A Medical Use Journal

[WAIX_Herbie]

Background

At the age of 12 my lower back was broken and my spinal cord injured. As a result I've been in a wheelchair ever since. The lower back pain is tolerable and I could live with synthetics for the most part if that were the only problem.

 

I had a through the knee amputation on my left leg about 5 years ago now and the docs bungled it while doing it. They damaged the nerve that runs down the inside of the leg and wraps around the knee. That causes me pretty much constant pain.

 

Medication

Currently taking about six Tramal 100SR, four Tramal 50, twelve Neurontin 600, two Endep 10, and four Panadine 500/8's a day. When this doesn't cut the pain I'll take as many as four more Tramal 100SR's and four more Tramal 50's. That's 28 pills on a good day and as many as 36 on a bad day.

 

The Tramal (both kinds) and the Neurontin are diaretics. About an hour after I take them there's a terrible rush to get to any toilet where I can relieve my aching bladder. The effects of taking too much Paracetamal are well known and the Codine in the Panadine binds my stomach up something terrible.

 

The Experiment

The times when a new season is coming on are the worst. A transition from Spring to Summer and Fall to Winter with the extreme changes in barametric pressure have me in absolute agony right now if I'm not taking my painkillers. Even taking the entire dose I still have breakthrough pain. Have talked to Pain Management Specialist and am told there's really not a lot they can do for me except to continue trying different dosages of a combination of painkillers until we hit a combination that works.

 

Enter that wonderful, god-given, miracle herb. For the last three evenings I've loaded up my new bong with a bit of water in the bottom to cool the smoke and as much leaf as I can pack into the bowl and I've smoked till there's nothing left in the bowl.

 

For the last two evenings I've been able to skip my second lot of evening painkillers (4 Neurontin, 2 Tramal 100SR) because after about half a dozen bong hits (I need a bigger bowl) I'm feeling no pain.

 

The Only Problem

I mentioned with the painkillers I'm on I've gotta run to take a piss after about an hour and am in and out of the bathroom three or four more times in the course of a few hours. Way too much compared to when I wasn't taking them.

 

The mj doesn't make me wanna piss but there are a few "side effects" which I am enjoying.

 

Time Dialation is the first one. Time seems to really stretch out. It takes forever to do anything. It feels like I've been typing this for an hour even though I know it's been no more than five minutes.

 

Thinking I'm actually talking is the second. I'll be watching TV and be sure I said something to my wife about the current program, I ask her what she thinks about whatever I was sure I was talking about and I found out I've only been thinking what I thought I was verbalizing. This may be just the wife messing with me while I'm stoned but I tend to think it's legit.

 

Third would be the pressure around my head. It feels as though someone has stuck my head in a giant vise and is pressure just enough to hold it firmly. This isn't a painful or unpleasant feeling. It's kinda comfortable in a way.

 

Conclusion at this time

The benefits at this time of smoking far outweigh the "negative" effects, at least in how I'm effected. I'm able to cut six to fourteen of my daily drugs out with half a dozen bong hits and this is still with shitty leaf. I can't wait to see how much better it workd once I get some good buds. That happens tomorrow. I'll update more later.

[Rheinpirat]

It's true what Tom says- the CBDs (Cannabidiols) work more as a depressant towards the CNS, whereas the delta 9- THC respectively the delta-8-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol would definetely achieve the desired effects. Especially you Aussies can 'afford' growing sativas (in the sense of temperatures).

 

It sounds really interessting and reinforces the claims of some medics such as Dr. Franjo Grotenhermen ( President of the IACM (International Working Community for Cannabis as Medicine)), who suggsts that around 40-50 % of all medicine can be substituted by cannabis derivates.

 

Hope your good results keep up- respect to your courage. Again one can see how innocent people are forced to suffer because they are not given the right medical treatment, and are criminalized if they do so. What a shame.

