This may be completely off the wall and please don't take offense.
 

So I was talking to a very near and dear friend (who is moving back to PA this week and it totally breaks my heart). This friend is about the same age as my mom, grew up in the 70s. And you've probably guessed where I am going with this one. He had invited me out for drinks, but considering the spinal tap tomorrow, I didn't think alcohol was a good idea. And we started going over the list of things I am not allowed to do until the swelling in the spinal cord goes down. And he looks at me with the most serious face and says "Can you smoke pot?" Which made me giggle because I have not even considered this since high school. Although I did write quite a few papers on medicinal herbs (and marijuana was always listed) back in college.

So out of curiosity I began researching this evening and was amazed at the number that popped up when I googled "medical marijuana treatment in multiple sclerosis" . I have been bombarded with information, and I am not going through it all tonight; I am just wondering about the possibility. I know this is something that would never fly in Virginia, or for the majority of the US but now my interest is peaked. I will look into it further later.

It's just a thought.

Tonights episode of Eli Stone was about that.

good evening, Legzz.

perhaps you can try making cannabutter, and using it in baking?

here's a detailed preparation guide:

http://cannabis.com/faqs/cannabis_re...ipe/index.html

just be sure to keep the resultant butter, and any "special" baked goods well out of the reach of children, as you would with any medicine.

with eating MM (rather than smoking), the slower and more gentle release of the THC seems to work better for my lower extremity spasticity (severe calf and foot cramps)

I don't really care for feeling stoned all the time (I've got a farm to run), and don't want the obviously recognizable odor of burning pot hanging around the house, but want relief from trigeminal neuralgia and muscle spasms, so using medical marijuana in baking works best for me... as I can control the dosage more efficiently, and obtain longer-term relief.

it's still being debated in the scientific community as to whether marijuana does anything for the immune system, or the reduction of MS flares and lesions, but it *can* be very useful for the amelioration of certain symptoms.

did you know George Washington grew medical marijuana?

Major General George Washington, U.S. Revolutionary War hero and first president of the United States, cultivated Indian Hemp (Cannabis sativa indica, i.e. medical cannabis, which could also be used for fiber, although not as well as regular hemp) on his farm.

"Make the most you can of the Indian hemp seed. Sow it everywhere."
-- George Washington, in a letter to his farm manager

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_h..._United_States

I'll be happy to answer any further questions you may have.

:grouphug:

Really? I always thought baking it would lose some of the properties. Although our exchange student from china used to use it as an herb. (she would put it in her cream of wheat) and was dumbfounded that this was illegal here in the States.

I really doubt you will offend anyone ;)

Many have either tried or currently use marijuana to help with their MS symptoms.

I have tried marijuana for pain but, it had no affect for me....I should say it didn't affect the pain I was having but, it did affect me :rolleyes: :p

Whatever works :D

The use of MJ for medical purposes has been explored a lot in the last few years. At the Pain Clinic in London, ON Canada, they conducted an open label clinical trial with MJ for patients who experienced a lot of pain. The purpose of the trial was to study the side effects and compare them to what patients experienced using conventional drugs.

I'm not sure if the trial is done yet or not but the patients had the option of smoking the MJ or combining it in food. The latter worked fine but took longer to get into one's system. The MJ was supplied by government sources and of course was strictly controlled.

The neuro in charge of the trial told me that it was no question that MJ did indeed work for pain. He treated just like any other drug but of course was aware of the "stigma" that MJ carried with it.

Harry

MM loses "properties" only if you bake shreds of the leaves into your cookies or brownies, or what-have-you.

the heat degrades the tetrahydrocannabinoids, is what I've read.

if you follow the cannabutter instructions carefully, the "goodness" is leached into the butterfat molecules. and the leafy matter is squeezed through cheesecloth (and removed), which does several things.

first, the MM is preserved better, it doesn't go stale or dry out.

second, since the oil thoroughly melts *through* the baked goods, the distribution is more uniform, and not gathered in clumps of leafage (that's why medicinal dosing is more reliable),

third, there's no crunchy bits (or "off" taste) to deal with, the medicine is rendered almost invisible, and almost tasteless.

that's why you have to be so careful marking and storing your products (in the freezer, maybe marked GIBLETS or something unappealing?), as you wouldn't want a friend/neighbor/relative/child to accidentally go "YUM, these are GREAT!!" and proceed to eat half a dozen.

