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Marijuana for Pain Management

Marijuana for Pain Management

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More states are passing laws that allow people to use medical marijuana. So what does it treat, and who can and should use it?

Pain is the main reason people ask for a prescription, says Barth Wilsey, MD, a pain medicine specialist at the University of California Davis Medical Center. It could be from headaches, a disease like cancer, or a long-term condition, like glaucoma or nerve pain.

If you live in a state where medical marijuana is legal and your doctor thinks it would help, you’ll get a “marijuana card.” You will be put on a list that allows you to buy marijuana from an authorized seller, called a dispensary. In such dispensaries, marijuana can be ordered either through their website or in person as they typically offer fast delivery and dependable payment systems (read more about these payment systems here), so obtaining marijuana will be seamless.

Doctors also may prescribe medical marijuana to treat:

  • Muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis
  • Nausea from cancer chemotherapy
  • Poor appetite and weight loss caused by chronic illness, such as HIV, or nerve pain
  • Seizure disorders
  • Crohn’s disease

The FDA has also approved THC, a key ingredient in marijuana, to treat nausea and improve appetite. It’s available by prescription Marinol(dronabinol) and Cesamet (nabilone).

How Does It Work?

Your body already makes marijuana-like chemicals that affect pain, inflammation, and many other processes. Marijuana can sometimes help those natural chemicals work better, says Laura Borgelt, PharmD, of the University of Colorado.

How Is It Used?

Medical marijuana may be:

  • Smoked
  • Vaporized (heated until active ingredients are released, but no smoke is formed)
  • Eaten (usually in the form of cookies or candy)
  • Taken as a liquid extract

Websites like those of Denver Dispensary provides cannabis products of all kinds for medical marijuana patients. Since marijuana is so versatile and comes in many different forms, it is important for you to choose the one that works for you. Different people react to weed in different ways. Some find it addictive, some find it relaxing, and others could be repuseld by the smell or taste of it. Therefore, it could be helpful to understand what does weed taste like in its different forms (joints, edibles, gummies, etc.) and figure out the one that suits your body and mind the best. It may take a bit of experimenting, but that’s part of the fun of using marijuana.

Side Effects

Side effects of marijuana that usually don’t last long can include:

  • Dizziness
  • Drowsiness
  • Short-term memory loss
  • Euphoria

More serious side effects include severe anxiety and psychosis.

Risks and Limits

Medical marijuana is not monitored like FDA-approved medicines. When using it, you don’t know its potential to cause cancer, its purity, potency, or side effects.

Only people who have a card from a doctor should use medical marijuana. Doctors will not prescribe medical marijuana to anyone under 18. Others who should not use it:

  • People with heart disease
  • Pregnant women
  • People with a history of psychosis

Chronic Pain Treatment and Management with Medical Marijuana

Chronic pain treatment and management are challenging for patients and doctors, but medical marijuana may be able to provide chronic pain relief where many traditional chronic pain medications do not. Cannabinoids have well-documented analgesic properties that make medical marijuana an effective medicine to treat many cases of chronic pain syndrome. In scientific studies, most medical marijuana patients experience pain relief. Medical marijuana as a chronic pain management tool can reduce patients’ pain and improve quality of life, without the same serious side effects associated with use of some pharmaceutical pain relievers.

Medical Marijuana Can Help with Chronic Pain Treatment and Chronic Pain Management

Pain relief is one of medical marijuana’s most well-known benefits. In fact, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the American Nurses Association, and even The New England Journal of Medicineendorse the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of severe chronic pain.

In a 2000 study, 70-80% of patients experienced pain relief when using medical marijuana. For chronic pain patients, one of the most unpleasant aspects of traditional chronic pain treatment is the long-term use of opioids. These drugs have many side effects in the short and long term. They can also be difficult for many people with chronic pain to obtain in sufficient quantities to provide adequate chronic pain management. Medical marijuana can replace or reduce the use of opioids in chronic pain treatment, as it did for a 47-year-old woman in a 2003 case study, who experienced less pain with reduced doses of three opioids and a small amount of medical marijuana, compared to large doses of opioids only.

The Institute of Medicine found in 1999 that, “THC is significantly superior to placebo and produces dose-related analgesia peaking at around 5 hours, comparable to but out-lasting that of codeine.” Side effects were minimal and dose-related, including slurred speech, sedation and mental clouding, blurred vision, dizziness and ataxia. By comparison, many opioids, including codeine, can have side effects including hallucination, seizures, difficulty urinating, and a rapid or irregular heartbeat. People with chronic pain can often manage their pain using medicinal marijuana while regulating their own dosage in order to avoid side effects.

Cannabis is even seen as an effective treatment for one of the most mysterious and challenging types of chronic pain, chronic testosterone undecanoate bodybuilding anatomy neuropathic (nerve injury) pain. In 2006, medical marijuana was named the most promising treatment for neuropathic pain by a group of elite pain researchers convened at a MedPanel summit.

There are two main strains of cannabis, referred to as Sativa and Indica. Sativa is known to produce or give a more euphoric “high.” But on the other hand, Indica is known to be used to ease pain and aid sleep. Both types of cannabis can be purchased online or at a local dispensary. That said, if you want to learn more about the other strains available on the market that could alleviate pain, you could take a look at pages such as buymyweedonline.

Using Medical Marijuana As Part of Your Chronic Pain Treatment and Management Plan

If you’re interested in using medical marijuana to treat your chronic pain, you’ll need to research your local medical marijuana laws and talk to a medical marijuana doctor about obtaining any license or recommendations needed in order to use cannabis legally for your chronic pain. Come prepared for your visit to a medical marijuana doctor with information on your current treatment, your medical history, and what you hope to accomplish by using medicinal marijuana to manage your chronic pain.

Once you’ve obtained a recommendation, you’ll need to find a medical marijuana caregiver and/or a medical marijuana distributor to help you obtain your medicine. Depending upon your type and severity of chronic pain, you may need to make several adjustments to your dosage, with the guidance of your doctor, in order to obtain effective chronic pain treatment with medical marijuana with minimal side effects.