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 :)