Does medical marijuana work for chronic pain?

Posted by mmoss @mmoss, Mar 27, 2021

Does Medical marijuana work for chronic pain. Looking for alternatives to Vicodin.

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

@isaratex

I doubt it will help. I’ve been through tons of physical therapy, recently, & a pain therapy program, last summer. Zero help. I took it very seriously.

I’ve had RA, probably since my teens, that’s when the pain became severe. Docs always suspected RA, but I never had a positive Rheumatoid Factor test. I went from 18 yrs old to 50, when a new test became available, before I got a positive and access to RA meds. That’s a lot of damage.

Thank you for your suggestion, I will explore further. I live in Texas, but the med center in Houston is close.

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You're welcome. I'm sorry you've struggled with RA for many years. Living with the damage must be challenging.

In case you've not seen the video on central sensitization
and chronic pain from Mayo's Dr. Sletten, here it is. You may find relatable topics and possibly snag some learning tools from it.

Dr. Christopher Sletten, Central Sensitization Syndrome -

- https://youtu.be/vJNhdnSK3WQ

There's a lot to process when living with chronic conditions. Should you decide to explore pain rehabilitation further please keep in mind that all rehabilitation centers, clinics or pain therapy programs are not built the same. Focusing on the 4 main components of:
- physical
- behavioral
- emotional
- chemical
creates a mind/body comprehensive approach towards an inclusive rehabilitation program.

I hope you do explore the med center in Houson. Is it a large teaching hospital? They may offer a better program than what you've experienced. Understandably, location is important. I live in NY and chose Mayo Clinic's Pain Rehab Center in Florida (it was warm and there were palm trees 😊) but it took some creative planning to make it happen. It was the best decision I've made however.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'm happy to help and share my rehabilitation experiences. Stay hopeful!

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@frobvt

Their levels of expertise amaze me at times. I'm told that in my state and at this particular dispensary, the average age of a customer seeking relief is between the ages of 42 and people in their '80s! Whenever I've called the dispensary for info, they say that that's what they're there for. I too use the Leafly app, it is a treasure trove of info. Also, every doctor I have knows that I use medical marijuana, and they all approve of it. Would you believe that in high school I never liked marijuana? I medicate, don't recreate. People do need to realize the differences between Indica and Sativa. I prefer Indicas and like hybrids that start off with Sativa and finish with Indica. My favorite strain to go to for pain is Sour Kush. I also use CBD Blue Dream with a 2:1 ratio, great for daytime pain relief. Customizing or blending of herb is great! With underlying asthma, I don't smoke, I vape, only pure distillate, (organically grown in my state with no pesticides), and usually don't more than once or twice a day. I find that I need a little bit of THC on a daily basis with CBD and then finish with CBN gel pen at night in order to get the best pain relief, and sleep well. I believe this combination would be called the Entourage effect? I'm with you on the pain. Pain is so devastating it wreaks havoc on one's life! My regimen just gets me enough relief to soothe me so I can have as normal a life as possible.

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Well, I found what looks to be something similar to Sour Kush, original sour diesel. And for pain, this stuff kicks it butt. Thanks for laying your favorite strain out there and why. Would love for others to do the same so we can experiment for better strains as found locally. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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@chuck406

Well, I found what looks to be something similar to Sour Kush, original sour diesel. And for pain, this stuff kicks it butt. Thanks for laying your favorite strain out there and why. Would love for others to do the same so we can experiment for better strains as found locally. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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I'm so happy that you found it and that it works so well for you! True, we could all benefit by sharing our knowledge so we can help one another. Sour Kush is a hybrid that is Sour Diesel crossed with OG Kush. It starts out like a Sativa, but finishes as a Indica. Amazing pain control. I need very little, just to get good benefits. This is one strain that could kick somebody's butt if they had too much!

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I've heard that it works great for spine conditions like I have. I wouldn't use it unless I had no other choice though.

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@isaratex

Sue, no, no, no… my comments were for the person replying to Emil. I don’t know if some of the comment was scrubbed, but he called Emil a name and accused him of peddling drugs.

I do not like censorship, but he was rude while offering no information. While I don’t want him silenced, I wanted to ask him to be civil. I’m a retired teacher; sometimes you have to teach folks what’s appropriate. His opinion, while rude, should still be valued, IMHO. He probably has a reason for his viewpoint.

CBD did not help me at all, was expensive, and I hate that my pain doc is now pushing it. She wins whether it works or not, with a good profit. Then these docs ignore folks that CBD does not work for. Sounds like a conflict of interest to me.

I’m sorry my reply was apparently written in the wrong place. Your words were fine. Thank you for replying to me.

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Brief Recap: 70 year old white male. Had prostate cancer surgery on June 16th. Was diagnosed with "bone on bone" knees 5 years ago. Told I needed both knees replaced. Some days are moderately OK, some days I can barely walk to the toilet. I cannot go down a flight of stairs unless I walk backwards. A few days a week I encounter "screaming pain" and essentially stay in bed all day.
Started using CBD bought locally. Didn't do a thing. Did some research. CBD bought at gas stations and smoke shops said 5 mgs was a starting dose. Research discovered that science driven studies use 20mgs as a start.
Between January and March of 2022 I spent about $1,000 ordering online. Finally decided on 1 vendor in Texas - HomeTown Hero. They grow their own weed. Process it in a variety of CBD products. After reading a lot and watching videos I bought a package of their CBD Delta 8 THC gummies. I was satisfied with the pain relief. Then various states began to restrict sales of Delta 8, so I willingly paid $70 .
(for a package of 10 ) Delta 9 THC CBD gummies.

