Living with Chronic Pain

[MaryMary]

I\’ve always been skeptical of the whole \”medical marijuana\” thing, figuring that it was just an excuse for people to get high. I still believe a lot of the claims it can cure any ailment are grandstanding by advocates. However, I have (very) recently discovered that the claims about pain relief are true.

A brief(-ish) history
I spent the last 20 years developing issues with one medication after the other, trying to deal with fibro pain, chronic fatigue, depression etc. 2 years ago, I had a prophylactic oophorectomy (BRCA), which sent my hormones mad. Nonstop migraines, severe neck pain, and nothing would touch it. Finally ended up on birth control as hormone replacement, with a mix of hydromorphone and immitrex for pain management. That worked for about 18 months. then I started getting other issues.

What followed was the last 4 months of 6 migraines a day, erythema nodosum (ouch), and just an overall disaster as The doctors had me try multiple types of pills to fix the hormones. The neurologist said I was likely now in a medicine-induced pain cycle, meaning the more meds I took to fight pain, the worse the pain got. Apparently more than 12 immitrex / month is bad – I was at 3/day just to remain coherent half the time.

The only way to break that cycle was to stop all pain meds for 2 months. Yeah, right. So finally I asked my doctor about medical marijuana. When you run out of options, you will try anything.

Learning about CBD
I discovered that there is a compound in hemp called CBD which has the touted health benefits without the high. I went to the closest shop and got some of these CBD-only capsules.

Within 10 minutes of taking one, the pain was gone. I don\’t mean dimmed a little or hidden behind a layer of brain fog, I mean g-o-n-e gone. And it stayed gone. This stuff even kills 90% of migraine pain!

(They threw in some THC capsules, and a fraction of one made the room spin for 14 hours so I don\’t recommend those)

It has now been 9 days, and I am down to 1/2 immitrex every 2 days and no hydromorphone at all. No opiates, no steroids, no tylenol, nothing.

Dose
If I have a bad migraine hitting, or am having a bad pain day, I\’ll take a whole 25mg capsule. Most of the time though, I find 10-15mg will work well for about 4 hours, so I open the caps up and mix half the powder from one in a spoonful of honey. Works well.

Buyer Beware
Because this is a pretty new industry with no real standardization yet, you need to shop around. The place I went to first was way more than I am able to spend, being on disability. I did a lot of searching online and found a place where I could get the same thing at a larger dose for 33% less. I went there and they also gave me 25% off due to being on disability. So for 250mg of CBD in capsules I paid just over $15 instead of $50 they charged at the first place. Crazy

The shop owner said you don\’t require a prescription for CBD, but be aware not all \”dispenseries\” have it. A lot of them are indeed about getting high and sell only THC products. What I am taking is straight CBD in capsules – it\’s a green powder inside.

I don\’t suggest getting anything in oil, especially if you have allergies. In a lot of products, they put it in MCT oil which can do nasty things to those of us who have sensitive systems. It also blocks any desensitization therapy for allergies, and can make them worsen.

Summary
In any case, the pain part of the pot propaganda is not bogus. I am not experiencing any significant brain fog, sluggishness or anything else in the way of side effects at this time. I will try to post again as time goes by to update on this experience.

[Author]

Posts