Hydromorphone Well-documented

Well-documented

Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.

7 corroborating sources

3 ROAs with full dose ladders

duration data present

29 combo interactions documented

toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)

Aliases: Exalgo, Dilaudid, Jurnista, Diluadid, Palladone

Summary dose.wiki Erowid TripSit PsychonautWiki

Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) is an opioid. It acts as an opioid agonist that binds to different types of opioid receptors, with its analgesic effect attributed mainly to the mu-opioid receptors and minor affinity for the delta and kappa receptors. It is approximately 5-8 times more potent than morphine. It has low oral bioavailability and is most commonly administered intravenously in medical settings; intranasal bioavailability is approximately 52-58%, while rectal bioavailability is lower at around 36% with high variability.

Dose Information source varies by route

Dose basis. These doses are for someone without opioid tolerance. The injected (IV) figures follow the US prescribing label, which starts opioid-naive adults on 0.2-1 mg, and Drugs.Wiki; PsychonautWiki and TripSit list higher injected doses (common 2-4 mg) that suit only people with tolerance. Snorted hydromorphone is absorbed about twice as well as swallowed (roughly 52-58% against 24%), but the snorted figures here are the same as the swallowed ones, so start lower by nose; Drugs.Wiki also advises a lower snorted dose.

ROA	Light	Common	Strong	Heavy
Oral BA ~24%	1-2mg	2-4mg	4-8mg	8mg+
Intravenous	0.5-1mg	1-2mg	2-4mg	4mg+
Insufflated BA 52-58%	1-2mg	2-4mg	4-8mg	8mg+

Light Common Strong Heavy

Sources

Oral

Dose ladder — Drugs.Wiki, PsychonautWiki

Intravenous

Dose ladder — Drugs.Wiki

Insufflated

Dose ladder — dose.wiki, PsychonautWiki

Onset, Duration & After-effects dose.wiki TripSit PsychonautWiki Drugs.Wiki FDA

ROA	Onset	Comeup	Peak	Offset	After Effects	Total
Oral	15-30 min	1-2 hrs	2-4 hrs	30-60 min	1-12 hrs	3.75-7.5 hrs
Intravenous	1-5 min	5-10 min	30-60 min	2-4 hrs	1-12 hrs	2.6-5.25 hrs
Insufflated	4-5 min	10-20 min	30-90 min	1-2 hrs	1-2 hrs	1.74-3.91 hrs
Rectal	15-30 min	-	1-2 hrs	2-3 hrs	12 hrs	3.25-5.5 hrs

Opioid MME Calculator

⚠ Citation & Disclaimer: Conversion factors sourced from the NIH HEAL Initiative MME Calculator (Adams et al., PAIN 2025), the CDC 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain, and the MDCalc MME Calculator. These are approximate equianalgesic ratios for educational reference only. Individual responses vary significantly based on genetics, tolerance, cross-tolerance, and route of administration. This is not medical advice. Do not use these conversions to adjust opioid dosing without professional medical guidance.

Convert from

Convert to

2 mg Hydromorphone

≈

— mg Morphine

⚠ Equianalgesic dose ratios are approximations and do not account for genetic factors, tolerance, incomplete cross-tolerance, or pharmacokinetic variations. Methadone conversion is especially variable at higher doses. Always consult a healthcare provider before making any changes to opioid therapy.

Effect Profile

67 reports

Scores (0–10) curated from multiple sources:

Effect keyword matching from PsychonautWiki catalog
Validated against 46 Erowid trip reports
Weighted by importance: core (×3), major (×2), minor (×1)

Full methodology

Opioid 8.3

Intense 8/10

Strong euphoria, pain relief, and sedation with strong itching/nausea

Euphoria / Warmth ×3

physical euphoria cognitive euphoria euphoria mood lift

Analgesia ×2

pain relief analgesia

Sedation / Relaxation ×1

sedation dream potentiation

⚠ Itching / Nausea ×1

nausea constipation dry mouth

Based on reports from:

Erowid Experience Reports

Tolerance

Build-up develops within days of regular use; analgesic tolerance faster than respiratory depression tolerance

Reset Falls quickly once you stop, at a rate you can't judge. After any break, treat your tolerance as gone.

No tolerance chart. Our decay curves for opioids were estimates, and a curve can make tolerance look longer-lasting than it is, which is the dangerous direction.

Opioid tolerance drops fast when you stop, and even a few days off can be enough, so a dose that used to be normal can now stop your breathing. Overdose deaths rise sharply after prison, detox or leaving treatment, and tolerance also falls during a hospital stay. After any break, start with a much smaller amount, try a test dose first, don't use alone, and keep naloxone within reach. Alcohol, benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids and other sedatives make an opioid overdose much more likely.

