MJ for pain - help needed!

[Nic]

Hi everybody!

 

I am a massage therapist and recently was called to a nursing home to give a massage to an 87-year old woman. She has osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, torn ligaments in both shoulders, and is in so much constant pain, she can't move her arms, walk, sit or lie down. She was prescribed different pain killers, including morphine, but they all give her constipation. Her niece has run out of options to help her. I am not an mj user myself, and know very little about the drug. But I remembered that mj can be used for pain relief. My questions are, first of all, what contra-indications and / or side effects can be experienced in an 87-year old woman. She has angina, leaking heart valve, tendency to constipation, has had an operation to remove blood clots from her leg. Secondly, assuming it is safe for her to use mj, how do we go about it? Is it legal in NSW, Australia? Does she need a doctor's prescription? Obviously, she can't smoke, so in what other form can she take it? If she can't use official medical channels, but decides to take a risk (or rather her niece does), how can she obtain what she needs? Any info would be appreciated. It's just heart-breaking to see someone in so much pain without any hope of escape.

 

Thanks for your help

Nic

[Tom]

Hi Nic welcome to Oz Stoners.

But I remembered that mj can be used for pain relief.

Mj is not a pain killer, it does help you manage the pain though. it is also an anti-inflammatory and is used to help with arthritis too.

 

or side effects can be experienced in an 87-year old woman. She has angina, leaking heart valve,

Be a little cautious here as mj has also been shown to increase the heart rate a little.

 

so in what other form can she take it?

It can be ingested too, check out the green eggs and ham forum for ways to prepare it, canna-butter for baking is my favourite. Things to watch with this method of use are that "stone” the affects are much heavier and last longer, this can also bring an adverse reaction in people suffering from paranoia not uncommon with those taking some of the heavier prescription drugs. Ingested mj usually takes about an hour to kick in.

 

If she can't use official medical channels, but decides to take a risk (or rather her niece does), how can she obtain what she needs?

How many teenagers in the family? One or two of them will know of someone that knows. if you find mj does help get the niece to join up here and we will teach her to grow medicine.

 

Is it legal in NSW, Australia?

Phone the free legal aid in your state, they can answer that sort of question very well.

 

It's just heart-breaking to see someone in so much pain without any hope of escape.

I hope that the mj proves to be helpful, feel free to ask more questions if you need too.

 

[Pickle]

There is also a slight relaxing of blood vessels so the blood clots could be loosened which could be very dangerous.

 

Perhaps the best thing would be for the niece to discuss it with a few doctors to get some more advice.

[Nic]

Thanks Tom & Pickle

 

on reflection I realised I might be trying to take too much upon myself and it would indeed be better if a qualfied medical practitioner handled this case. The woman is very fragile and anything can happen in which case I might cope the blame. Frankly, I thought that if taking mj brought her death it would be better than not trying at all. For myself, I would prefer the end rather than living in such agony. But that's not how her family might see it.

 

I will pass all the information to the niece and she can take it from there. Thanks again for your help.

 

Cheers

Nic

[Bubble Bags Australia]

Vaporization is the best way to go in this case, and its the most healthy. As a woman this age, with this many problems, should not be inhaling smoke which will cause lung problems and cause her to cough and lead to other problems, plus she will associate the intaking of the cannabis with something unpleasant.

 

Normally I would go onto my soap box about how there are good vaporizers and bad vaporizers. The good ones are the ones that do not use a metal heating element, such as the Volcano, as inhaling vaporized metal leads to cancer. However in this case since the woman is so old and has so many other problems, developing cancer much later in her life is not an issue.

 

Just make sure that you use a vaporizer with a temperature control, most of them do not have this, and the heating element, which in the cheaper ones is often just a metal coil or soldering gun core, either does not get hot enough to vaporize the cannabis and your just sucking in hot air with a bit of taste from the flavinoids vaporizing off the plant before the THC and thus you get nothing, or the element gets too hot and it burns the plant matter, creating smoke and thus negating the reason for using the vaporizer in the first place.

 

The Volcano is the best, followed next by the Vriptech and the Volitizer, but they are all reather expensive units, the Volccano being around $800. I have always loved using my Volcano as it delivers a pure, clean high unlike anything else I have experienced. This is not a sales pitch (I am not even selling them anymore), its just one of those really good products that you want to talk up.

 

Eating is another way to go, but the problem with eating is that unless you are an expereinced cannabis user, eating can be scarey, because I have had brownies that have lasted for around 16 hours and were a really intense high, and after a point you just want to come down and have no way to do, its not a really managable high. But then again I am one of those people who always likes to have control over his high, some people dont care and just lay back and enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts. And if this lady has nothing to do all day and is in pain all day and can handle the sensations of being high, then eating may be the best way to go.