Delta 9 THC CBD is the BOMB! If you eat it with an empty stomach it will hit you in about an hour. Really should not take it if you need to go shopping, or any other public place. I take mine around 5 or 6 PM. Slowly colorful patterns seem to appear on the white walls of my bedroom. If I'm watching a TV show it almost seems 3-D. The knee pain is masked for a few hours. suspect if I ate 4 at once I'd be tripping, God would be speaking to me and I'd see flying saucers in the sky. (Did a lot of psychedelics way back when).
Don't get me wrong. A tablespoon of methadone does a much better job of killing the pain. But my girlfriend can't give me any of her daily methadone too often. But that's how I know to compare the 2. And around here, a 3rd party sale of 1 days worth of methadone costs $40. So the gummies are expensive, and I can't eat them on a daily basis cause I'm on a fixed income. but they are cheaper than any other painkiller around. If I was younger and stronger I'd probably would grow (or try to grow opium) poppies, but experience has shown that I do not have a green thumb.
Well, I need to go to the laundromat. Have a good day.

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@ctpaul

Brief Recap: 70 year old white male. Had prostate cancer surgery on June 16th. Was diagnosed with "bone on bone" knees 5 years ago. Told I needed both knees replaced. Some days are moderately OK, some days I can barely walk to the toilet. I cannot go down a flight of stairs unless I walk backwards. A few days a week I encounter "screaming pain" and essentially stay in bed all day.
Started using CBD bought locally. Didn't do a thing. Did some research. CBD bought at gas stations and smoke shops said 5 mgs was a starting dose. Research discovered that science driven studies use 20mgs as a start.
Between January and March of 2022 I spent about $1,000 ordering online. Finally decided on 1 vendor in Texas - HomeTown Hero. They grow their own weed. Process it in a variety of CBD products. After reading a lot and watching videos I bought a package of their CBD Delta 8 THC gummies. I was satisfied with the pain relief. Then various states began to restrict sales of Delta 8, so I willingly paid $70 .
(for a package of 10 ) Delta 9 THC CBD gummies.

Delta 9 THC CBD is the BOMB! If you eat it with an empty stomach it will hit you in about an hour. Really should not take it if you need to go shopping, or any other public place. I take mine around 5 or 6 PM. Slowly colorful patterns seem to appear on the white walls of my bedroom. If I'm watching a TV show it almost seems 3-D. The knee pain is masked for a few hours. suspect if I ate 4 at once I'd be tripping, God would be speaking to me and I'd see flying saucers in the sky. (Did a lot of psychedelics way back when).
Don't get me wrong. A tablespoon of methadone does a much better job of killing the pain. But my girlfriend can't give me any of her daily methadone too often. But that's how I know to compare the 2. And around here, a 3rd party sale of 1 days worth of methadone costs $40. So the gummies are expensive, and I can't eat them on a daily basis cause I'm on a fixed income. but they are cheaper than any other painkiller around. If I was younger and stronger I'd probably would grow (or try to grow opium) poppies, but experience has shown that I do not have a green thumb.
Well, I need to go to the laundromat. Have a good day.

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Experienced tripper here. CBD has done nothing for my pain. A friend gave me some Delta-8 and it worked a little for a couple hours. The Delta-9 sounds too trippy for me at my old age,
70. 🙂 BUT, I use 2 strains of Medical Marijuana ( to smoke ), and some Indica gummies for sleep. Why not not try THC?

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Yes it does! Indica is higher in CBDs that help body pain. Since THC and CBD work together, many time a 1 to 1 ratio gets the benefit of both for inflammation and different kinds of pain, acute and chronic. I take tincture. Has helped with me with chronic pain post surgical for 12 years. You may also need a small amount of another pain killer depending on you pain level. I still use Ice packs to help pain as well.

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@pacodennis

Experienced tripper here. CBD has done nothing for my pain. A friend gave me some Delta-8 and it worked a little for a couple hours. The Delta-9 sounds too trippy for me at my old age,
70. 🙂 BUT, I use 2 strains of Medical Marijuana ( to smoke ), and some Indica gummies for sleep. Why not not try THC?

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THC and CBD work together. Some are infused and some create strains by grafting hemp and cannabis that work in to establish more CBDs cannabis. Hemp products won't get the job done alone. Its a science that the FDA in the US refuses to recognize, in favor of Big pharm. The risk of drugs side effects are well know in big pharm. Still they don't care enough to help people. Did you know that the US gov. has patent on Cannabis for cancer? They do 1984. They still schedule it as no medical value. 40 years of doing nothing.

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@artscaping

Good morning @joycemarie, Welcome to Connect. Thank you for posting your cannabis usage and the benefits. Voltaron is kind of scary to me. What CBD oil do you use as a topical? I use a P & B balm. 1:3 CBD/THC for acute pain and then 3:1 CBD/THC for chronic pain. The only RX medications I use are gabapentin and duloxetine. You mention a teeny spoonful at meal times. Is that CBD only? I used to put a dropper in my beverage. Now I just use it as a tincture. Stay with us, We need your feedback,

May you be free of suffering and the causes of suffering,
Chris

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You’re the only one who can find that out…everybody is different, I’ve heard “helps a lot”…& I’ve heard “helps a little”. Personally, it’s relaxing…for a short time, then almost gets worse afterwards…that’s why I refrain

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@donrealtesting

Yes it does! Indica is higher in CBDs that help body pain. Since THC and CBD work together, many time a 1 to 1 ratio gets the benefit of both for inflammation and different kinds of pain, acute and chronic. I take tincture. Has helped with me with chronic pain post surgical for 12 years. You may also need a small amount of another pain killer depending on you pain level. I still use Ice packs to help pain as well.

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For my pain it makes it much worse. But then that's common for headache's reaction to CBD and THC. But my friend swears it helps her neuropathy in her feet. Literature says it's like 50-50 for migraine.

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