked some with my brothers and I and said " I don't know what the hell is wrong with you boys, that stuff just makes me hungry and stupid, and I don't think you boys need any help being stupid". Someday I'll tell you about the time he and a bunch of the other dads showed up at a party where we were serving electric kool-aid. Here's my dad, showing the plants to my mom, she's clearly developing one of her sick headaches...

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:13 pm

really amazing Shocked

where did your dad grow em? California?

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:51 pm

Ohio

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:23 pm

Quote:

I'll tell you about the time he and a bunch of the other dads showed up at a party where we were serving electric kool-aid.

Hehehe. I could tell you about electric Kool aid and climbing mountains. I don't recommend it, but it was interesting. Especially the campfire later that night.

Quote:

Someday I'll tell you about the time he and a bunch of the other dads showed up at a party where we were serving electric kool-aid.

Do tell my friend! Very Happy

Start that new thread!

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:13 pm

Threads like this make me miss my wild and mis-spent youth! Crying or Very sad

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