Kadian/MS Contin - is the labeled mg amount the TOTAL in the capsule or the CONSTANT "level" in your body?

Question

Hello:

I was just prescribed Kadian for chronic pain that isn't going to go away. I have been taking short acting meds for over 3 years for it & Dr. wanted to try this for the long haul. I am currently taking about 60mg hydrocodone per day.

So my question is, I just picked up these Kadian ----which I think are the same thing as MS Contin, some type of extended release morphine-----and they say 30mg.

I tried the fast acting morphine sulfate for a few days that were 30 mg per pill, but since they were fast acting, I assume it was all released at about the same time.

Getting to the point.........

Does this 30mg Kadian pill have a full TOTAL of just 30mg inside it that will be spread out over about 24 hours? If so that would be only just around 2.5mg of morphine in my body at once, which I hardly think would work at all?

OR

Does the labelled amount, 30mg in this case mean that it will provide about 30mg of morphine around the clock?

I am very confused. Thank you for any help!

Answer 1

30 mg morphine per day is about the same as 60 mg of hydrocodone per day.  The 30 mg is the total amount of morphine in the pill.  Try it and see if it controls your pain - you may have to get a higher dose if you are tolerant.

DK

Answer 2

If they say 30mg, then they contain 30mg of the drug that will be released over an extended period of time. I don't think it works quite the way you've described (2.5mg at once) -- it releases slowly, but the effect will build up -- say the first hour, 2.5mg are released, over the next hour another 2.5 -- the first 2.5 won't be entirely out of your system yet, so the next 2.5 will add to that, and so on.

edit: with regard to your update--

It should release at a continuous rate, regardless of how much you've got in your bloodstream at the moment. A half life is basically how long it takes for your body to get rid of half of the substance-- so for example, if you take 2mg of a substance with a half life of two hours, two hours after you take it, there will only be one mg in your system. Give it another two hours, and there'll only be .5mg floating around in your body; two hours after that, .25, and so on -- so, you can see that the half-life isn't really the peak. If you've taken something with a half-life of two hours, by that second hour, you'll definitely be feeling yourself coming off of it, since there's only half of the drug in your system. I hope this makes sense, and if you need any further help, feel free to email me.