'cause then, they'd be swinging from the chandeliers, and dancing outside in the rain, singing nursery rhymes or something... :D

anyway, look over the Cannabutter recipe, and see how it's done... like I said, once the medicinal properties are subsumed into the butter (unsalted works best!), it may actually increase the medicinal value.

it seems like a lot of trouble, but it's not really, it's easy once you get the hang of it,

one recipe-batch of butter (a lb of cannabutter) makes 6 batches of brownies.

and one batch of brownies lasts me three weeks.

you can even "cheat" and use Betty Crocker's Fudge Brownie Mix, .

:D

one small brownie at bedtime, and I sleep like an angel.

Thank goodness for living in Canada where it's 'legal' for medical reasons, but I don't even know the red tape involved in obtaining the 'magical' card to use it without the cops busting down your door.

Even then, I heard of a recent case where the cops DID bust down the door of a man who had a government issued licence to toke. Go figure huh? :rolleyes:

But yeah for MJ! :)

The only thing that offends me about MM is that our Fed. Gov't has made it illegal..:mad:

BTW, I've never tried MJ....not even when it was so popular to do so but I think we all should have the option and not be forbidden by anyone..:rolleyes:

Jim uses MM and I will stand in ANY courtroom, in front of ANY judge and give them a video and lecture on the positives of MM. Jim has weened off three drugs already since using MM. And if they dared to put him in jail I will guarantee every news station will be at their front door.

There are a few (or even several) US states that have medicinal mj laws now, apparently. Here's some information on the efforts to legalize it in the US:

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/

Apparently it's a VERY involved process, Laura, to get rx'd medicinal mj in Canada. My friend (RIP, Grassman) tried to get through the paperwork because he otherwise had to pay for it himself . . . but the process was too cumbersome for him. They won't usually prosecute for small quantities in Canada anyway, even if it is not used for "medicinal purposes". However, if you want it paid and supplied by our government you need to get the paperwork done. (Of course, we can alternatively get a rx for Sativex.)

I used marijuana for eating and sleeping after my bad attack in 2003 (for two years). I only used it at night, and only two puffs!!!, because it makes me paranoid and more "aware" of what my body is doing/feeling. I stopped when I got on LDN because that took care of the sleeping/eating/pain issues for me.

Cherie

I a user an an advocate for Med MJ. For me it helps with pain, spasticity and the stress of deling with a lifelong chronic disease.

i checked and there is no Med MJ law in Virginia. normal.orc has a lot of info @ Med MJ including files of studies and findings by Medical professionals. There a lot of info on the web.

I worked to help change the law in Maine and we got it done, it took 9+ years. On the normal .orc site there is a method to contact your elected officials in your state. Also there are two bills pending in the Us Congress that increase the availability for Med Maj and remove the Federal penalities.
Contact your elected officials to get their support on this legislation.

I'm in the VI now and have just begun to form a group to try to change the archaic and oppressive law here. The VI is very conservative ( who would have thought ) so it will be a struggle as the referendum and citizens initiatives are harder to accomplish. But......

A little puff of MJ as Sandy mentioned may be a natural substitute for some RX drug along with the side effects. I only use a DMD, some supplements and when I can't stand it, Vicodan, but rarely.

There are still many people who buy into the reefer madness thing of 40-50 years ago and they will never accept it. My mother used it in the last stages of her terminal brain cancer, my 80 something father in law uses it for his Glaucoma. It is a naturally occurring herb with soothing benefits for a wide range of afflictions.

I use Sativex. It's bottled THC that you spray into your mouth. I had printed off the Health Canada applications for MM and it was about 1 cm thick. Here is the link to the Health Canada site to apply for MM:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/marih...mplete-eng.php

I prefer Sativex because I feel like I have more dose control. I don't particularly like MJ (THC) in general because, like Cherie, it makes me anxious and gives me heart palpitations.

I only use it to get me out of extreme pain situations in combination with other drugs.

thanks weeb. i'm going to investigate that too.
my neuro offered me MM some time ago but i turned it down.
didn't want to hassle the legal ramifications.

but i may look into it again.

i would check with your dr and see what he says about any possible effects on the conditions you have.

Always a timely and interesting topic...when will we in the U.S. grow up about this herb? So many patients would be helped by it...

