It's funny- I've taken MSContin for 14 years and never thought about how it works. I know a bit about it- that it is the long-acting form of morphine and it is supposed to last 8-12 hours. (Never lasted past 6 with me, even at the start!) I know that if a pill is crushed or broken I must flush it. That has happened many times over the years, as one brand comes in a nice little tiny pill with coating so it can't crumble or be broken, but the one I've gotten lately (must be generic) comes as an oval pill and leaves orange powder on my fingers. It disintegrated when I was in Cancun and Aruba, and that was in the hotel room safe! I guess the humidity got to it. So I've been overly anal about never taking a broken tablet, even if only a tiny chip was in it. I always thought it would not work properly and make the medication release all at once and kill me. No, I'm not being melodramatic- I really thought that. Still won't take one if it's cracked or crumbly. But thank God the new ones are tiny white dots, not crumbling orange ovals.

ANYWAY. I'm switching from one dose to another and just began to wonder how it works. Does it just release tiny bits of morphine over 12 hours? Like, my 60mg would release 10mg every hour for 6 hours? Or 5mg every hour for 12?

I understand the MSIR- it's 30mg released right away. So since I am switching to more long acting and less short acting, will I be more tired during the day? 100mg is 40mg more than I'm used to, but I'm taking 5 less MSIR a day. It SOUNDS better- less pills to worry about. But will it still kill the pain?

When I 1st started taking MSContin I thought that it was releasing 60mg of morphine into my bloodstream every hour. I was terrified. But it couldn't do that or we'd overdose and certainly wouldn't need the MSIR.

Forgive my insomniac ramblings- but I am curious. I'm waiting till Saturday to start b/c I don't want to be alone with my son if it doesn't work, or if it makes me sleepy. Doubt it as I've taken it for 14 years, but still. I'm so anal about my meds. I make sure I put them in a pillbox in the morning and write down each dose as I take it so there's no question as to when I took the pills and what my pain level was at the time. In all these years I've never made a mistake. Now I'm starting a whole new regime and I'm hoping it works. I'm not even sure when to take the MSIR (now one tablet and not two).

I'll figure it out, but if anyone here understands how it works, I would love to finally know. The long-acting SOUNDS good, but it IS confusing!