 

Greetings

[addled-aid]

Wow, how bloody interesting is this!? I have a lot of similarities with you Herbie. I joined here a few years ago while living in Adelaide (hence the nick) as was having the occasional rec. smoke and wanted to know more. In '02 I got Lymphoma and the chemo beat the shite outta me. The worst problem was peripheral neuropathy - basically excruciatingly burning pain in my feet, mainly the soles. Very early on I tried buds as a possible pain relief, but most of the time it actually made it worse, For me smoking usually exaggerated or heightened my normal feelings/emotions/experiences, this was good pre-cancer, but not so good after.

 

I'm still on bulk synthetics. Started with Tramal, Neurontin, etc, etc, (it would probably be easier to list the things I hadn't tried!). For a couple of years I was on Oxy, eventually reaching 80mg twice a day, then three times. as well as aspirin, several other things, and Valium or Mersyndol Forte for really bad attacks. Late last year I was put on Capanol and Mexitil, as well as Effexor and a couple of others. Obviously my body doesn't like the things, especially my teeth and Kidneys, and I know the 'rush to the dunny' feeling all too well! I get dizziness, Ataxia (walking like I'm pissed!), and weird 'shifting', 'electric shock' things in my head. Like you I'm a graphic designer and artist, but I'm lucky enough to be able to continue the design, and can paint when things aren't particularly bad. The opiates never actually kill the pain, just back it off enough to function. I am however having a bit of luck with a herbal thing (drops) which is based on the mineral Zeolite.

 

I never found out a whole lot about the benefits of buds, as I simply stopped after finding that it made the pain worse and havent smoked for near five years. I knew it was good for 'aching' type pain like lower back pain, sore joints etc. but assumed it just doesn't work for sharp 'burning' pain.

 

How do you describe your pain? (mine is very much like walking on burning sand but you never get to the water, or really bad chinese burn pain). Do different types of buds work for different conditions? (I'm getting the impression from reading this that it may well do) I've only ever been able to get standard 'generic' buds, mostly hydro, and mostly fairly ordinary. I only have 'friends of friends' for supply, so couldn't ask questions. I can't do an indoor setup, (no room), and don't have time to become a horticulturist like some of the dedicated folk here, although I do back onto fairly dense forest...how are SE Qld. conditions for outdoor growth? I have a million other questions, but mainly I just have renewed hope that perhaps the gear might help after all...

 

Sorry for waffling...thanks for reading. I wish you the best Herbie!

[dslgrl1]

since the question is so old aug. 7, 2007...but valid...here goes yes there are sativas and indicas....sativas give the heady euphoric high(forget pain) while indicas give a very sedetive and numb like body buzz (lessen pain)...fortunately most hydro growers use mixed breed lines so the buds have both qualities, good for users who have multiple symptoms and or disorders, but pure breeds can be nice to start with if you know your specific pain areas and then add new genetics to tweek the qualities and environment in which the breeds grow...sativas yield less generally indoors because the space and light requirements are often more than your general grower has or can handle...while a pure indica can be a monsterous yielder but because of economic catastrophy that molds can cause to a super heavy yielder, many indoor grower will pull a little early and have bountiful mold-free mediocre bud....so the mixed breed is the answer and the ones that lead with sativa/indica but flower 9-10 weeks are usually good medicinal strains...this is not always true but mostly....so now run to your guy and request he/she get these for you right?.......uh no. But if you stick around and go through some seedbank's listings and look for similarities in those "hydro" strains you get, raise the capital and ask for a clone. plenty of help i've seen here you wouldn't have to waste as much time with mistakes others have made and you only need 5' wide x 5' long x 6' tall space to grow your own and there a lots of options for lights. Oh and sativas have high quantities of THC (delta-8 and delta-9 THC) which helps the brain to filter out those signals from pain sources and it has strong "cloudy" head buzz qualities with lots of laughing and occasionaly some paranoia. Indica's will have middle range THC higher ranges of CBD's (this effect THC in many ways) generally producing a strong body buzz which lessens those chronic pains in the bones and muscles often triggering the desire to be involved in activity....comparatively tylenol and advil have these same cause/effect relationships with symptoms that are similiar to those above descriptions. Ultimately though combinations of those meds work better than one alone and the same goes for buds. Couchlock is no good for someone who has many tasks to perform nor is the dah of AK but a white family line might be the ideal medicine strain....now many flavors of this breed that are great and i'm sure a "friend" can get their hands one of them for ya good luck and pick up some books at your local bookstore about what Mj is and how it effects different people...eating foods with the essential oils in them may be whats best for you rather than inhaling it at all...then u want a ahsh plant variety but you'll need more books...