 

Meerkat

[Nic]

Thanks Meerkat for the comprehensive info about the vaporisers. Where can it be bought? Re digesting - it is true she has nothing to do all day, but she is in the nursing home, and I don't know how it will play out if she is stoned out of her mind all day. Then again, the place is a looney bin anyway, so maybe they won't notice.

 

There is no predicting how she will react to mj. I have tried 2 half-puffs once, and after that for several hours any attempt to get up resulted in the room spinning wildly. Being a control freak, I hate feeling helpless, so never tried smoking mj again. I have hightened sensitivity to all drugs, both legal and illegal, that's partly why I don't do them, too easy to overdose.

 

Cheers

Nic

Edited April 12, 2005 by Nic

[raverspec]

Nic, you have no idea how insanely jealous you have just made the entire board.

[Bubble Bags Australia]

Thanks Meerkat for the comprehensive info about the vaporisers.  Where can it be bought? 

 

Well you can get the Volcano from my store at www.bubblebag.com, and we charge $650 USD, which at current excahnge is about $834 AUD, plus with shipping and duty your probably looking and close to $1k

 

Although I did find this Australia site selling them for $1k to $1.1k

www.freewheelin.com.au

 

Or you can go direct to the manufacturer at

www.storzbickel.de

 

Of couse the Volcano is the Lamborghini of vaporizers. Back in Canada we were trying to get them certified as medical devices by Health Canada which was also providing medical marijuana (very crappy weed, grown in a mine shaft with random seeds). But nevertheless if we could get them certifed peopel could deduct them as medical expenses and they could be used in nursing homes and hospitals.

 

The next step down from the Volcano is the Vriptech. Which is actually as good as the Volcano and quite a bit lower cost, but it is more cumbersome to use and is definetly not something a frail old woman could use withoug assistance, also it loosk more like drug paraphenalia where as the Volcano looks medical and the older generation may be scared away from things that look like drug paraphenalia.

 

This is no offense to the inventor of the Vriptech who is a freind of mine, just stating the differnces.

 

You can get the Vriptech also from bubblebag.com or by going to the manufactures at www.vriptech.com

 

The next step down from the Vriptech would be the Vapir. Its sleek and ergonomic, its portalbe with rechargable batteries, it has digital controls, it's for the cyber stoner ! Only downside is that until battery technology improves the battery only lasts 20 mins. However you can plug it in to the wall.

http://www.air-2.com/

 

Then thare are *many* low cost vaporizers below that, wheras the three above cost anywhere from $500 to $1000, you can find other vaporizers out there for under $50. The thing is that most of them dont work, they are either too low on heat and do nothing, or too high and produce smoke. And they use metal heating elements that cause cancer.

 

However there is one low cost vaporizer that works really well, we sold tons of them at my store, and I can attest to their quality. They use a match or lighter for the heat source and they are portable and fit in your pocket. It is the VaporGenie, which you can get at www.bubblebag.com or visit the manufacturer at

http://www.vaporgenie.com/

 

I love my Volcano for in the house, but obviously you cant carry it around outside, well I suppose you could with a really long extension cord, but I always kept a VaporGenie in my pocket as well.

 

Hope that was enough info.

 

Meerkat

Edited April 13, 2005 by Meerkat

[Nic]

Thanks again Meerkat for the info and the websites.

 

Cheers

Nic

[lherbeux]

Nic, your lady can vaporise flowers for free with a lighter or matches and ANY little pipe (little diameter). Smoke comes from the contact of a flame on burnable material.If she put the flowers into the bowl, sucks slowly and approach slowly the flame upon the bowl, she can have vaporisation. The idea is to use the heat of say, the lighter (easier) but not the flame itself. In the begining, she will feel nothing, then the per"fumes", then THC will be released. You understood that she may not put flowers and flame in contact. With very little practice, anyone can do it. She can also bend the pipe by 90 or even 180 degrees (yes, the pipe above the flame like the Dutchs do some years ago).

An other option: on sunny days, with a magnifier she can concentrate the heat of the sun enough to heat but not enough to burn flowers.

She can also use a glass pipe and heat it -the bowl of the pipe- on a (???" bougie" in french) but this need more practice. And can be a little bit dangerous. We dont want to burn her skin.

Anyway, the principle is: if it is smoke, it is too much heat, the second thing is that with the good temperature so, above that wich procures taste, she try to maintain the sames conditions for some time. She can do it in more than one try.

Remember with progressive heat, she will have: first the aromas, second the THC, and third the smokes. It is sufficient to dont burn them to dont have smokes. If she do it slowly (and she have time you say) and decrease progressively the distance, I think that she can do it in its first or second try.

Vaporisation is a very good idea, maybe a very good business for hot air.Dont you believe?

Hope will be helpfull and not too much confuse with my bad english.

[Pickle]

Vaporising is a good idea for some and is far healthier than smoking but everyone should realise a coughing fit could kill this lady. Eating some cookies or cake is the only way i would feel safe recommending pot to this lady and even this could be a bit of a wild ride for her.