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Medical marijuana vape for pain relief from Peripheral Neuropathy?

Posted by Steve @stevebern, Jul 31, 2022

Hello,

Does anyone here use a vape cartridge for pain relief? My feet hurt all the time, not terrible in the morning but by evening they scream at me. I find that a single puff makes all the pain and worry all go away for about 90 minutes, then I fall asleep. I only use it at night, and have tried not doing it two nights in a row, but as the pain gets worse I have used it two nights in a row, and last night was the first time I had it three nights in a row.

I’m concerned about my body getting used to it, and that it will stop working. I’m 58, in great health, and want to know I will have this relief for many years.

I guess the question is, if I use it too much now, will I lose it later, when it will probably be so much worse?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Neuropathy Support Group.

jenatsky | @jenatsky | Aug 8, 2022
In reply to @artscaping "Good morning @mcd123, how are you doing? It is nice to see you posting again. Let..." + (show)
@artscaping

Good morning @mcd123, how are you doing? It is nice to see you posting again. Let me see how I can help or even if I can help today. Perhaps I don't understand what you are asking. There is really no mixing of tincture and topical except that you might use both products at certain times during the day like morning and bedtime. But then, you also might use a calming tincture in the afternoon. The actual products are different. A topical is often called a "balm". That just means heavy cream or lotion that you rub on your hands or feet. So I may use a topical after my walk or exercises. Bedtime is mandatory for my hands because I am replacing some gabapentin. My two topicals are 3:1 CBD/THC for chronic pain and 1:3 CBD/THC for acute pain.

Tinctures are liquids in a dropper bottle that are placed in your mouth and held under your tongue for a minute or so to make sure the medical cannabis goes right to your brain. If you swallow it, it takes quite a while to get through your digestive system. They come in many different CBD/THC dosages. For example, I use a 2:1 CBD/THC tincture at bedtime. Then in the morning, I usually use a 1:1 CBD/THC tincture which I call my "get up and go...girl" dosage. The second measurement I use is how much I fill the dropper....1/3, 1/2, or by mg if the dropper has markings to measure it.

If might be helpful for you to take a look at the Papa and Barkley websites just because they explain the products and their purposes quite well. They have two sites...one is for CBD only which are legal everywhere. The other includes products with THC included in them.

And now for the mystery. What is "see cream"? I have never heard of that one.

May you have happiness and the causes of happiness.
Chris

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Hey Art hope you’re doing well. To add to Art’s wonderful explanation vaping only lasts a short time and many of us who suffer with PN will vape throughout the day as needed. Your statement about needing to wait until a specific time for your next hit intrigued me too? I have found that over time my pain control has increased, my mmj use has too but I no longer get buzzed, which is fine with me. You need to experiment to find your sweet spot and it took me a year.

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1 reply
raebaby | @raebaby | Aug 9, 2022
In reply to @pamelaz "My doctor told me to not use the or CBD. The pain is so I and..." + (show)
@pamelaz

My doctor told me to not use the or CBD. The pain is so I and the gabapentin isn’t helping. It make everything worse.

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I use CBD at night. I'm going to start using a vape pen and see if the numbness in my legs improves. It's all legal here in good old California. I've even had a few pots of it growing in my back yard and toasted it. I didn't like the feeling from that.

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Mentor
Chris Trout, Volunteer Mentor | @artscaping | Aug 10, 2022
In reply to @jenatsky "Hey Art hope you’re doing well. To add to Art’s wonderful explanation vaping only lasts a..." + (show)
@jenatsky

Hey Art hope you’re doing well. To add to Art’s wonderful explanation vaping only lasts a short time and many of us who suffer with PN will vape throughout the day as needed. Your statement about needing to wait until a specific time for your next hit intrigued me too? I have found that over time my pain control has increased, my mmj use has too but I no longer get buzzed, which is fine with me. You need to experiment to find your sweet spot and it took me a year.

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Greetings Mr. Jenatsky. I appreciate your positive comments. Please don't hesitate to tell me if I am sounding a bit off target. Did I make a statement about waiting until a specific time for the next hit? I don't think I do that. What I do agree with is your comment about needing more pain control over time. I am pretty well educated about the neuropathic pain progression over time. This has been quite the ramp-up year.

My best......Chris

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kenc | @kenc | Aug 11, 2022
In reply to @sunnythe1st "what permanent damage can cannabis do to adults? We are talking about using it for pain..." + (show)
@sunnythe1st

what permanent damage can cannabis do to adults? We are talking about using it for pain and it is proven that it does work.

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For starters may want to peruse this article: https://americanaddictioncenters.org/marijuana-rehab/long-term-effects

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emil | @emil | Aug 12, 2022

You will develop a tolerance to cannabis as you use it medically every day. However, there are minimal withdrawal symptoms if you reduce your dose gradually. There’s a dose-related “sweet spot” that exists where you can take enough to help your pain but not enough to get stoned or sleepy. I assume you’re in a place where cannabis is legal, at least for cannabis. If so, talk to your budtender there. They can make recommendations based on the current knowledge.

Let your primary care doctor know what and how much you take. If you haven’t tried gabapentin or pregabalin you may want to stop the cannabis and do so. Sometimes it’s okay to use cannabis and a prescribed med as an adjunct in small doses but this recommendation should come from your medical provider(s). That means both at the cannabis dispensary and your primary care doctor.