good luck from dslgrl

[kremmen2]

Gee , and I thought I had problems with pain . Just goes to show that there's probably someone worse off than you most of the time. However , that doesnt help me with my pain, chronic back and nerve damage in both legs. It seems the doctors only want to increase the dosage of my meds. I am here now to try find out about Mj and if it would help me. Of course there would be a problem of where to grow it etc but that's why I'm here.

[az296091]

Good topic!

[Tsigle]

Glad to hear they're working. I don't approve of doctors adding more and more drugs, experimenting with pure chemicals until they somehow by chance get a good dosage of chemical pebbles for you to choke down.

[ashka]

Waix herbie, This is the sort of horror story anyone could face and all because we live in Australia and cannabis is against our law. Politicians listen please to the cries of these people as you never know when it might just be your turn or one of your families turn to need cannabis. Forcing sick people to break the law to find pain relief means the law is wrong and has to be changed.

[Tomjo]

I know medical marijuana is the best medicine and am also patient and i have also using medical marijuana. I have read one blog and its was really informative blog about medical use of marijuana and i have read "Delta-9-tetracannabinol is a combination of cannabinoids, which connects the cannabinoid CB1 receptors in the individual brain. These cannabinoids imitate the natural endocannabinoids password created in the brain, except by effects more efficiently.

 

Anti-Emetics Use of Marijuana

 

Since the beginning of THC was found to be successful in some patients with sickness from tumor chemotherapy. However, narrow connecting the antiemetic quantity and that causing unwanted supernatural things hinders the use of THC. During several experiments, harmful special effects happened in 70 percent of patients. During the few experiments with use of weed smoked, 29% of patients discontinued the experiment, as 31% of respondents no relief of symptoms of nausea. The beginning of serotonin 5-HT3 receptor opponents as original and more commanding anti-emetic drugs that without charge of redundant supernatural belongings have complete cannabinoid utilize fewer striking. In support of this explanation, doctors prescribe marijuana and THC is almost never as an anti-emetic for applied by chemotherapy patients. "

[Heisenberg75]

Some very interesting information in here, and it's good to read first hand accounts of people gaining real medicinal benefit from the plant. At the same time saddening that still, due to laws based on complete ignorance people who truely needed are persecuted on a daily basis.

 

I personally don't have any medical condition for which I use it for, though am a carer for a family member (mother) who uses it for multiple conditions.

 

In particular though I thought it relevant as someone above said they tried using it for peripheral neuropathy (burning/freezing/odd/very painful sensation in feet), however it seemed to make it worse. Interestingly when my mother uses it one of the first things she notices when she starts to get high is that her feet actually go quite numb, and in turn the sensation is much more bearable. If nothing else she finds the extremely pleasant effects from the herb completely distract her from any negative feelings or pain from any mecial conditions. However I know she was fairly lucky to have it work so well in her situation, unfortunately this isn't always the case.

 

Interesing though how it can have such drastically different effects on the exact same condition in different people (as most drugs can)...

[Viol8r]

All of you men/women are an insperation to us all . I have recently tried Mj for my chronic pain , yes i am a registered pain clinic patient . My next appointment with the pain clinic is in April and i will be screaming to them how good this medication is .I will also be swearing at them as to why they didnt tell me about this medication . Since taking this from november i have returned to work full time , stopped taking all the drugs " oxy endone endep etc" well not all of them for me i still need my transdermal morphine patch .I found out about this drug while researching online about chronic pain while i couldnt move" for 7 months " very much at all . All the research that wasnt funded by a large pharma co pointed to this wonderfull drug. I am now on a mission to get this herb legalized fro medical reasons .