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Anaesthesia => Analgesic => Morphine
Morphine
Morphine, opiate analgesic. Morphine is the most commonly used of all the pain-killing drugs known as strong opioids (mainly compounds extracted from the opium poppy and their chemical derivatives) and it has many analgesic derivatives. It is particularly effective in controlling severe, continuous pain in the soft tissue of internal organs, but less so for intermittent or neuropathic pain (where nerves are affected). Morphine sulphate is used as pre- and post-operative sedation. In treating continuous pain in, for example, terminal cancer, there is no maximum dose or danger of addiction to morphine. Side effects include euphoria, mental detachment, constipation, and nausea. Larger doses produce depressed respiration. Diamorphine (heroin) is given to patients who cannot swallow, as it is injected.
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