Sources: FRANK: heroin · National Harm Reduction Coalition · WHO: opioid overdose · Merrall et al. 2010 · Binswanger et al. 2007 · Strang et al. 2003 · FDA 2019: gabapentinoids and breathing

Cross-Tolerances

Morphine

Oxycodone

Heroin (diacetylmorphine)

Effects Erowid Bluelight

Aggregated from 46 single-substance Erowid and 21 Bluelight experience reports; 24 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out

Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.

Positive Effects 28

58.2% 90%

42.9% 84%

41.8% 89%

30.4% –

23.9% 89%

19.0% 76%

17.9% 89%

16.4% 78%

14.3% 88%

14.3% 83%

14.3% 80%

14.3% 83%

13.4% 75%

10.4% 75%

9.5% 85%

9.0% 85%

8.7% –

7.5% 85%

Show 8 more positive effects

4.8% 85%

4.8% 80%

Thermal 4.8% 80%

4.8% 75%

4.8% 70%

4.8% 90%

4.8% 75%

4.8% 90%

Adverse Effects 25

23.9% 78%

22.4% 80%

14.3% 75%

14.3% 82%

13.0% –

10.9% –

9.5% 80%

9.5% 85%

9.5% 82%

9.5% 70%

8.7% –

6.5% –

4.8% 85%

4.8% 70%

4.8% 85%

4.8% 75%

4.8% 85%

Show 5 more adverse effects

4.8% 90%

4.8% 80%

4.8% 90%

4.8% 85%

4.8% 65%

Also reported in combinations. In the 24 Hydromorphone reports where another drug was taken too, 10 (41.7%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 1 (4.2%) a seizure and 1 (4.2%) psychosis. In the 46 single-substance reports: 39.1%, 0.0% and 2.2%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Hydromorphone alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.

Combinations

Cross-Check Hydromorphone with another substance

Community Trip Reports

Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.

Erowid 8 reports 4 positive 1 neutral 3 cautionary visit

Gone positive exp #88434

I use to live a life to die for, everything a normal seventeen year old could ask for I had... Beautiful girlfriend, loving parents and siblings, money, and an enjoyable life. This all changed on my seventeenth birthday when I first injected Dilaudid.

Amazing, but Not Worth the Withdrawal cautionary exp #71879

I'm 38. Frequent weed smoker. Have experience with acid when much younger, but have spent most of my 30s dabbling in pharms. Mostly extracting codeine from pain meds. This is my first time experiencing with this particular drug.

Dreamy Bliss of Nothing positive exp #34715

I have been toying with idea of trying Intravenous Injection, but I was bit 'anti-needles' and stuff because of that notorious 'needle stimga' if you get my drift. After endless hours of researching dilaudid and dosages, I looked into the negative side of dilaudid's addictive properties.

What Can Go Wrong with Needles cautionary exp #83268

I had never used needles before. I am an opiate addict, and I would say I have about a tolerance of twice what the normal person would. I have only done dilaudid once, I snorted an 8mg one and it did little to NOTHING, just took my withdrawl symptoms away.

Bouyancy positive exp #84522

To start off, Id consider myself a rather well seasoned opiate user but have never had a sincere habit or addiction that lasted more than a month or two. I have used orally, intravenously, intramuscularly, subcutaneously and insufflated opiates such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, dihydrocodeine, morphine, methado...

36 Hours With My Lady D neutral exp #10045

I have been enjoying a dalliance with Dilaudid for the past 2 years or so. It's a drug with effects quite different than those of other drugs I tried, and one with both significant benefits and drawbacks.

Small Orange Circles of Opiate Perfection positive exp #101291

[Erowid Note: The dose described in this report is very high, potentially beyond Erowid's 'heavy' range, and could pose serious health risks or result in unwanted, extreme effects.

The Pull of the Needle cautionary exp #29981

Hey All, I thought I'd sumbit a report on my hydromorphone addiction, because of it's expensive street price people dont really support an addiction of it purely, but when you get perscriptions like I did you can easily become addicted.

Bluelight 8 threads 5 positive 2 neutral 1 cautionary visit

Spotlight Substance For October Is Hydromorphone positive

some people have recently called me out as a drug racist! no names, (phrozen)! but even though my birthday is this month I'll do What phrozen wants! this months substance of the month is Hydromorpnone! Its one of my favorite Opioids. And I love opioids. Even though it does not last long, I still love the Euphoria.