Thankfully, Gov. Richardson is fairly progressive when it comes this and it's been legal here for a while. I got my authorization (not a prescription) last week and I've been watching "Weeds" to see how to grow it ;). No stores here. So it's either find a drug dealer (no thanks) or grow my own. I'm a decent gardener so I think it won't take me more than a time or two to get it right. The doc asked if I already had been using, which I haven't since college, and then told me "be careful, it's a LOT stronger these days".

Now just to hope the jack booted thugs from the feds don't bother me and more so that our new president takes care of this BS asap.

Wow I didn't even think about where to get it.... it has been a long time since I had to find one of those. So I looked up the VA laws.

Possession
Any amount (first offense) misdemeanor 30 days $500
Any amount (subsequent offense) misdemeanor 1 year $2,500

Cultivation
Any amount felony 5 - 30 years $10,000

Which is total BS! Growing my own would be a felony! Yet I can find a dealer and buy as much as I want and it's a misdemeanor. Makes no sense. I have never understood the stigma attached to MM. It seems like a much kinder alternative to the Oxycodone they had me on for the last 8 weeks.

concur.

alas, I recall when Dan Lundgren's jack-booted thugs broke down the doors of the MM clubs in California, after we worked so hard to get Prop 215 passed.

California, 1996, 56% yes vote on Prop 215 to add 11362.5 to the Health and Safety Code, legalizing medical marijuana for seriously ill patients.

http://www.chrisconrad.com/expert.witness/Prop215.html

ah well, I have my memories, and a couple of empty Rx mini-zip-lock baggies labeled Medical Marijuana, ROMULAN CROSS

:D:cool::D

the truly interesting thing is... not just the legality or illegality of a substance, but the politics behind it, and the *enforcement* of the existing laws.

here in Belize, all marijuana is illegal, yet it is grown all over, smoked (only somewhat covertly) in public by Rastafarians, and pot is only targeted in LARGE amounts for arrests, and imprisonment.

my Rx card from California is unusable here, but at the same time, I pretty much don't worry about arrest, because I keep such a very small amount on hand, and am certainly not a dealer, or plantation grower,

:D :cool: :D

Your best bet is to contact a pain clinic, usually located at a major hospital, and they will likely assist you in obtaining the proper paperwork to use the MJ. Not all that difficult from what I have heard.

Harry

I can't use it because it makes my sx worse. :(

Life is so unfair.....

I go back and forth on the use of MM. It's legal in CA, but not federally, so the feds can lock you and your doc up if caught....yeah, ridiculous. If only we could convince the feds that MJ should come off their list of "highly dangerous drugs." No one's going to hallucinate and drive off bridges or go on a murderous rampage on pot. But the Conservatives sure think they are! How do we convince them that pot is not heroin or crack!

Anyway, I have tried MM from time to time on my MS pain. Some pain is helped, and other times it is not. It depends on the type you smoke/eat/ingest. I had no idea there were different strains of MJ. But some will relax you and make you sleepy, others will make you hungry and give you the munchies. Some will ease your pain, and then others will just ease your mind so you won't care about the pain.

If you buy it off the street you don't always know exactly what "flavor" you're getting and thus it may or may not help your particular sx at that particular time. When going to an MM clinic, you will get the right type of MJ for the relief you need.

Considering the topic of this thread, I wonder if anyone saw this in todays forum of Health Headlines : http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread60198.html

Let me help you with that...:P

howdy legs the important thing about pot isnt if you inhale its do you exhale:yikes:


it helps me with muscle pain a lot



Peace http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/char089.gif

:)

It sets my body into "alive" mode and makes me get tremors. Ugh... but it would make me fun at a party trying to drink stuff. :D

I have to say I am amazed at the number of responses I have gotten. You guys rock!

I ran this idea past certain family members who have all concurred and some have even offered to obtain this miracle drug for me. And yes these were the same ones who chewed my butt when they found out about me tokin up in high school.

it's too funny. and on a serious note.... if the steroids don't work tomorrow I am willing to try anything.

It's amazing how family views change when a member, especially a darling son or daughter, is diagnosed with something like Multiple Sclerosis.

My conservative parents both 100% support the idea of marijuana for pain relief versus pumping the body full of say, opiates. I can sure tell you they are not impressed about me taking a benzodiazepine currently... but it's the only thing that has been somewhat tolerable. Even then, I'm noticing it does cause some side effects, and don't even get me started on dependency...

Sativax would be one to look into for sure! I wonder if my drug plan covers it :)