methadose + morphine

My wife's doctor gave her a prescription for methadose and one for morphine on June 8. On June 11 I found her dead in bed. Is it common to prescribe these two meds together?? I have heard absolutely not that they are lethal but haven't been able to find any definate answers.

Hi there! I am no expert but as far as I know these two drugs bind to the same receptors although they are not the same drugs but do have the same effect. I also know that if methadone is taken less then 100 mg then the ratio between drugs is 3 mg morphine:1 mg methadone. However, if the dosage is between 101-300 mg then the ratio is 5:1; 301-600 mg - 10:1 and so on.
Now you didn’t say what your wife was prescribed the drug for! For pain or heroin detox? I suppose the doctors did an abduction and they should have told you if she overdosed and if respiratory depression occurred or something else.
These two drugs are not supposed to interact it is possible that she had taken too much.
Like I said, I am no doctor and I can’t connect things, I am just sharing my knowledge about these two drugs.
I am very sorry about your loss.

Hello,

I am so sorry about your wife how terrible! Those both are very serious drugs each of which I consider to be like a loaded gun. They demand proper handling. I don't know how much she was prescribed but I am really surprised that they were prescribed together. I am so sorry for you leave no rock unturned !

Just wanted to say sorry to gentleman who lost his wife.
I'e been put on many pain medications, and to my husband is very scared. I can't see a doctor giving this type of medications to aperson, where they are so deadly.. Hope you will find answers, and god bless you and your family.

i was given 10mg methadone 2 x a day on top of the 45mg of ms contin (MORPHINE) and percocet 3 times a day that I had already been on 2 years. The only methadone I took threw me for a loop and I stopped right there. I am certin that xanax or valume klonpin ativan ect. are very dangerous to mix and my doctor has me on 2 of them aswell. Hope this helped you some and sorry for your loss.

Very Sorry for your lose!! After a bad accident and 10 years had passed Methadone became a life savior for me. Now after 10+ years my children are raised and I can start caring for myself again. I take 160mg Meth daily and on bad days I also take up to 240mg of Morphine sulphate for breakthrough pain. Also in the mix is Xanax. It's taken over 20 years to get up to such a dose. Yes they are used together but very carefully.

Hey there,
Sorry to hear about your wife man,and in answer to your question,i think it's rather uncommon for methadone to be prescribed along with morphine or any other opiate for that matter,unless it's for chronic pain control,for someone with a terminal illness.I Have been physically addicted to opiates for about 4 years or more now and recently had a major life saving emergency surgery.I'm Prescribed Hydromorphone and Methadone.Hydromorphone is like 4 times stronger then morphine i believe,but I'm very opiate tolerant and it takes a lot of opiates to make me feel "normal" let alone actually kill my pain.
But If you're wife was taking both medications exactly as prescribed by her doctor and this happened I would take legal action.especially if you're wife was opiate naive and your physician was aware of that fact.
Regardless you're doctor should have exercised extreme caution when prescribing an opiate such as methadone,not to mention throwing morphine in the mix.

I can probably give you more info if you give me some as well Like;

Had she used opiates previously for pain?
How much were here dosages (in mg's)

also how many days did she take the methadone?the effects should be monitered the first few days and the dosage adjusted accordingly to the patients reaction...Methadone builds up in your system and the first dose you take can make you feel fine but as the methadone builds up you can overdose two days later.