how does morphine help breathing
I care for a COPD patient who has a prn order for morphine to treat his dyspnea. Why would the physician order this drug when respiratory depression is a side effect? Morphine is the drug of choice for managing dyspnea in COPD. However, it's given in much smaller doses for dyspnea than for pain. Morphine helps a patient breathe easier in a number of ways: It reduces anxiety and may blunt the body's response to hypercapnia and hypoxemia that contribute to dyspnea. Its vasodilating effect reduces preload, which in turn relieves pulmonary congestion that also contributes to dyspnea.