Good morning Iza

I'm a new member myself and have joined after my mother has been diagnosed with cancer.

That being said - I'm also a doctor who works in Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care so have some familiarity with morphine-based medicines. A lot of people who deal with pain tell me that they're scared about increasing doses or becoming dependant / used to it / "addicted".

The fact is that it's still one of the most useful pain medicines that we have, and used frequently in cancer patients (if you can tolerate the side effects).

There is a chance that you need increasing doses over time to achieve the same effect. This might depend on how much your taking, what type of pain you're experiencing, and the progression of whatever underlying problem / cancer you have.

 Also, one of the better things about morphine is that if you find yourself taking a particular amount during  a day- your doctor can add that all up and split it into a slow release medicine to take twice a day- it can make you feel like you're less dependant on taking Oramorph all the time, for example.

Finally- it may seem obvious but if you're left with a choice between being in pain and not - this is the one thing you could have some control over so don't feel guilty / worried about having to use medicine to manage it(!)

Hope that all makes sense. Apologies if this is rather long for a first post and isn't intended as professional advice  just the same words I've given to my mother as a worried son :)

Thank you for your reply, I am truly sorry to hear about your mother, I hope she feels alright and her cancer has been diagnosed early. I wish you the best for the future.

At the moment i take 5mg in the morning and 5 in the evening and top up oral morph when needed. One of my cancers is liver and with time my liver functions less efficiently so i found myself needing to take an extra 5 or 10 ml at bedtime to be able to cope. 

You are correct with time I will have to increase the quantity I take. As my cancers are terminal i don't want to take too much too early and found that in a few month it doesn't help me anymore because I wantd to be comfortable now. As I don't know how long I will have I would rather pace myself for as long as I can cope.

I have seen one of my friends in agony because the Dr gave her very high doses early then she was in desperate for need for something esle to help.

Thank for replying it is nice to have a little support.

Best of care for your mum and stay strong.