How long does morphine stay in your system?
Morphine is one of the best choices for pain management. It has the proven result of reducing acute pain, and this is the reason medical professionals use it in many severe cases like post-surgery pain management, cancer pain management, or menacing injuries.
The morphine has splendid results if administered under medical supervision, but overuse or dependency can turn into lethal consequences. The healthcare provider will prescribe this medicine after considering several factors and only when the positives outweigh the negative effects of it.
How does morphine work in your system?
One more question may also be hovering in your mind, and that is, how long does morphine stay in your system? You may be thinking about it if you are applying for a job or any other professional venture.
But before that, know how it works and in which form the morphine is administered in your body so that you may have a better understanding of the former question.
The pain relief medicine binds to several receptors in the brain and nervous system, and those receptors are opioids. These receptors have a crucial role to play in pain and stress management.
The morphine breaks the pain perception, and you may have the euphoric feeling.
How is the morphine administered in the body?
There are several methods of administration. The medical professional will look into your condition and prescribe accordingly. For example, intravenous will provide immediate relief within 5 to 10 minutes and is suitable for unbearable pain.
Basically, the doctor will give morphine in three ways—oral administration, injectable form, or intravenous form.
The intravenous way will have a quicker effect as compared to other ways. However, there are two variants of the drug—the immediate release and extended release.
As the name suggests, the immediate release works within a few minutes to provide the prompt effect, whereas the extended release helps the patient to manage the moderate pain. The ER works slowly so that the effects of the medicine remain for a longer period.
Hence, the extended release provides relief for a longer period.
How long does morphine stay in your system?
Do you know that morphine is detected in humans as soon as 2 to 3 hours after taking it and can be detected till 90 days after the last administration?
Now explore the quick facts about how long morphine stays in your system.
Blood
You will show a positive result for morphine after 1.5 hours of taking it. The method is most suitable in cases when the employer wants to find out about the acute intoxication.
How long does IV morphine stay in your system? The IV medicine enters the bloodstream in a relatively short time. You can notice the result within 5 to 10 minutes of administration. The medicine through IV can stay up to 1.5 hours to 4.5 hours.
As the medicine has a quick effect, the medicine gets eliminated quickly from the body, and the relief from pain is also short-lived. But the window morphine can stay in blood is 6 hours to 12 hours.
This method is an invasive procedure and not the suitable one, as the medicine leaves the body quickly.
Urine
Urine is the most prominent and reliable method. How long does morphine stay in your urine? The detection period is 2 – 6 hours. The presence of the medicine in urine is detected 2 hours to 6 hours after use.
But other factors like hydration and kidney functionality also matter in this case. If the liver or kidney is in a compromised state, then the detection window may change to three to four days.
Saliva
Saliva is a non-invasive method and most suitable if you are taking it for a prolonged time. The detection window is one to four days. It is also one of the most accurate ways to find the presence of drugs in the body.
Hair Follicles
The hair follicle detection method is used if the long-term addiction to morphine is suspected. The morphine can stay in the hair up to 90 days.
How long does extended-release morphine stay in your system?
The morphine has two versions—immediate release and extended release. Immediate release can stay in the body for three to four hours, with the pain relief window being four to six hours.
But the extended-release shows the effect a bit slower as compared to other forms of medicine. It works slowly; hence, it stays in the body for around four to six hours, while the medicinal effect remains in the body for ten to twelve hours.
Conclusion
How long does morphine stay in your system? It’s not only the form of administration; several other factors also contribute to it. If you are taking a large quantity or you are taking it for a longer period, the medicine will remain in your body for a long period of time.
Your age, weight, metabolism, liver and kidney functionality, and hydration levels also have a vital role to play in eliminating the medicine from the body.
