Morphine stays in your bloodstream for about four hours, but it can show up in drug tests for much longer.
Most morphine prescriptions come with a four-hour dosing schedule, suggesting the drug remains active for about that long.
How long you feel morphine's effects depends on the product you're using and how you ingest the drug. These general guidelines can help you understand the differences:
Doctors use morphine tablets and capsules to address moderate to severe pain. It may be prescribed for pain related to cancer or for pain related to a major surgery or injury. Two basic forms of morphine tablets or capsules exist:
Immediate-release tablets typically last between 2 and 4 hours.[1]
Extended-release formulations (like MS Contin) last between 4 and 12 hours when taken orally.[2]
If morphine is misused via snorting, it enters the body through the mucosal membranes of the nose and then into the bloodstream. The individual will likely feel changes immediately (within a few minutes), and the effects usually last a few hours.
Morphine injections are designed for severe pain that doesn’t respond to oral formulations. Doses are typically administered every four to eight hours. [3]
Some people with advanced medical conditions can’t swallow morphine or receive it by injection. For these individuals there are morphine suppositories, also usually given every four to eight hours. [4]
Morphine stays in the blood for no more than a few hours, meaning the active effects of morphine only last a few hours. However the metabolites of morphine stay in the body and are detectable in the urine for several days. [5] Morphine can be detected in various body components as follows:
Factors that could make morphine show up for longer or shorter periods include the following:[6]
Morphine is metabolized mostly in the liver. [2] Some people have genetic alterations allowing them to break down morphine faster than others. But some people have opposing alterations, so morphine persists much longer. Most people metabolize morphine within four hours but some may metabolize more rapidly or more slowly.
The half-life of a drug represents the period required for the body to metabolize half of the drug.[7] Morphine, has a half-life of two to four hours.[2] Half-life can be extremely variable, and some people may experience effects of morphine for shorter or longer periods than others.
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