Hydromorphone Dilaudid 6mg Iv Second Attempt Euphoric Paralysis positive

6mg Dilaudid (Hydromorphone) IV – Second Attempt – Euphoric Paralysis Okay a little background on the author. I’m a 20 year old make college student living the United States.

Hydromorphone Iv 8mg Dilaudid First Time Dreamy Bliss Of Nothing neutral

8mg Dilaudid - Hydromorphone IV - First Time - Dreamy Bliss of Nothing 8mg Dilaudid - Hydromorphone IV - First Time - Dreamy Bliss of Nothing After endless hours of researching on dilaudid and expereinces and dosages, as I have been toying with idea to try Intravenous Injection method as I have never tired intravenousl...

Hydromorphone 1 5mg 1st Time Iv Anything Woosshh positive

Okay about a year ago I started snorting Dilaudid off and on. I'm 21 years old, male, 5'8 140. I never really let it get too bad out of hand. I would stop for a month or a few weeks here and here ect. But lets cut to the chase. A couple months ago I went to jail over some bullshit I didnt do. After 46 days I got out.

Iv Hydromorphone First Time Black Eye Blissful Night positive

Substance: IV Hydromorphone, 2mg. Exp: First Time. Height/Weight: 5'11", 120lbs, slim/slender. So I've been trying to get off of hydromorphone, and I tried to avoid IV'ing it, always snorting it. I never really had the chance to IV it anyway, but I ran across a wrapped sterile syringe (trusted source) last night.

8mg Hydromorphone Intranasal positive

ave a had an fucking awesome week lads. On saturday I had my first experience with 2C-I, a 20mg dose which a friend of a friend gave to myself, and the same he gave to my best friend. It is a drug I had wanted to try for years but was lacking connections for.

Hydromorphone First Time Very Euphoric neutral

I tried hydromorphone (diluaudid) recently and thought I would write a somewhat detailed report on it, since it's now my absolute favorite opiate, and I've done a LOT (oxycontin, hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, methadone, tramadol, opium). I am a small chick - four foot eleven and 85 pounds.

Dilaudid Variable Dosages Experienced Repeated Out Of Body Experiences cautionary

This is actually a very delayed trip report but I find it interesting and hopefully amusing to anyone who reads it. This is all took place about 3 years ago while at home and while hospitalized with an infection in my spine.

Pill Identifiers

11 known pill identifiers on record — view imprints, colors, shapes, and images

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Hydromorphone's nerd page Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more

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Helpful Links

💊 Pill Identifier 📘 Experience Reports 📖 dose.wiki 📖 PsychonautWiki

Add missing routes to PsychonautWiki Journal

The PsychonautWiki Journal app already has Hydromorphone, but its built-in entry only covers Insufflated, Intravenous, Oral. Here are the other routes we have data for. You can't edit a built-in substance, but you can add a Custom Unit for any of these routes to log it.

⬇ Download import file Import this file as custom substances and you get "Hydromorphone (Substance Search)" with every route's full dose ladder and timeline, no typing. Works on iOS and Android (v15+); the format is confirmed by the app's developer. The manual values below work for older versions.

Duration (reference)

Hydromorphone: routes the PsychonautWiki Journal app is missing
Source: SubstanceSearch (substancesearch.com)


Rectal duration: onset 15-30m · peak 1-2h · offset 2-3h · total 3.25-5.5h · after-effects 12h

Note: ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription. Start low, go slow, and test your substances.

Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.

Report an issue or suggest an edit

Spotted incorrect or dangerous information, have a correction, a new study, or a useful addition for Hydromorphone? Let us know. Reports are reviewed by moderators — this is not posted publicly.

Hydromorphone Well-documented Well-documented Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects. 7 corroborating sources 3 ROAs with full dose ladders duration data present 29 combo interactions documented toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)

Summary dose.wiki Erowid TripSit PsychonautWiki

Dose Information source varies by route

Oral

Intravenous

Insufflated

Onset, Duration & After-effects dose.wiki TripSit PsychonautWiki Drugs.Wiki FDA

Opioid MME Calculator

Effect Profile

Tolerance

Cross-Tolerances

Effects Erowid Bluelight

Positive Effects 28

Adverse Effects 25

Combinations

Community Trip Reports

Pill Identifiers

Helpful Links

Report an issue or suggest an edit

Hydromorphone Well-documented

Well-documented

Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.

7 corroborating sources

3 ROAs with full dose ladders

duration data present

29 combo interactions documented

toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)