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.

@cheriums

Just relieving pain will not prevent legs and feet getting weak. Your doctor should be checking your muscle strength in your legs and feet regularly. I wanted to avoid surgery, but my ortho surgeon made it clear that I would end up in a wheelchair if I did. Pressure on the nerves damages them.

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In response to @cheriums… May I ask what your spine issues are? I am dealing with the collapse of L4-5 with a recent recommendation of an injection and/or surgery if this is unsuccessful. Do you have any thoughts on this given what you said about leg muscles weakening over time? It would be greatly appreciated!

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@migizii

In response to @joyce1109…. I share a similar diagnosis. I am only one opinion. I have tried medical marijuana and am unsuccessful with this intervention due to the amount I need to take for pain “distraction”, which is very low….causes me pretty significant dizziness. There are many people on this forum who have had excellent success. Thus, I think it is a very individual journey. Good luck and may you have as good a day as you can.

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@migizii I'm sure for there are plenty of people that are in more pain then Cannabis can handle. Topicals may work well with other pain drugs. Nothing short of drugs that turn you into zombie may help people in severe pain. That is what they are here for! Pain management, therapy, often a series of drugs, and low level exercise, and diet. Everything needs to work together, sometimes changing things up to get relief from such pain. When you get to the point you can't stand it anymore, you try anything. Looking for the magic cure all drug doesn't always work either. Strong pain medications are great masking pain. That is why seeking alternative natural methods of healing may need to be considered to work with pain meds. God speed with your recovery.

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It took me a year of experimentation with THC and CBD combinations to finally find my sweet spot. I wanted to stop oxycodone for breakthrough pain and I did. I’m still using buprenorphine patch for pain relief 24/7 as I do not believe cannabis alone will suffice to relieve osteoporosis, spinal stenosis, chronic pain syndrome symptoms. It took a lifetime of living for our backs to get bad and to expect instant pain relief to me is unrealistic. For whatever you decide to treat your pain with give it some time and yourself some time to see if it works before chalking it off.

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@cheriums

Just relieving pain will not prevent legs and feet getting weak. Your doctor should be checking your muscle strength in your legs and feet regularly. I wanted to avoid surgery, but my ortho surgeon made it clear that I would end up in a wheelchair if I did. Pressure on the nerves damages them.

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Not sure what you mean. Did your ortho surgeon tell you that if you DID or Did not have the surgery you would wind up in a wheelchair?

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@donrealtesting

Hi @kathylewis, I took Cymbalta (deloxitine) with Gabbapentin for many years. The Cymbalta was given to me for depression. I was on max doses for many years. Cymbalta was one of the first I tried to reduce and wean off, as well as slowly lowering pain medications. This was not easy, as withdrawing pain for me was horrid. All the drugs seemed to be hurting me more than helping after 5 years. So getting on them easy, weaning off, slow and painful. I weaned off them one at a time to start with the help of medical cannabis. Long journey. The decision to get on or stay on/ increase these drugs should not be weighed lightly. Homeopathic cannabis topicals and tinctures have returned me to a quality of life that pharmaceutical drugs, and their side effects including withdrawal caused more pain, and maybe even damage. So combo with caution is my opinion in hind sight. I take .5 mg xanax twice a day now for anxiety and pain with my a small amount of Medical Cannabis. That's it! praise God! Regards, Don

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What this for bad neuropathy? Cymbalta is giving my a lot of trouble.

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@pamelaz

What this for bad neuropathy? Cymbalta is giving my a lot of trouble.

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Yes I suffer from bad neuropathy.

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@martyk

Not sure what you mean. Did your ortho surgeon tell you that if you DID or Did not have the surgery you would wind up in a wheelchair?

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If I did not. He or his PA checked every visit. I could feel my loss of strength myself. The pressure on nerves, once I understood, was obvious even to me.

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@migizii

In response to @cheriums… May I ask what your spine issues are? I am dealing with the collapse of L4-5 with a recent recommendation of an injection and/or surgery if this is unsuccessful. Do you have any thoughts on this given what you said about leg muscles weakening over time? It would be greatly appreciated!

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I have arthritis. Which causes the vertebrae to create bone spurs. I also have degenerative disc disease, common in mature adults. The combination of these narrowed the space for the spinal cord to pass thru. And also for the nerves to the legs to be pressured by inadequate space. Initially the problem was largely in the L4-5 area. I had surgery first, last year, to open up that space. This year, L3-2 needed the same intervention.
I am hoping this is IT. The surgeries are painful and recovery is slow. But I am still able to walk -- not like I could before. But I haven't finished healing and recovering. So I haven't given up hope, not at all, that I can regain that ability.
How was it explained that an injection could help with the collapse of vertebrae? An injection of? If the injection can be tried once to see if it helps? I would ask what the risk(s) would be of the injection.

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@jenatsky

It took me a year of experimentation with THC and CBD combinations to finally find my sweet spot. I wanted to stop oxycodone for breakthrough pain and I did. I’m still using buprenorphine patch for pain relief 24/7 as I do not believe cannabis alone will suffice to relieve osteoporosis, spinal stenosis, chronic pain syndrome symptoms. It took a lifetime of living for our backs to get bad and to expect instant pain relief to me is unrealistic. For whatever you decide to treat your pain with give it some time and yourself some time to see if it works before chalking it off.

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I have done the same thing working for years working towards finding the right formula. I get anxiety from a large THC content, not sure why. I have neuropathy and chronic pain from scarring following plastic surgery of my front upper torso. I purchased 2 different tinctures, one being a 4 to 1 from Vidda....., and the other 20 to 1, that being a broad spectrum CBD from the same company. Both are grown from Stanley brothers seed. I took the 4 to 1 yesterday and have serious pain today. So I just took my 20 to 1 again. Unlike the many that have told me THC is as much a pain killer, it really depends on you. For me the high medical CBD low THC is killing my pain. I can't compare my pain with other conditions, So i won't knock anything that help you with your pain. Pain is pain, but its source I'm sure makes a difference. THC does in fact work in the topicals for me.

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@donrealtesting

I have done the same thing working for years working towards finding the right formula. I get anxiety from a large THC content, not sure why. I have neuropathy and chronic pain from scarring following plastic surgery of my front upper torso. I purchased 2 different tinctures, one being a 4 to 1 from Vidda....., and the other 20 to 1, that being a broad spectrum CBD from the same company. Both are grown from Stanley brothers seed. I took the 4 to 1 yesterday and have serious pain today. So I just took my 20 to 1 again. Unlike the many that have told me THC is as much a pain killer, it really depends on you. For me the high medical CBD low THC is killing my pain. I can't compare my pain with other conditions, So i won't knock anything that help you with your pain. Pain is pain, but its source I'm sure makes a difference. THC does in fact work in the topicals for me.

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I completely agree with your assessment. I too found that higher CBD and lower THC worked best for relieving chronic pain. I have a prescription for oxycodone I received in September for 28 pills and I still have more than half remaining. I too just tried a THC/CBD cream for pain today and we’ll see if it works on my new pain in my left hip. Radi-
ography showed no fracture or acute changes just more of my same old osteoporosis of both.

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