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Comment by mattr47 | Hacker News Reader

I've had both morphine via IV and fentanyl via a lollipop. Both were in Afghanistan and as far as pain relief goes the morphine was way better for me, because I got a large dose in my bloodstream. I totally understood at that point why people get addicted to that stuff. I did not care about anything at that point. The fentanyl just did not have a strong effect on me.

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Most fentanyl is administered IV as well, the “100x more potent” stuff is mostly misleading because the doses are different but it is substantially more effective than morphine.

My wife does anesthesia and if they’re going to use opioids at all, it’s almost always IV fentanyl. It’s extremely rare that patients report any pain afterwards. Though there’s a big movement toward opioid-free surgery so that’s promising.

As someone who went through a IM nail procedure I couldn’t have done it without opiates. I didn’t get addicted either. It’s a valuable drug that was abused.

> IM nail

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intramedullary_rod

Yeah it’s absolutely indicated for some surgeries but unfortunately it’s “defaulted” for many as well, so people end up going home on prescriptions for it after cases where they didn’t really need it. The movement is to ID which cases don’t call for it and then use alternative anesthesia / analgesia to make the post op care consist of extra strength Motrin instead of opioids. The other part is to dramatically reduce the number of doses that people are sent home with. Small barriers to access have a huge impact on addiction.

> Small barriers to access have a huge impact on addiction.

At the expense of those who legitimately need it. Given how ridiculous the current climate has become, I would almost certainly preemptively purchase black market opiates prior to a procedure if the timing allowed for it. (At this point, I almost feel compelled to keep some on hand for family in general based on past experiences.)

I have a small bit left over from my surgery in my freezer in case of an emergency. It’s been a number of years but I’m planning to keep it around.

I remember when they were pumping my dad with propofol and fentanyl for a hemorrhagic stroke to medically induce a coma and let the brain heal. It was like flipping a light switch knocking him out instantly.

I'm scared of this stuff after seeing what it can do to a full grown adult but totally understand the medical necessity for it as it saves lives.

I had morphine for appendicitis. It didn't appear to do anything for me. :(

Any time I've had any sort of opioid the only thing it did for me is make me feel extremely sick.

You may have needed a higher dose. That sucks though.

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