Using Medical Marijuana for Chronic Pain
More than 76 million Americans are suffering from chronic pain due to various reasons. It disrupts their normal routine and often can’t be relieved to an adequate level by standard pain relief treatments. Scientists have been working for years, trying to discover alternative and most importantly more effective ways of relieving chronic pain.
Chronic Pain Definition
Even though definition of “chronic pain” may have a wide understanding, all health organizations clearly state what level of pain can be considered for medical cannabis. There are a number of diseases and symptoms whose patients’ suffer from severe enough pain to be eligible for medical marijuana treatment.
Diseases or ailments with symptoms that commonly include chronic pain and are regularly treated with medicinal cannabis include the following:
- Fibromyalgia
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Scoliosis
- Osteoporosis
- Arthritis
- HIV-related neuropathy (chronic pain is caused by injuries
- And others
Standard/Traditional Treatments for Chronic Pain
Most common treatment for patients suffering chronic pain is long-term use of opioids. These pharmaceutical pain relievers are known to cause serious short and long term side effects. Such pharmaceutical products as aspirin or ibuprofen cause little to no pain relief at all. Harder pain relievers (Vicodin for example) are known to be extremely addictive and habit-forming, plus they do a severe damage on patient’s liver.
If the above mentioned treatments fail, doctor prescribes his patients with opioids such as codeine, oxycodone and morphine. The withdrawal symptoms for all of these addictive drugs are often very severe. In addition to that, their dosage is limited, due to side effects when taken in higher doses.
Medical Marijuana and Chronic Pain Relief
When first or second way of treatments fails, medical cannabis may be prescribed. In the 1990s, researchers have found out that certain cannabinoids are helpful in relieving chronic pain and overall improving quality of patient’s life. Cannabinoids demonstrate anti-inflammatory effects, on top of that, they are considered to be great dopamine blockers. Dr. Abrams has recently published another study, which reviewed the interaction between opioids and cannabinoids. He and his research team tested dozens of animals and came to a conclusion, that cannabinoids and opioids together is an extremely effective pain-relief solution.
Alternatives to Smoking Medical Marijuana
Studies have brought evidence that marijuana use can be helpful and efficient in pain-relief, but smoking anything is bad for your health. For this reason, many MMJ patients suffering from chronic pain opt to eat marijuana edibles or use a vaporizer to medicate.
However, medical marijuana is only legal in 16 US states. Marijuana is classified as illegal drug by federal government, although they have recently announced that they will not prosecute users of medical marijuana in states where medical marijuana treatment is allowed. Scientists are currently actively seeking alternative ways of consuming medical marijuana, not inhaling it through your lungs, as that may be inappropriate for patients with specific diseases that are connected with breathing organs, such as lung cancer. As mentioned above, using marijuana edibles and vaporizers is one option.
But the alternative way must be also priced adequately, unlike current synthetic cannabis alternative called Marinol, which is priced at $650 for 30 10mg doses. New way of administration for medical marijuana needs to be cheaper than current alternatives, which are expensive to manufacture, hence the high product price.
If you are a Colorado resident that is over 21 and suffers from Chronic Pain and are interested in obtaining a medicinal cannabis license click here to find a Colorado MMJ Doctor near you.