Good luck, my friend. I have struggled for years now with severe neuropathy in my feet and to a mild to moderate case in my fingers. Pregabalin works for me. Not a cure, but as with all pain issues it reduces the symptoms enough for me to live a normal-ish life. I only use cannabis at night when needed in the form of a capsule I take with my bedtime tea (manzanilla).

Gottenyu and blessings.

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medman18 | @medman18 | Aug 30, 2022
In reply to @stevebern "Thanks for responding, Amanda. Yes, it took a while to figure out that a single puff..." + (show)
@stevebern

Thanks for responding, Amanda. Yes, it took a while to figure out that a single puff on a vape is what works best after testing several versions of cannabis. (Thankfully, it’s legal in Florida for medical purposes)

Yes, if I knew I wouldn’t lose the effectiveness, I wouldn’t feel as concerned about using it nightly if necessary… and although I’m not really a fan of the feeling of being intoxicated, the relief can be glorious.
.

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So happy you found something that helps and is not a drug. Keep up the good work.
Jack buchter

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mecha | @mecha | Aug 30, 2022

No sé la marihuana tiene efecto para el dolor porque no tengo dolor en mi neuropatía. Pero si una espasticidad muy marcada al caminar y doy fe que se suaviza con la ingestion de unas gotas de CBD o THC de uso medicinal permitido.

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Mentor
John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Nov 10, 2023

Hi @artemis1886, Thank you for the private message. I thought I would respond to your PM in this discussion so that you can meet other members discussing medical marijuana for neuropathy. If you click the link below it will take you to the beginning of the discussion:
--- Medical marijuana vape for pain relief from Peripheral Neuropathy?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/medical-marijuana-vape-for-pain-relief-from-peripheral-neuropathy/.

There are also a couple of other discussions on the topic that are a little older but still have active members that I think will respond if you post any questions.
--- Has medical marijuana helped your nerve pain?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/has-medical-marijuana-helped-your-nerve-pain/
--- Medical marijuana for neuropathy: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/medical-marijuana-3/.

I recently saw this informative article on Medical Marijuana on the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy's website. I thought it might be helpful for those members looking for more unbiased information.
--- Medical Marijuana for Peripheral Neuropathy: https://www.foundationforpn.org/2019/05/14/medical-marijuana-for-peripheral-neuropathy/

If you click on the search box at the top of any Connect page and type a few keywords, it will show you related discussions, member posts and newsfeed articles. The search function went through some major changes not too long ago and it really works good if you want to give it a try for members discussing tremors with neuropathy. @lmill7 and others may have some thoughts on tremors with motor neuropathy.

Hope this helps.

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artemis1886 | @artemis1886 | Nov 10, 2023
In reply to @artscaping "Good evening @possiblecidp and thanks @amandajro for the introduction. First, Steve @possiblecidp have you been diagnosed..." + (show)
@artscaping

Good evening @possiblecidp and thanks @amandajro for the introduction. First, Steve @possiblecidp have you been diagnosed with CIDP? Are you taking any medication for pain other than the medical cannabis vape? And second, another question for which your post appears a bit disconcerting. One single vape puff of medical cannabis reduces your pain to a tolerable level and you now are using it up to three nights in a row. Question #1....how many nights in between the three-night dosages? And #2.....are you really saying that one single draw on a vape is enough to reduce your pain and put you to sleep within 90 minutes?

The reason I am asking is this.......when I started with medical cannabis, I used a vape, and one draw was not able to reduce my pain so that I could sleep. So....you are way ahead of my journey which might be interpreted that you can always add another draw if your pain level continues to become higher.

Since you are in Florida and can visit a medical cannabis dispensary, perhaps the staff "pharmacist" could help you with that answer. And finally, are you familiar with the strain or strains used in your vape? If you are using Indica, that would potentially have less strength than a Sativa strain. So....changing strains can also be a way of increasing the potency of your vape.

I no longer do any vaping because of the danger to other parts of my body, e.g. lungs. However, I can tell you that as my neuropathic pain progressed, my dosage had to progress also. So...I may have stayed with the 2:1 CBD/THC dosage but upped the tincture amount used to 1/2 a dropper as opposed to 1/3 a dropper.

Hopefully, this will make sense and show you alternative ways to increase the pain dosage in one way or another. A final example: As you probably know, pain can create anxiety and anxiety can heighten pain. I began taking Duloxetine 3 years ago and was prescribed 30 mg every morning. It worked better with my anxiety than any other medication. So....as my pain began to ramp up so did my anxiety. My PCP and I made a shared decision to keep the medical cannabis at the same dosage and increase the Duloxetine. I am now at 120 mg every morning.

Please remember that neuropathy in all of its forms is symptom progressive. We must carefully increase our "treatments" to ensure that we can live with the degree of pain and discomfort that we encounter.

How does this sound to you? Helpful?
May you be safe, protected, and free of inner and outer harm.
Chris

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Explain why you would use a sativa strain vs indica. If you are using it for sleep and pain relief normally an indica is recommended. I do not know much about marijuana. I am asthmatic and can only do edibles and tinctures but they can’t have butane which a lot of them have.

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1 reply
artemis1886 | @artemis1886 | Nov 10, 2023

Which makes them really hard to buy. My oldest 38 is looking to move to Colorado. He has been taking classes at a college learning about growing and hydroponics right now.

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