According to the latest research by British scientists, low-dose, slow-release morphine can offer chronic coughers considerable relief.
"Our study is the first one to prove that morphine can be successful in chronic cough," said the author of the research, Dr Alyn H. Morice, a professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Hull, in East Yorkshire.
"We are also able to measure its effect for the first time," he explained. "About 66 per cent of patients will respond to the low dose that we use."
High doses are hazardous
Larger doses of the substance are used to control chronic pain, Morice explained. "Injecting high doses is what is bad for you and results in addiction," he added.
The results of the research are published in the February issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
In the research, Morice and his team assessed 27 adults - eighteen women and nine men - who were being treated at a hospital cough clinic. All of them suffered persistent cough for over three months; the average age of the patients was 55.
