After reading obbn’s thread regarding chronic pain I thought I would start an ‘Ask’ thread. My first.
My 83 year old mother has severe pain from a number of back problems. Including crushed vertebrae. Nothing has helped her re conventional drugs. She is very intolerant to pretty much everything when it comes down to traditional pain medications. They don’t help, and she has a hard time with the side effects.
After years of seeing my mom with this pain, and how it is affecting her life, we convinced her to give this a try. That in itself tells me how much pain she is in. It’s all legal as per Colorado State law, and I am her care giver. In other words, since she is home bound, I am able to go to MMJ dispensaries and purchase MMJ.
We are mostly using topical applications – salve or oil. She has tried some edibles in the form of candy. The salve seems to help the most, and she is able to get a nights sleep now. This is very new to her. There might be some placebo effects, but I don’t really care if it is relieving pain.
I would also like to hear from anyone else that uses marijuana for pain.
Yes it was different. Mom was going to pain management specialists that deal with back pain. I broached the subject with them and they would not talk to me about it. Not at all. Frankly, that pissed me off a bit. MJ has been around for 3000 years as a pain reliever.
So. I start digging. I found a Doctor that examined Mom and got the prescription. It’s a bit of paperwork and I am still waiting for the actual ‘card’.
It’s nuts. I’ve built some salve for mom and she says it helps a lot. Marijuana is just another drug like all others. It may work, it may not. It seems to help.
Very good for back pain. Older folks here try to get hold of the green leaves, heat them up by steaming and put it on arthritis joints (no pun intended).
that’s weird: not even “we don’t thingk that would help” or anything? what was their attitude: dismissive, angry, anxious to change the subject?
small hijack (but it’s on the subject of pain relief) - I work with nursing home patients & can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen someone with dementia after major surgery (hip replacement, for example) have no regular pain meds ordered but only PRN (“as needed”) meaning they have to ask for them.
and a lot of times, they just don’t know to do it. :mad: unless they get good nurses (sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t) they just suffer, is all.
I ended up at a pain specialist clinic for a problem with my hip that was eventually cured with a couple of epidurals in my spine, but the straight-laced MD who I saw offered me a MMJ prescription as a temporary measure.
What demonstrable benefit do you believe that smoking marijuana has that is not available from legal THC-based medications?
How concerned are you with the fact that you are committing a federal crime and have made a public confession of that fact which can be traced directly to you and your mother?
Crime shmime- whatever it takes to ease the pain. If all it takes is thc pills that’s great, but if not, and smoking helps, good. If pot brownies help, also good.
You have to fill out paperwork to get your red card, the government already knows. Live in Denver, husband had back surgery last year, now has chronic back pain that never goes away, doctors had him on Percocet that made him so irritable and other pain pills that made him groggy, etc. THC concentrates work better than anything for him, and I’m all for it. Oh, and he would gladly take Marinol ( sp?) but the pain specialist wouldn’t prescribe it. If it works then yes, please.
Edit: I guess I didnt have a question, just showing support.
My dad currently takes opiates for his back pain (plus alcohol yay!) I am pretty sure the pain pills make him “goofy” and definitely spacey and by the end of the day he’s totally annoying to be around.
Did your mom take drugs for her pain and did they make her high? Was she spacey?
How does she act now with MJ instead? I keep thinking I want to hook my dad up (although we’re in Ohio) but I feel I’d just be trading one annoying legal habit for an annoying illegal one.
I live in California now, moved here from Colorado a couple of years ago. My understanding is that because medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law, physicians who receive any federal funds (Medicare/Medicaid) or who work for hospitals that receive federal funds (all of them) are barred from making medical marijuana recommendations. (It’s not technically a prescription. It’s officially referred to in both states as a “recommendation.”) Also, I understand malpractice insurers don’t want to deal with doctors who issue recommendations.
As a result, the only people who will issue the recommendations are doctors whose practices consist solely of issuing medical marijuana recommendations. These are sometimes associated with a particular marijuana dispensary, and sometimes have their own storefront. They often guarantee that they will not charge you if they deny your recommendation, so they have a clear financial incentive to find some symptom that will permit them to recommend medical marijuana. Obviously since they can’t maintain a regular practice, they have to do things to be competitive in the market that exists. I’m certainly not suggesting that this documentary music video bears any semblance to my personal experience!
Missed this. When was this? Maybe it’s changed since I lived there. OTOH I can see that a pain specialist may be more willing to issue a recommendation that a regular family practitioner, and probably has specialized insurance as well.
It was two years ago, and pain specialists definitely operate on a different set of rules. Just going to the place was a bit scary due to the huge amount of security they had due to the presence of addictive drugs on premises.
I also had a real and easily confirmed source of pain and I had no indications that I was shopping for pain meds. I’ve used Vicodin once but threw out the remaining pills after a couple of days.
That Vicodin gave me the most intense stomach pain. My sister is now on some sort of slow release morphine (or morphine type drug) from the NHS, two doses per day, she’s also been given paracetamol which gives it a boost should she need it to get through to the next morphine dose. She can only pick it up at the hospital chemist.
This is the first time I’ve heard of marijuana being used topically. Color me enlightened but skeptical. What’s in the salve? What are the effects? Is it a general analgesic? Does enough (or any) THC get absorbed to induce a high? I’m all for legalized marijuana (medicinal or not) but my main skepticism is with how a topically applied salve aleviates pain associated with a crushed vertebrae.
I’d call the attitude dismissive. Wouldn’t even talk about it. I think Alan Smithee is probably right. It is still against federal laws. Might be some insurance snarls too.
To finish answering your post #2 -
I’m not aware of THC pills, and in any case, it’s CBD that we are after for pain. Cannabidiol - Wikipedia. Though THC helps as well. We are still researching it.
I would say that edibles, like candy are popular because it is realatively easy to extract the compounds in MJ by cooking it. For instance, I built the salve by heating it in coconut oil. You can then thicken it with parafin or beeswax. I add vanilla for scent.
I’m not religious, but bless you for taking care of these folks. You don’t have an easy job. We just put my father in a nursing home. Dementia.
I started this thread not just to answer questions, but to get answers and hear other peoples experiences. Thanks to everyone that has been responding.
1- She does not and will not smoke it. We are using edibles and topicals. As far as the state of Colorado is concerned, it is perfectly legal. And I’m not sure what ‘legal’ THC based meds are. Do they even make perscription THC pills?
2- Not concerned in the least. If the Feds did somewhow crack down on Colorado, I would be more than happy to sit before a jury. In any case, even if I didn’t have a card, less than an ounce (or is it two) of MJ is just a slap on the wrist in Colorado. And when you see a loved one in pain like this, you do everything you can to help.
My Mom is the same way. Pain meds make her ‘loopy’. Just ends up sleeping all day. She is very, very sensitive to medication. We are taking it slow and easy.
My mom is open minded, but very conservative in her lifestyle. She’s also a pretty tough cookie. That she is willing to try MMJ tells me just how bad her back really is.