yes, I have lidocain patches, biofreeze and a topical called Volteran. Trouble is this is deep in the joints. Those products only address the PN for the most part. The volteran is for the joints. I can start getting shots, but they don't like giving me steroids. I have a lousy history with them. The time or two I did, it made the joint worse. I actually sat out in the hot sun and baked to help my joints today. Heat in short spurts seems to ease it, but how many places can I apply heat or those patches!!! How funny. I can see me walking in public taped from one spot to another!!
Just trying to see some humor. Yeh it hurts, and there are a heap of us that have pain too. Don't see my pain specialist until July now, so I will have to deal with this. Good thing I don't have much hair or I would be pulling it out by now Do you know of anything else I can do? ginnie

I am a bit hesitant to speak on this issue because I am so new here but...

I have neuropathy, spinal stenosis and MG - I am also in recovery and on the tenth of this month celebrated 22 years clean and sober. My PCP recommended to me that I try medical marijuana three years ago for a related problem that had not yet been diagnosed. I declined. She pushed. I had tried and stopped taking various pain meds because I couldn't keep them down but marijuana is a street drug....and I'm in recovery.

Long story short, I got some and didn't take it. I kept it in a jar and ignored it for three months. On day four of a migraine I was willing to do anything including a gun to the head to stop the pain and so I tried it tentatively.

Ever have one of those moments where you suddenly realize your headache is gone and you are so shocked that you try to concentrate to see if you can make it come back? I had such a moment - sixty seconds later. After FOUR days! Typically, even if a migraine passes after having it all day, I'll have what I refer to as a pain hangover - the headache is gone but the muscles are still smarting from the pain. Nope, nothing. Then I realized my back wasn't hurting either - first time in two years with no pain. Heck, I'm crying as I write this just remembering that gift.

Anywho, I still take med. marijuana daily. Never during the day no matter how bad the pain gets because I can make it through the struggle of the day but when I let my guard down to sleep, it refuses to let me. So I will take some an hour before I go to bed - maybe an hour and a half - and then sleep like I haven't since I was a child.

If I didn't have a history with drug abuse, I'd probably use it throughout the day as well - but I do, and so I accept this partial solution with gratitude. I still consider myself 'clean' and I'm guessing that if you knew me before, you'd think so too. It doesn't take much either - about an ounce a year.

The original question was how "natural" MMJ products establish dosage and ensure purity & potency. Were I an consumer/end user (which I might be were it legal here), these questions might be important to me, as they are with supplements now. But we're not talking about supplements here; we're talking about medicine—which is (otherwise) held to much higher standards and regulation—which would (and should) make these questions even more important to me. I really don't want to be ingesting things that aren't what they claim to be, or may contain toxic contaminents. (If it's in the plant material, chances are it's in the oil extracted from the plant material.) There are certain brands/kinds of supplements I won't touch for some of these same reasons; why would I give MMJ products a pass?

Straw man responses aside, I don't think we're on the same page. I've been bringing up observations & questions I see as obstacles to MMJ being both legalized and accepted as medicine, including acceptance and coverage by medical insurance.

The cost of Sativex (or Marinol) today is a valid point, but all medications are expensive during patent. That patent has a limited life, after which it will be available generically, at greatly reduced cost. Cost may drop sooner if/when the political situation changes and competition enters the market. I'm not really worried about purity, potency, or dosage in regulated medicines.

I see enormous potential in the medical uses of compounds found in cannabis, but (as previously stated) we've lost ~80 years of valuable research time. Most research done thus far has been with the two most common of these compounds—THC & CBD—yet there are at least 83 more that may have significant roles to play that we know little or nothing about yet; some may have or enhance therapeutic value (e.g. CBC), and some may hamper or counter it—we don't know yet—we have a lot of catching up to do.

Medical and recreational proponents alike claim that combinations of both CBD & THC are/work better than either compound individually. Sativex contains both at an ~1:1 ratio.
To those who would cultivate their own, the same article explains why it's not as simple as obtaining and growing seeds from some particular strain. There is also some question (sources differ) about practical limits (# of generations, potency) of "cloning".

I can see a day when we will go to our doctor for some complaint, and s/he'll be able to write us a prescription for a cannabinoid medication specifically formulated for what ails us, without (as significant) risk of adverse effect. I have the same vision for rainforest plants—if we're not so foolish as to lose them all to deforestation first.

In the meantime, while MMJ has therapeutic value and advantages over many Big Pharma alternatives, it still has the same trial & error methodology to find what works, and is not without downside. It's kind of like using opium poppies or raw opium, or ingesting mold (for antibiotics). Sometimes a little refinement can be a good thing.

I couldn't agree more that we all have to make our own best decisions and take responsibility for our own care, but I believe that the best decisions are made by discussing/examining/presenting the broader picture and asking/raising the tough questions.

You have my interest, support, and gratitude, and I'm thrilled that it's giving you your life back. I envy you that I cannot try it myself, but if/when I can, I think I will still approach it with caveat emptor in mind.

Doc

Doc you are more than just right
i am living proof of all three
a recovering alcoholic 23 years
gave up cigarette smoking about
4 years
have company over for the
last couple of days
who had a brain bleed
"and still smokes"
the obsession for the two are lifted

my coffee on the other hand
is not only a necessary for the head ache
but looooove a gooooood cup of java

in addition i suffer
suffer
from OCD
on the side of order
everything has a home
is my spiel

as the "rooms" know
of my drug intake
and is understood
i have been with my home
group for the 23 years
as it too is my medicine
me

hi Doc
i was that person
coffee smoking drinking mm drugs all of them for many
i lost my privileges to many of the above
i speak for myself
and in my case many
other dynamics that were
additives

i could never understand how anyone could leave
food on there plate or drink a half a bottle of beer
i in the end drank vodka and red wine

where ever this subject is moved
you are right
it does nee to be talked about
me

Hershey sues Colorado company over look-a-like marijuana edibles

From the Health News Headlines forum...
It was bound to happen. I expect state & federal to be inundated for years to come with every kind of test case imaginable—some involving some extremely vivid (to say the least) imaginations....
Hmmm.... Remember these?


Doc

Ha!!! We loved those candy cigs. The bubble gum ones were more fun. They were wrapped in paper and coated with sugar so to puff out sugar smoke. I wonder if they were made by the tobacco companies to hook us at a young age?

I remember them. Now they can't be on the counter. They are in the candy aisle. They were cool. We used to take twigs from tree branches and pretend we were smoking.

Hmmm.... Remember these?




Really amazing the **** they used to get away with. Who but a cigarette marketer could ever have thought these were a good idea? But I remember them well. Guess that's the point. (and I notice my use of common descriptive language has been censored, which I find interesting and not of the same caliber offense as trying to hook young kids on a product which is likely to negatively impact their health)

I find that humorous too (in a different way), but on the flipside, it compels me to be more creative/imaginative in my use of colorful alliteratives...

There are also times when I just use [various forms of the word] "cuss" as a universal descriptive/expletive.

Doc