# Time for medicine to take effect **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448 "2011-08-20T18:20:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/1 "2011-08-20T18:20:56Z")
Hello Again, Yes, I have way too much spare time to contemplate things. So, here it goes: I was thinking today as I was taking my daily dose of morphine for chronic pain. When I take the medication orally it takes about an hour before I feel the effects of it. I understand that, as it has to dissolve in the stomach, pass into the intestines and be absorbed. What I am a bit confused on is when pain killers were given to me in the hospital via injection the effect was immediate. I do understand that the drug is being introduced directly into the bloodstream or muscle, but how is it possible the effect is felt without delay. I would assume that the drug would have to work it’s way to the brain but how does it do it so quickly? Does blood coarse through our viens at the speed of sound or something? ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/2 "2011-08-20T18:41:09Z")
According to the calculation [here](http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/09/30/how-fast-does-blood-flow-throughout-the-human-body/), it takes about a minute for all of your blood to cycle. I imagine that number averages awake and sleep time, so if you’re awake it’s probably faster, and the drugs are probably being injected into a vein, so they’re already on their way back to the heart anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/3 "2011-08-20T20:49:47Z")
Your blood is really moving fast and pressurized, unlike the slow boat of your oral ingestion. I have experienced very temporary heart stoppage and I can tell you the effect is very immediate. If speed is of the essence, perhaps there is some inhaled form of the pain killer that would be about as fast as injections. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/4 "2011-08-20T21:34:14Z")
Also, some medications can be dissolved under the tongue (sublingually), which is a much-faster route than regular oral injection. Many of these sublingual pills offer much better absorption into the system via the membranes under the tongue (which is jam-packed with capillaries, helping the medicine to get into the bloodstream more quickly). I suffer from panic attacks and the few times I’ve taken Xanax to help relieve them, going the sublingual method has worked within ten minutes, versus about 30-45 minutes after swallowing the pill regularly. (Same thing with vitamin B12. Sublingual B12 is more effective than oral B12 pills, which lose some of their effectiveness due to the digestive process.) On the downside, the quickness of the absorption rate can be a negative, possibly even dangerous, with some medications, e.g. those that are intended to be introduced more slowly into your system. So ask your doctor about the risks/benefits. Sublingual morphine is supposedly a very popular route regarding terminal cancer patients, but that may be an indication that it’s not recommended for anyone who isn’t in such dire need. Ask your doctor, in other words. Always good practice. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/5 "2011-08-20T21:40:55Z")
> [@choie](#): > > Ask your doctor, in other words. Always good practice. 🙂 Agreed that issues of taking meds should be directed towards your doctor. The question I asked was not to try to find a way for faster relief, but how injectible meds can work so fast. Just boggles my mind how quickly they work. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/6 "2011-08-20T22:12:19Z")
IV injection introduces the drug into a vessle of a certain size or larger. Those vessles are “closer” to the heart in terms of circulation time than are capillaries. But the main reason for the immediacy of relief is that while you are in severe pain, your heart rate is high, and circulation time much reduced. The entire dose is not sent to the brain, but even the minor reduction of the first portion that does has an immediate physical, and emotional synergy that makes you “feel” much better. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/7 "2011-08-20T23:23:22Z")
Morphine can indeed be inhaled and the results are very fast. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/8 "2011-08-21T00:03:16Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > Morphine can indeed be inhaled and the results are very fast. If someone uses this delivery method is it a medical use or a getting stoned use? ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/9 "2011-08-21T00:20:29Z")
It is a legitmate medical delivery method. However there is a looooong history of the getting stoned practice too, called “chasing the dragon,” IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![zhaoyipeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cab0a1/32.png) [@zhaoyipeng](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zhaoyipeng)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/10 "2011-08-22T05:08:41Z")
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**Author:** ![zhaoyipeng](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cab0a1/32.png) [@zhaoyipeng](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zhaoyipeng)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/11 "2011-08-22T05:10:03Z")
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**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-medicine-to-take-effect/593448/12 "2011-08-22T06:16:32Z")
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